Dziwaczne Odkrycia: My Polish Radio Debut with International Poznań

When my border train rolled me through Poznań back in 2005, I could not have known that 10 years later, 2015, I’d be in the city writing about it – a hostel review of Poco Loco, drinking Grzane Piwo with two local girls and touring some quick sights. However, it was now January 2017 and I had been living in Poland for 7 months. It was finally time for my debut appearance on a Polish Radio station. I was contacted by DJ Maciej from International Radio Poznań and invited to be in the studio on Friday 27th January 2017. Memories from my previous proper visit to Pozzie, of course could not escape me.

My 2017 journey to Poznań began in Warsaw and I got a train to the Dworzec, the main train station in pretty Poznań. There was a 2005 flashback and irony too – this train I boarded would actually end up in Berlin. Parallels to my first ever trip to this country.

My 2017 journey to Poznań began in Warsaw

It was a short walk from the train station to the cool offices of Radio Merkury, where the International Poznań radio show would be recorded from. A pleasant winter stroll for a backpacker.

Arrival at Radio Merkury offices, Poznań

Arrival in Poznań

It’s nothing new to me – neither Poznan, neither backpacking, neither being on radio. I have been on radio countless times. I first had a radio show at tech in Belfast in 1997 – Radio Belvoir and the phrase “Jonny Blair on the air” was coined by Keith Thompson. For 6 years I DJ-ed as a voluntary student in Bournemouth on Nerve Radio, and on B1rst. I loved it. Before this interview, I was on Belfast 89 FM in August 2016 (live from Gdańsk) and in the recent past have also been on live radio in Hong Kong (2015) and on BBC Radio Ulster (2013). I think there are links to some of those on my media page.

Arrival at the Radio Merkury studio, Poznań

The Radio Merkury studio, Poznań

The Radio Merkury offices, Poznań

The radio studio here was excellent. The building itself still had reminders of its former glories. I was being interviewed by DJ Maciek Kautz and it would be all about my 186 country journey, documented on the sadly defunct Don’t Stop Living blog, my love for Poland and my plans to finally release my “Backpacking Centurion” book which I finished two years ago, but depression halted its release. We got some photos in the studio, started the recording and Maciek also alerted me that we would be “live on Facebook in an interactive chat”. It was all very fast and spontaneous.

My debut on Radio Poznan 2017 Northern Irish in Poland

My debut on Radio Poznan was also live and interactive on Facebook

It was also the first time I had done a live interactive chat like this. It flowed well. The two songs incidentally, that I chose were completely spur of the moment, impetuous – there was no planning in those – they just came into the conversation – Goldfinger by Ash and Material World By Madonna. Here is the Facebook part of the radio appearance. The full appearance is also on the website.

https://www.facebook.com/InternationalPoznan/videos/763632357129594/?hc_location=ufi

And here are some more photos from my day out in Radio Merkury in Poznan.