Our birthday cake!

Beat is 7 years old today!

A huge thanks to Catherine Hartery at Edible Dreams in Waterford for this masterpiece!

Edible Dreams can be contacted at (051) 878925 or info@edibledreams.com

Kylie!

Kylie released the video for "All The Lovers" online today. My word, there's a lot of stripping and rubbing....

Best Ghost Pictures Ever!

Today, I mentioned on the show seeing a collection of the best ghostly pictures on the internet.

The collection of photos can be found here. Read the stories that go with each picture. The one on the right, Grandpa's Ghost, is definitely the creepiest.

Beat 102 103's Runaway Bride

Congratulations to Dave and Anne Marie, who got married at Tullogher Church on Saturday, and had their reception afterwards at the Lismore House Hotel. Anne Marie's dress was supplied by Sabella Bridal

Beat Breakfast Fun Starts Here Tour Video - Wexford

The Fun Starts Here Tour Video - Tipperary!

80s for Haiti!

We're getting ready to dance our socks off next Friday at 80s for Haiti. It's gonna be held at Escape Nightclub in Waterford City - and Niall and Mary will be spinning the 80s classics. See you there!

Waterford Health Day

Today is Waterford Health Day - where everyone is encouraged to take a walk, or think about healthy eating. We teamed up with 90 students from Newtown Primary School who walked from the Broadcast Centre to their school this morning!

VIDEO - Fun Starts Here Tour in Carlow

The Fun Starts Here - Kilkenny

Week three of the 'Fun Starts Here' Tour with Discover Ireland saw the three of us heading to Kilkenny for some leisurely pursuits. First stop was Mount Juliet where Gail and Vinny tried some horse riding. We also did some putting with Estate Host, Eamon Holohan, and rounded it off with a cycle around the estate.



As you can see from the pic above, I take my cycling races very seriously! We then moved onto Nicholas Mosse Pottery in Bennetsbridge, where Nicholas and his wife Susan allowed us to get down and dirty and make some pottery! Mary tried to recreate the famous scene from Ghost with Vinny.



Below are our creations! We plan to revisit Nicholas in a few weeks to finish them off with some decorating!

Jedward!

Mary got a chance to get up close and personal with Jedward before their gig at the Forum in Waterford. If you missed the interview, listen to it here!

Live from Waterford!

Today's show was broadcast from the Amber Garage on Paddy Brown's Road in Waterford City. It's all part of the 'Fun Starts Here' Tour with Discover Ireland.



Our special guest was Keith Barry, pictured above with the three of us. Keith had given us a locked box on March 15th, and told us not to open it. Today, he opened the box live on air and revealed what he had written on the cards all that time ago. The results were pretty amazing. He had most of today's front page news stories written down. The card is below...

The Fun Starts Here - Waterford

Week 2 of the Fun Starts Here Tour with Failte Ireland, and this week, we're in Waterford. The weather was so good today that we all picked up a bit of a tan! Our activities were brilliant fun, so it made today one of the best days in a long time.

We started out at the Dunmore East Adventure Centre where myself and Mary tried out some sailing. I won't lie to you.... I've waited 31 years to find a sport or past-time I could do ok at, and I think I finally may have found my calling. A brilliant experience, made easier by the patience and humour of Gary, our instructor.

Second activity of the day was abseiling and rock climbing with Ardmore Adventures. The location was absolutely breathtaking... Goats Island at Ardmore. It took a bit of strength to put my fear of heights out of my head (I'd already had a mini panic attack in the car on the way down!), but again... a brilliant experience, made better by our instructor Ronan. A more laidback guy you couldn't meet. Check out Beat Breakfast on Wednesday for full reports!

Summer.... summer.... summertime!

Pictured on the left is Tramore Beach, which is where it seemed half the country ended up yesterday - including Vinny and Mary! Chips and 99s were consumed, and hurdy gurdies were enjoyed too!

Long may the sunshine last. In particular, two more days. The Fun Starts Here Tour moves to Waterford tomorrow - with some sea-faring activity. So, I'm hoping and praying that the sunshine continues (and that I don't fall into the sea. The water is WAY too cold at this time of year!)

