Expat offers ‘wee bit of Ireland’ on Calgary’s online Keltic station
It all began with the accent.
Dressed in a cowboy hat and boots while working at Lammle's Western Wear & Tack, Dee Brown had a habit of surprising her customers when she spoke to them in a deep Irish brogue.
“Every single customer would come in and say 'Oh my goodness, I love your accent, are you Irish?' ” says Brown. “When you're working one-on-one, you get to tell your story.”
So she tells her story and customers are quickly in for another surprise when Brown reveals what she did in Ireland. She wears the cowboy hat honestly: not only was she a country singer, but also a DJ who specialized in country music in her home land.
The curiosity about her radio days eventually led Brown to create Keltic Radio, an online station she runs out of her home in southwest Calgary.
Back in Ireland, she worked for Finn Valley FM, dubbed “Ireland's happiest radio station,” which capped off a 10-year career on the airwaves. Brown came to Calgary four years ago with her husband and four children and admits she had a bit of trouble feeling at home in the new environment. It wasn't until she began working at Lammle's that she felt a connection to the city, not to mention an old itch to get back on air.
“I'm as country as country can be,” says Brown. “Country music is definitely who I am. These people who were coming into Lammle's, they are as country as I am or I was as country as they are.”
So just over a year ago, Brown did her first show from what she called Studio 1, which is actually her basement. She focused on Irish and country music and used the tag line “a wee bit of Ireland in Canada.” She reckons she attracted about five listeners.
A year later, Brown says she can attract up to 5,000 listeners from around the world with more than 20 DJs from Ireland, Scotland, England, Canada and the U.S. providing music and news and other radio goodies seven days a week, 24-hours-a-day. Listeners, meanwhile, can connect live with DJs and each other in a chat room.
For now, all hosts volunteer their time and get free rein when it comes to the sort of music they focus on. Yes, there's a lot of Irish music, but not exclusively. DJs must have some sort of connection to either Canada or Ireland, no matter where they are beaming their show from. So they range from Robin Dee's soft rock from Scotland, Marc James' best of “country, oldies and everything in between” from Norwich, to Jim McIntyre's golden oldies from County Tyrone in Northern Ireland, and Calgary songwriter Elliott Redeker's “Best of Canadian country music.” Some of the shows are pre-recorded and some are live. On Thursday, for instance, those who visited kelticradio.com throughout the day could have heard everything from a live recording of Amazing Grace by Celtic Woman to the theme song from Magnum P.I., and Vaughn Monroe's Let it Snow.
For her own three-hour weekend shows, Brown concentrates on classic country on Saturdays and Irish-based country music on Sundays.
“The only connection that we have is that when we talk to people we talk to them about where we're from, what the weather is like for us, what's happening here,” says Brown. “It's like someone coming into your living room and having a cup of tea or a cup of coffee or a Tim Hortons and having a conversation while sharing some music. It's never more highfalutin' than that.”
To tune into Keltic Radio, visit kelticradio.com.