22/08/2016

[Newspaper Column] Rio 2016 Proposals

Each week the Romford Recorder has the Steve Allen column. If you're in the Romford area you can buy the newspaper every Friday, or follow @mrstevenallen to see the columns on Twitter. You can also read the archive of past ones, which can be found here.


You can click the image to zoom in on the paper, or read the column below.


I've had another week of watching the Olympics. Normally the spectacle of these athletes at the peak of human fitness is enough to make you feel bad about yourself, as you put another pork pie in your mouth and get tired from the chewing.

Mo Farrah fell in the 10,000m and went on to win. He had a lie down in the race and still was the fastest man around.

This year there's a whole new way these Olympians can make us feel bad about our lives, the Olympic proposal. It keeps happening, someone wins a medal and their other half pops the question. To the single people who can't motivate themselves to go to the gym this really is a double whammy.

Take heart, all may not be as romantic as it seems. There's a chance the proposers are doing it at Rio 2016 because it saves them the hassle of arranging something special. Let the Brazilian tax payer pick up the tab.

He Zi from China was proposed too after she came second and that's a bit rude. It's like her other half is saying, “Nevermind the silver, I'll give you a bit of gold, here.”

If someone is proposed to on the podium they have to say yes whether they want to or not. No one wants to be remember as the person who ran 400 metres, heard their partner pop the question and then ran away some more.

I worry someone may have spent years training only to realise this is the year of the podium proposal and aims for fourth place to avoid the awkward moment.

It sounds like a relationship nightmare, so for the sake of your own sanity the best thing to do is stay home, not exercise too hard and pop another pork pie in.

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19/08/2016

[Newspaper Column] Rio 2016

Each week the Romford Recorder has the Steve Allen column. If you're in the Romford area you can buy the newspaper every Friday, or follow @mrstevenallen to see the columns on Twitter. You can also read the archive of past ones, which can be found here.



You can click the image to zoom in on the paper, or read the column below.


I'm starting to see the effects of the Olympics around the area. As I travel into work I notice more people going for a run around Raphael Park. It's even motivated me to stop watching Celebrity Big Brother all day and go for a run. In my mind I look like the athletes in Rio as I put on my trainers and go for it but anyone else out there on the park who see me running must think, “Looks like there's a sale on in the cake shop.”

Motivating people to do more sport is one of the excuses we hear for the money we spend on Olympic sports. London 2012 was meant to get us all in shape. As it turns out its legacy has included a lot more people going to the Olympic stadium in Stratford but mainly just to watch West Ham play while eating a pie.

Part of me wishes London 2012 inspired more people than Rio 2016 will, but that's because I'm competitive. I watched their opening ceremony, saw supermodel Gisele Bundchen was involved and thought, “Well, we had the Queen and people always talk about what she's wearing too.”

There's one health issue that Rio's Olympics will help more with than ours did. Have you seen the red spots on the bodies of some of the Olympians? It's like a polka dot dress for people who only wear speedos. It looks like marks where someone stood a hot drink on the swimmer but forgot to use a coaster.

It's a health treatment called cupping and there are places locally that do it. So I may lie on a table and have some cups put on me and know that I, in some small way, am a bit like an Olympic athlete.

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10/08/2016

[Newspaper Column] The Honours List

Each week the Romford Recorder has the Steve Allen column. If you're in the Romford area you can buy the newspaper every Friday, or follow @mrstevenallen to see the columns on Twitter. You can also read the archive of past ones, which can be found here.


You can click the image to zoom in on the paper, or read the column below.


At many radio stations I have worked at you hear stories of how the “big names” were fired. The general convention is that you don't know it's your last show while you're doing it. You get off air, get called into a meeting and fired. They do this so you don't take to the airwaves knowing you have nothing to lose and tell an awful lot of truths to the listeners.

Don't feel too bad for the DJ, there's an upside. The station has to pay you for the radio shows you have left on your contract whether you do them or not. I've heard stories of presenters who got their wage for months while they sat at home complaining.

When I was let go from a station in Wiltshire the boss said, “We won't take you off air, we know you're trustworthy and won't saying anything you shouldn't.” No! Please don't have trust in me, I want the free money we heard about.

So it's odd that as David Cameron leaves his job he's still allowed to do some of the work. He made his resignation honours list. It didn't take him long, by the look of it he just copy and pasted his Christmas card list.

In business they don't let you back to your desk when you leave in case you take the client list and set up your own firm. If David Cameron starts his own private country soon you'll know why. It'll be near Panama, so he can visit his money.

Should an ex-PM dish out honours when he doesn't have to worry about looking bad? No, I think this is terrible.

Steve's presents the afternoon show on Time 107.5 and as you can tell didn't get a mention in the latest honours list.

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09/08/2016

D'Ukes In The Studio [Podcast]

This show was a little different, we have live studio guests, the ukulele and D'Ukes in the with us talking about their gigs, the popularity of ukulele music and playing some songs for us.

Here's the podcast of it for you to download/listen. (Originally broadcast on Monday 8th of August 2016.)




Download the mp3.

     | Subscribe with iTunes | Subscribe via RSS feed | | |

Get the info on how to listen to the show live here.

To find more radio show minipodcasts see here.
All past episodes can be found in the radio podcast archive.
And if you enjoyed that check out the SomeNews Topical Podcast.



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03/08/2016

Watermelons [Podcast]

It was National Watermelon Day, of course, and what better fodder for a radio show. So we went melon related with phone-ins and other radio stuff.

Here's the podcast of it for you to download/listen. (Originally broadcast on Wednesday 3rd of August 2016.)




Download the mp3.

     | Subscribe with iTunes | Subscribe via RSS feed | | |

Get the info on how to listen to the show live here.

To find more radio show minipodcasts see here.
All past episodes can be found in the radio podcast archive.
And if you enjoyed that check out the SomeNews Topical Podcast.



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