We have some wonderful prizes on offer on Beat the Bomb this week. We have teamed up with the Handmade Furniture Company in Waterford to offer a 50 euro voucher for everyone who plays this week, and the highest score will get a 500 euro voucher. You can check out their brand new website here!

Random video of the day is the perfect Summer song!



Some other stuff from today's show....

• Which tv car would you most like to own?
• Do you have a good excuse to get out of a parking fine?!
• Bugsy Malone evidently wasn't very good....

Vinny's Big Hard One
Clue: What is the word that has one syllable, but when you add one letter to the end, it becomes three syllables?
Ans: Are + a = area

Going For A Song
Clue: Chimps personally proclaim to have faith.
The answer is here.

Back on tour tomorrow!
N

Win!

As part of the Beat Breakfast Fun Starts Here Tour, we want to send you up over the skies of the South East in a hot air balloon!

We're giving you the chance to take a breathtaking trip with a pal over Waterford City this summer with Waterford Ballooning Club.

Beat 102 103's News Editor Gail Conway is travelling to Haiti in the Autumn to help build houses with Haven For Haiti - and we're asking for your support to raise some cash for this worthy cause.

You can enter our competition by text - just answer our simple question....

Which sea surrounds Haiti? Is it....
a) the Mediterranean
b) the Irish
c) the Caribbean

Text Haiti plus your answer (A, B or C) and name to 57199 - Texts cost 1 euro per entry and standard network charges may apply. You must be over 18 and have permission of the bill payer. All profits will go to Haven for Haiti.

For more detailed terms and conditions go to our website.... www.beat102103.com

Good luck!

The Fun Starts Here

Hi all!
Vinny B here, at the end of the first leg of the Beat Breakfast Fun Starts Here tour! I won't lie to you...I'm a bit sore and stiff after the physicality of our Carlow activities! Paintballing at Rapidfire Paintballing was great craic but after being hit with more paintballs than I could count and ducking, diving and rolling around in the grass and dirt, I'm ready for a day of relaxation!
Also yesterday, we visited Country Quads in Borris for some target practice in their Shooting Cinema! It turns out I'm better than average with a rifle and killed plenty of pheasants, ducks and even a couple of bears! Not real ones, obviously!
Both of this week's activities come with the Beat Breakfast seal of approval, and you can find out more by visiting their websites...
www.rapidfire.ie and www.countryquads.net
You can check out more pics here on the official Beat 102-103 website

We're only getting started! The fun continues next week in Waterford! More details on the way soon!

VB

Oxegen tickets!

That would be me on the right - pictured with a heap of double passes to Oxegen 2010!

And the good news is... we're giving them all away this weekend! When you hear an Oxegen 2010 artist, text Oxegen plus your name into the station - then listen in to Tuesday's Beat Breakfast - where we will be drawing winners from all the texts!

Good luck!

The Fun Starts Here!

Each year, the Beat Breakfast team takes off on a tour around the South East to savour what our fabulous region has to offer.

This year, we've teamed up with Failte Ireland to try out many of the exciting summer activities available here in the South East.

Over the next five weeks, we’ll be broadcasting live in each of the five counties PLUS we’ll be raising some vital funds for Haiti. Our news editor Gail Conway will be travelling to Haiti in the autumn to help build houses. We’re helping her fund raise for this charity trip as part of our tour.

The Beat breakfast ‘Fun Starts Here tour’ kicks off next week when we’ll be live from Carlow. On Wednesday April 6^th, we’re broadcasting from Fitzpatrick’s garage on the Dublin Road Carlow so if you’re in or around that area, be sure to pop in and say hello.

The Fun Starts Here Tour…. With Failte Ireland ….and Beat 102-103

Simon Community Fundraiser

A major fundraising concert is being organised for this summer in the South East - to raise funds for the South East Simon Community. Tramore Racecourse will be the venue - with two stages playing music, Beat djs performing on the decks, and plenty more to keep the family amused.

