Brian Redmond: Be it laughing, crying, celebrating - radio is all about the people

As I sit down to reflect on last week’s main event, Valentine’s Day, with all its roses of red and violets of blue, it brings to mind all the loves of my life.

Some of these have, of course, been transient. Bubbles, our first pet, a budgie that lived happily for seven years in his home above the fridge in our 1980s terraced house in West Dublin, my first sweetheart, my first pair of dance shoes, and even my first car, are all things that I thought I loved but have since become things that I look back on and remember not with love, but with fondness.

As I approach my 47th birthday, I feel I have a much better relationship with the human condition’s strongest of emotions, love.

Years of living away from home, through my late teens and 20s, separated from my parents and only brother, 16 years of being a husband to my wife Jen, 14 years of being a father to my son Alex, and 9 to my daughter Anna, have all taught me the biggest lesson — we can only truly love people, and maybe pets!

You can be excited about getting your hands on the latest gadget, but you don’t love it. You can relax in your favourite holiday destination, but you don’t love it. You can appreciate how stylish you look in those clothes, but you don’t love them. It’s only living beings that can really emanate and receive love.

The dawning of this new learning has also become the focus of the work I do every day.

My new radio show, The KCLR Daily, and being a judge on the hit RTÉ show Dancing With The Stars are both things I love...
You see, I just fell into the same trap I sought to warn you of. Let me try again, they are both things I feel lucky to do. Why? Because of the people I get to meet.

The crew, professional dancers and celebrities on Dancing With The Stars always have such interesting stories to share. Over my last five years with KCLR, firstly on Saturday morning’s Breakfast Buffet and since last October on The KCLR Daily, every weekday from 10am till 1pm, it’s always about people.

The text messages to the studio with greetings for others or compliments on that day’s musical choices; the calls from listeners to share a funny story or express outrage at the latest hike in car parking prices; the politicians defending and attacking, the sports stars celebrating and commiserating, the guests laughing or crying, and the water cooler moment with my colleagues, it’s all about people.

Over the coming weeks, here in the Kilkenny People, I’ll be sharing some more of the stories of those people be it on air, on screen, behind the scenes, out and about in Kilkenny or in my own home.

Hear The KCLR Daily with Brian Redmond weekdays from 10am on KCLR.