Channel 4 FM Fan Blog

Who will be the next Channel 4 and Reef Mall Radio Star 2006? Come on down to Reef Mall this Friday to watch the exciting finale!

After a really long delay (sorry everyone!) I proudly present to you the whackiest and most loved guy on the radio...DJ Moe!

Q1) Everyone knows you as DJ Moe, but what's your full name?
Muhannad Al Jazireh.....if i gave you the rest a lot of dirt will follow!..

Q2) And how long have you been with Channel 4 FM?
Got here June 2004.

Q3) You handle the "Evening Show" every day and also the "In the Club" show...don't you ever get a day off?
You know, i've gone on for quite a while with no days off and i've had my vacations so i think it's balanced. I mean, I love talking on air, I love not knowing what kind of a phone call I'm gonna get and to have the chance to improvise on the spot is more than satisfying for me. The other thing is I feel awkward if I'm not doing my show, it's like letting the listeners down and I'm here to make friends.

Q4) What's the best part about being on the radio?
Well it's many things, most of which, i can say, is talking to different cultures on radio and having to play out music. That does it for me. I've been doing this for more than 14 yrs.

Q5) Has anyone ever screamed in public, pointed at you and went "Oh my GOD! It's DJ MOE!!"
Ah, Yes!....it's great to be recognised for what you do. It's your own personal trophy when someone comes up and says "Dj Moe?"...it means that people appreciate and are satisfied with my work and hopefully more in the future. They're my boost to work everyday.

Q6) You do realize you have quite a large fan following here...
I would like to think so and hope you're right. At the end of the day, if someone is listening then I'm happy.

Q7) You're described as 'the whackiest DJ in town'...are you always this peppy or is it just on-air adrenaline?
Whackiest, craziest, anything that's loud is what i like being and doing. "On air adrenaline" you say, yep, that's part of it. After nearly 15 yrs of being on radio, i still get the stomach knots before i go on air and as soon as i see that "ON AIR" light go on, it's showtime!! :o)

Q8) So what do you at the end of the day to unwind?
Well a lot of the listeners know what i do at the end of each show. I make my way down to Rock Bottom for a game or many games of pool. If i'm not out there i cook me a meal ( can't cook to save my life!!)...and veg in front of the TV. During the day, well there's lots to do, just trying to keep a regular routine, just don't know what it is yet!.

Q9) You're quite the Cupid...I heard that a number of people have proposed to their better half live on your show!
Yeah, we've had quite a few of those, some direct and some indirect. I remember when i first started the show and i had the jitters not knowing if i can get personal with the listeners or not and how far i could go in saying and asking things of them, but thank god they're all out going people and love a conversation. Anyways, i'd go on air and ask people to call and say what they want, this one particular nite i said ".....and if you wanna propose to someone go ahead, anything goes" A listener calls up, as i recall her name was Caroline, she said that she can't believe what she was about to do on air, but she wants to and voila, it came out, she proposed live on air to her partner....didn't get my invite yet! :o(

Q10) You remind me of Patrick Stewart from 'Star Trek' with the whole shaved-head look...
What?, you calling me an 'egghead'?

Q11) Apparently Neal has some juicy gossip about you, but he's not talking! So dish out some dirt on one of your co-workers...
Neal don't talk, i don't talk. Can you imagine the severity of telling people that Neal can't dance.....but as time passed, we had undercover cops track him down and we found out the truth, Neal Bowden CAN dance!!!!!.

Q12) Tell us something about yourself that no one at the studio knows.
Huh?

Q13) Your favorite song on air at the moment?
C'mon, i've been saying it for a few weeks now, MARY J BLIGE baby, Be without you.

Q14) Squash the rumor that you don't eat sweet things...
I don't like sweets, but truth be told, Neal and myself just ate some M&Ms....certain sweets a like, not most tho.

Q15) Name an album which people would be surprised to know that you own...
ABBA, greatest hits, i'm old school.

Q16) What do you think of the Channel 4 FM Fan Blog?
Dude, your doing a good job, more power to ya.