The event will be held on Saturday June 12th - and the Simon Community have asked Beat Breakfast listeners to come up with a name for the event! Get your thinking caps on, and either text your entry into Beat Breakfast any morning, or email your suggestions to talk@beat102103.com - the winning name will get free tickets and an overnight stay at the Grand Hotel in Tramore!

Scary stuff!

Today's topic was... things that used to scare you on tv when you were small. Needless to say, I wasn't alone in being absolutely petrified by the Incredible Hulk. In fact, I had a recurring dream every night that he would break into my house, put me in a sack and take me away.

Some of the listener stories were funny. Suggestions included the tongue twisters from Bosco, Worzel Gummidge, ET, Fraggle Rock characters. One listener even told us that her mother was terrified of the owl in the Late Late Show introduction!

We have some great prizes on offer this week. We're giving away Easter chocolate hampers from Lily O'Briens on Beat the Bomb. We also have tickets to the Punchestown festival at the end of April - you just have to name your nag! The winning suggestion today came from Paul in Clonmel who suggested Suir To Beat.

Some of the stuff we were talking about today....

• Don't be too disappointed, ladies!
• Doesn't "wet leisure attendant" sound very rude?
• What's your dinner party dish?

Back tomorrow from ten to seven!
N.

Tuesday!

I can feel it's going to be a long week. I am, of course, mobile-phone-less all this week. I told the lads last week that I could live without my phone, so this week, I am putting my money where my mouth is and going without.

It's been absolutely fine so far. I've had no phone calls from work in the afternoon, or annoying text messages from my mobile phone provider offering me services I don't need.

The only problem I faced was setting an alarm for the morning. I had to dig out an old-fashioned alarm clock, which gave me a bit of a fright when it went off this morning.

I haven't really been tested yet, but I have an important appointment tomorrow afternoon, so hopefully there won't be any last minute changes they need to phone me about!

Couple of links to stories we mentioned today.....

• How soon after payday are you broke?
• Money can make you happy
• What do your common dreams mean?

Back tomorrow from ten to seven,
N.

What's Missing From This Picture?

My kettle!

VB here. As per the challenge set to me this week, I've just had to make my first mugga tae by alternative means. I went the saucepan route. It tasted the same and there was no mess, spillage and/or burns. I'm also setting myself an extra challenge; to see how little water I can start with to cut down on boiling time without actually burning a whole in the thing. I might also have a go at boiling water in the microwave at some stage!

I wonder how Niall is getting on without his phone and Mary without gmail!

Thursday... or is it Monday

You really wouldn't know what day it is. Although I do know that Friday is less than 24 hours away! I could definitely handle a midweek day off every week!

Picture of the day is a cat named Prinny who lives in Australia, and who adores using the swimming pool! Strange. Bad pun alert....... he is a moggy who likes getting soggy!


Today is "Awkward Moments Day" around the world, and so we asked listeners to share their awkward moments. We had a good few people who jumped into the wrong car with a stranger. One poor guy was meeting the inlaws for the first time, and he walked dog poo all over their house. Others mentioned watching raunchy scenes on tv with your parents, and Yvonne said her awkward moments always involve watching ads for sanitary products with her dad!

Random video of the day is a very funny and talented guy, who decided to have some fun on chat roulette.....



Some other stuff from today's show....

• Which Irish celelebrity is the coolest?
• What lies do you tell to impress the opposite sex?
• Youth ends at 35, it seems!

Today's hard one is too long to type out, but the answer was "out of date" and "different"!

Back tomorrow at 6.50am,
N.

Keith Barry's box

Above is Keith Barry's mysterious box. Keith was in with us this morning, and he has put some predictions in the box - which won't be opened until a special show on April 14th which will be part of our "Fun Starts Here" Tour... more info on that soon!

Anyway, we had the usual fun and games with Keith. He guessed the initials of the imaginary man in my head, and managed to tell Mary who her first kiss was with. We'll have some video up online in the coming days. In the meantime, check out Keith's website for more details of South East dates on his tour.

Our random video of the day can only be one thing. Whenever you are feeling down, just take a look at this vid....



Some other stuff from today's show....

• Us guys just don't like to make a fuss, you know!
• Never sleep on an argument!
• This is the last place you'd expect this type of thing.

