Give it a Million

“We've always waited for the day
And we feel the same way to
Understand it all for you
It getting closer day by day

Give it a million that's what we say
Don't stop, don't stop today
Stick to the top and we’ll meet you half way
Don't stop don't stop
Oh it's getting harder not to say we’re running away”

Give it a Million – The Make Believe

When I was about sixteen I thought I had my career sorted: I wanted to be a journalist. After graduating from high school I started the Bachelor of Communication Studies at AUT with the high hopes of writing for some fancy magazine. A quarter of the way through my second year I threw down a newspaper in hatred and decided right then journalism was not for me. Instead of embarking on the journalism major I went for radio with high hopes of becoming a star radio host.

That was all more than a year ago, and this time next week I will have sat my last exam for university (hopefully) and I’ll be in the big badass world. But I decided I can’t move forward without taking a quick look back at the year that’s been in the radio major, and that’s what this blog is dedicated to. It was a year of hanging out with the same thirty or so people and complaining bitterly about assignments. I ripped survey results to shreds (not literally, though there were times I really, really wanted to), sought up a budget for a radio station, wrote an entire radio journalism bulletin by myself (I decided radio journalism is okay) and burned through dozens of CDs with ads and music reviews and interviews on them.

I got the chance to be a host of our AUT radio station Static and this was an absolute highlight for me. Spinning yarns on the every week airwaves with The Sunday Panel, various other co-host or just by myself was heaps of fun. And with this came the music choice: I made it my mission to make sure every show I was in had sweet beats, and I soon realised what sweeter beats then the ones grown in our backyard.

This year, it’s been an absolute delight discovering and re-discovering local talent. I heard and subsequently saw live bands such as Clap Clap Riot, Black River Drive and Villainy, made friends with up and coming musicians like Will Frost, and immersed myself into the local pop scene with talent like The Make Believe. I also made sure to keep our history loud, by playing acts such as Crowded House, Split Enz, The Mutton Birds, and more recently separated bands such as The D4 and Steriogram. It’s been a year of giving it a million to New Zealand music.

All puns aside, I’ve really enjoyed the year at Static, and I want to end it with one of the most upbeat and funky songs I’ve heard this year. The Make Believe gives us this song with a positive message and to me, that’s the best way to go out of university: by giving everything a million because today’s the day.