Worldwide DJ (Press release)

Robert Herrington / rherrington@nobles villedailytimes.com DJ Sir Pipe welcomes listeners through the slender microphone positioned in front of his armed chair.

The city of Noblesville has been exposed to the world.

Each Thursday, Friday and Saturday, cyber waves cross 10th Street and stretch over oceans, reaching music lovers in places many residents will never visit. Echoing in the minds of people Terry Oelmann will never know.

No matter. That’s part of the fun.

Sitting in his cozy, Division Street apartment, DJ Sir Pipe prepares to go live with the Sir Pipe Variety Show.

The computer center takes up the corner of his living room. Sitting in front of it, next to a dim light and his dog, Taz, Oelmann pushes his mouse across a faded purple Scooby-Doo mouse pad and clicks. In moments, the theme song to his favorite cartoon begins…“Scooby-Dooby-Doo, where are you….”

It’s his show on the United Kingdom-based radiogetswild.com. He can do what he wants.

And for the next three hours, he does.

DJ Sir Pipe welcomes listeners through the slender microphone positioned in front of his armed chair. He explains he is being interviewed for an article and begins to play his favorite tunes.

“I do a variety show,” Oelmann says. “I play a little bit of anything and everything.”

He begins each show with the Scooby-Doo theme song and often ends each show with “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong. Sometimes he even stops the music during the show to tell listeners the news in Noblesville.

His play list includes Def Leppard, Boston, Glen Miller and the Andrew Sisters and Hank Williams Sr. and Jr. He picks a song and highlights it. Guitar riffs fill the air.

In May, he had “a little over 57 hours and 14 minutes of music on my play list.” Due to a recent hard drive upgrade, he now has “170 hours and 37 minutes of music of various kinds” available at his fingertips.
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The radio station is family-friendly, he notes.

Oelmann’s regular shows are online Indiana time beginning at 7 p.m. Thursdays for a three-hour show and then 6 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays for two hours. Sometimes he fills in for other DJs, and sometimes, if a pre-created show is playing, he’ll chime in with a live feed.

The ultimate goal of radiogetswild.com is to offer all-live DJs all the time.

On air at home

It’s not boring, being on the air. Though Sir Pipe rarely leaves his chair, he is entertained by instant message chats with listeners and by automated graphics, such as cartoon animals created for radiogetswild.com members to use.

Tim Daymond, the station founder, also e-mails frequently as he listens from abroad. Often during Oelmann’s show, Daymond says goodnight. It’s in the early morning hours for the English chap.

“Sir Pipe I have found to be a very dedicated broadcaster who … has made himself well at home with all the other broadcasters and become part of our family,” Daymond wrote in an e-mail interview. “Like with most of our broadcasters, they have started from scratch.”

By day, Oelmann is a plumber with Plumb Works, hence the name DJ Sir Pipe. Nightly, he goes to the online radio site to do his show or listen to his friends play.

“Basically, this is my life,” he said.

Pipe’s dream

There are 36 DJs at radiogetswild.com, and Sir Pipe can tell you about each one. Though as more DJs from around the world are added to the roster, the list grows.

DJ Hardhat of Ontario, Canada, is a staple at the station. She was responsible for first getting Oelmann involved. He met her in a chat room online. She invited him to hear her show one night and write back and forth in the radiogetswild.com chat room. There, Oelmann was introduced to Daymond, who got Pipe first thinking about being a DJ.

“Terry is a great DJ,” Hardhat, whose real name is Corinne, wrote in an e-mail. “I knew he would fix in the minute he came into the chat room at radiogetswild.com. He got along with everyone.

“He’s the ‘hyper, in-your-face, let’s rock the world’ type, and then can bring the soft slow ‘let’s get cuddlin’ in there too,” she added.

It didn’t take long for Oelmann to get rolling. Once he decided being a DJ would be fun, he downloaded the needed software and picked up a thin microphone for his computer. Soon, he was testing his DJ skills with Daymond and the radiogetswild.com gang.

A few trial runs and he was on his own.

“I originally thought, ‘OK, I’m just going to be playing to just a few people,” Oelmann recalls between songs. “‘No big deal, that ought to be fun.’”

But during his third broadcast last November, an instant message came across the screen.

It was from Daymond.

“He told me that he was looking at the stats,” Oelmann continues with a smile. Radiogetswild.com receives 2 to 3 million visits a month.

“I just about fell off my chair.”

E-mail Laura at lhawkins@noblesvilledailytimes.com

Sidebar:

About radiogetswild.com

Station founder Tim Daymond explained recently that radiogetswild.com is an Internet community radio station. It was formed approximately 5 ½ years ago, and started by broadcasting once a week on a Sunday afternoon.

“Initially the station was set up as a hobby,” he wrote in an e-mail, “but it soon became clear that there were people in all parts of the world coming into listen and join in conversations in our Chat Room.”

He said it is hard to tell exactly how many people are listening at a time, since not every listener is a member, but there are an average of 2 to 3 million page views on the Web site each month.

The station also is the first in the UK where members can join free and become a broadcaster on the station.

“Approximately two years ago, we were approached by other DJs, who like us, wanted to play music and enjoy the comradeship that a community has to offer,” he said. “We increased the number of live broadcasts that were being undertaken and are now in a position of having 35 plus DJs based around the world, in the USA, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, Belgium, Holland, UK and Australia, all broadcasting from their own homes via the Internet.”

The station broadcasts live at least 12 hours a day.

“Sir Pipe (Terry Oelmann of Noblesville) and many of the other broadcasters have benefited from this experience greatly,” Daymond said. “So it has become like a school of broadcasting, but with a friendly family atmosphere where everyone can relax and have some fun as well as learn new skills.”

It does not cost anything to join radiogetswild.com, so the station has been self-funded. Currently, Daymond said he is looking for sponsors and other ways to help fund the growing demands of radiogestwild.com.

Recently, the station became available in North America via cell phones. Listeners can call up and get their radiogetswild.com programming anytime.

“Our eventual aim,” Daymond said, “is to broadcast via satellite.”

Getting involved online
- Listen — Get a schedule of shows (in London time) on www.radiogetswild.com

- Become a DJ — See if you have what it takes to be an online DJ

- Submit music — submit your band’s music to be played on the station

- Support — Support radiogetswild with ads or sponsorships

Content © 2004 Noblesville Daily Times