Vinny's Big Hard One
Clue: What 5 chemical elements make chocolate?
Ans: Carbon (C), Holmium (Ho), Cobalt (Co), Lanthanum (La), Tellurium (Te).

Going For A Song
Clue: Tarrantino's Fiction has double Millenium Party
The answer is here.

Talk tomorrow at 6.50am!
N.

Wednesday's Show

It was the final week of Job Swap, and Vinny was at Kildalton Agricultural College in Kilkenny this morning.

He took part in many farming tasks, and we'll have a full report on his activities tomorrow morning on the show. He sent me this pic of a very happy sheep. Vinny will be uploading more pics later today.

We also have to thank James who filled Vinny's boots on the show this morning, and did a great job presenting the show with myself and Mary.

One of the other big talking points was Garda checkpoints. A new report from the AA in the Irish Times reveals that a third of drivers on Irish roads have never been stopped for any reason. We were quite taken aback by this, but we heard from many listeners who drive great distances each week, and never meet Garda checkpoints, so it seems the report is true.

Random video of the day is John Terry getting stung!



Some other stuff from today's show....

• Woman grows horns out of her head!
• Vinny is going to grow up to be this man!
• This is just weird

We'll have all the news from Vinny's Job Swap tomorrow from 6.50am!
N.

Tuesday's show

Pic of the day is Officer Laverne Hooks from Police Academy. Comedian Alan Carr has announced he wants to play that role in the new Police Academy.

I was thrilled as it offered me a chance to do my Officer Hooks impression... "Freeze.... tough guy".

We have a couple of great competitions this week. Firstly, we're playing Mum's The Word with Lily O'Brien's Chocolate Store. Today's word was minimal - because Neil's mother is only 4ft 11!

We are also giving away some super prizes from the Carlton Abbey Hotel, Leisure Club and C Spa in Athy. All you have to do is play Beat the Bomb!

Vinny is off on job swap duty tomorrow. He will be joining the team at Kildalton Agricultural College in Kilkenny to learn how to be a farmer. Make sure you join us to find out how he gets on. And to celebrate, here's a classic memory in our random video of the day!



Some other stuff from today's show....

• You wouldn't want to go near the monkey's enclosure wearing these!
• A young boy REALLY wants some coke.
• This woman had a close shave with the law

Back tomorrow from ten to seven!
N.

Thursday's Beat Breakfast

Today's pic of the day is a harmless enough photo of a couple in love. Not harmless for everyone though!

We had an email in from a female listener who is pissed off that her boyfriend of three months still has loadsa photos up of him snogging the head off his ex-girlfriend. She basically wanted to know if she should ask him to remove the pics, or would that come across as a bit possessive?

Listeners were split down the middle on this one. I think the best advice is not to put any pics up in the first place of you kissing someone.... then there won't be any problems down the road!

We also had all the news on my job swap. Needless to say, the doggy-anal-gland-squeezing incident will stay with me for many years. You can hear a full report of my job swap on the podcast section of the Beat website. Next week, Vinny goes back to nature and works at Kildalton Agricultural College.

Our video of the day is absolute gold. We were talking about tv shows from childhood on Tuesday's show, and somebody mentioned the Fanta Roadshow, which toured the country in the early 90s visiting teen discos. A listener text in to say some of the footage was on youtube, and the result is below. I am thoroughly embarrassed for all involved!

Vinny's Big Hard One:-
Clue: A planet I am, Soaked in red. And shaped of love, as well. I am sprinkled with many, many rocks. I have a core, but hot it is not, and grass covers my top.
Ans: A strawberry!

Going For A Song:-
Clue: First Biblical man with insects gives out post whilst upright
The answer is here.

Back tomorrow for the last one of the week!
N.

More Job Swap Pics!

Niall meets a new friend at Uncle Mike's Pet Store

Monday morning

The start of another week! The picture on the right is the McDonalds crew with the Beat Breakfast crew - from Mary's Job Swap last week.

This week, it's my turn. Over the next couple of days, I'll be helping out at Uncle Mike's Pet Shop in Clonmel in Tipperary. Tune in on Wednesday and Thursday to find out how I get on!

Well done to Suzanne, Poppy, Alison and Cormac - our four winners on this morning's show who have each got themselves weekend tickets to Oxegen 2010. We have another pair to give away on Beat the Bomb this week, so make sure you're listening after eight!

Speaking of Oxegen, today's video is one of the things I am most looking forward to at Oxegen 2010....



Some other stuff from today's show....

• Spare a thought for poor Doug Hole
• This says a lot about Ashley Cole
• How would you even manage to do this?

Back tomorrow from 6.50am!
N.

Mary works at McDonalds!

Our big prize winner!

Pictured above is Grace Maher, our big prize winner who called into the studios today to collect her prizes. She won vip access to the Meteors, vip access to the Chipmunk and OneRepublic gigs, weekend camping tickets to Oxegen AND the five star holiday to the private villa in Portugal. She will be updating us on how she got on at the Meteors on Monday morning!

Some stuff we talked about today....

• Women spend most of their day ogling boobies, it seems!
• Kay Burley makes another boo-boo
• You're better off failing your test first time!

Back tomorrow from 6.50am!

Happy Pancake Tuesday!

The day has finally dawned.... time to stuff yourself with pancakes! If you're lucky, you'll have someone else make them for you. Enjoy either way!

Today's show was mostly about getting people to notice you. We were discussing it because of this controversial article on my favourite website Askmen.com.

We heard lots of loser-ish behaviour... such as walking three miles everyday just to bump into someone you fancy. Also the old "accidental" text deliberately sent.

This developed into an interesting conversation about people who work in bars and nightclubs. Barstaff were onto us, and they claimed that they get lots of phone numbers given to them at work, and once bouncer told us he gets more phone numbers than 11811!

Our video of the day is exactly what is needed today - a musical guide to making pancakes!


Some other stuff from today's show:-

• You gotta feel sorry for this guy
• People are probably talking about you at work
• Ever wondered whether the Pope likes Oasis?

Vinny's Big Hard One
Clue: Even though the Tasmanian tiger is classified as a carnivore, why doesn't it eat meat?
Ans: Because it's extinct!

Going For a Song
Clue: Large Snowy and Barn settlement has burning trouser zip
The answer is here

Back tomorrow from 6.50am!
N.

And we're back!

Hello there!

Today's pic of the day is of Vinny's odd socks! More of that in a minute...

Firstly, apologies for the lack of blog updates lately. I've was on my holidays in Tibet finding myself for a couple of weeks, and we also got into trouble with blogspot for some unexplainable reason.

Anyhow, we're back with a bang - and we're back dealing with all of the important issues of the day... such as odd socks!


We were talking about the socks because of a news report from the UK in which paramedics and hospital staff were told they are no longer allowed wear novelty socks. On Beat Breakfast this morning, we learned that this policy exists also in South East hospitals. One nurse told us that she was berated by a senior nurse for wearing novelty socks.

I don't really mind what socks you wear, once they are not those creepy individual toe sock things!

We also spoke to comedian Ardal O'Hanlon this morning. He is playing in Carlow and Waterford this weekend, and he has gigs coming up in Kilkenny and Wexford aswell. Ardal made some pretty scathing comments about George Lee's hissy fit, and if you missed it, you'll get another chance to hear it on the Best of Beat Breakfast this weekend.

Speaking of missing things, I didn't see Barrymore on the Saturday Night Show last weekend, but we had SO many texts about it. Here's a chance to watch it if you missed it....


Some other stuff from this morning's show....

• All I will say is... thank God it's not Gail and Eileen!
• This story is just nuts!
• Definition of disappointment
• Keep an eye for a little bird this Valentine's Day

Vinny's Big Hard One
Clue: You can talk to me, I will not answer you.
Someone else will, that's just what I do.
Make plans, or something simple you see.
I will not be hurt when you decide to hang me.
Ans: A telephone.

Going For A Song
Clue: Single state ruled by elected citizen has every correct chess manoeuvre.
The answer is here.

Back tomorrow from 6.50am!
N.