Q17) Thanks a lot for your time Moe..it's been great to have you on the blog!
Thanx for having the patience in dealing with a nut case like me, they actually give people like you trophies for talking to someone non existent!.....don't ask, you know what just happened right there, don't wanna scare your viewers away!!

Got to meet DJ Moe yesterday at Deira City Centre...great to meet you bro! :) Look out for the Channel 4 Road show which is out and about this week at your favorite shopping malls. Watch out for the Channel 4 crew this Tuesday at Reef Mall from 7pm.

And yes, I promise to get you the scoop with DJ Moe as soon as I can! :)

Inspired by a comment on my previous post, it seems that the Channel 4 FM DJs are in demand! I don't have a picture gallery of the DJs up at the moment, but you can always swing by the Channel 4 FM website for DJ pics and bios. I will try and snap up some shots for all of you, so just hang tight!

Channel 4 FM and KODAK are giving away a brand new spiffy Kodak Digital Camera! All you have to do is check out this page and send in your best caption for the picture. Have fun and good luck!

Wow I have really been falling behind in my posts! Apologies to everyone...work and other things have snatched away my free time! Promise to update more often =)

Channel 4 FM will be live down at the Sharjah Corniche for the Power Boat Races...and I'll be there too! Come on by and say hello and check out the awesome boats! And I'll be getting my final RJ interview done for the year soon! Keep checking back for more news and updates :)

Do my ears decieve me or do I hear a new voice on Channel 4? That's right, there's a new man in town, and his name is Matt =) A very warm UAE-welcome to Matt...hope you enjoy being here!

Ladies and gentlemen...I encourage you to click the itsy bitsy Google banners at the bottom of the navbar on the right...help me pay my rent! Please?

Wishing you all a very happy Eid Mubarak!

It's Ramadan and it really is the time for giving. Emirates Islamic Bank have teamed up with EPPCO & ENOC to bring a smile to someone's face this Ramadan. Just stop by any Eppco or Enoc petrol station or any branch of Emirates Islamic Bank to make a donation to help the less fortunate. So far the drive has raised over Dhs 60,000 and I'm sure that this amount is going to increase in the coming days. Go on and give a little..

I was driving to Dubai today at 8am after a loong time, so got to tune into The Big Breakfast! Today's blankity-blank was annoying...can you solve it?

"75% of children will have a _________ by age 7"

If you have any solutions then give me a shout! So far I've ruled out cavities, mobile phones, acne, and ex-husbands...


Update: The answer is "75% of children will have an imaginary friend by age 7"

She's recently joined Channel 4 and is the better half of The Big Drive Home. Always sounding like a million bucks, she is infamous with celebrities and would trade wadi-bashing for snowboarding in a second. Say hello to Laurie Healy!


Q1)You're the latest addition to the Channel 4 crew...how has it been so far?
Excellent! Everyone at Channel 4 has been great...even Neal!

Q2)And what do you do at the studio aside from presenting "The Big Drive Home" with Neal?
I am also the Afternoon News Presenter and I host the RAK Bank Top 40 on Fridays at 5pm.

Q3)You always sound so cheerful on the radio...have you always had such a great personality or is it just really good coffee?
Let's just say, you DON'T want to be around me when I haven't had my jolt of caffeine!

Q4)You've been on the radio since about 1995 - what were some of your early memories of going on air?
Well, I remember my first on-air job included weekend afternoons for a small station. It was summer and we were sponsoring a 24-hour baseball tournament. We even managed to put a team together ourselves. We played ball and partied all night long, then I had to get to the station for my show. As I left the ball park, sleep-deprived, my boss told me to keep every break SHORT that afternoon...30 seconds or less. But I had SO MUCH TO SAY, I must have talked 5 minutes during my first break, chatting about the tournament and all the great people taking part. When I got hauled into his office on Monday to be reprimanded, he was incredibly concise in his displeasure...a hard lesson in getting to the point!

Q5)You worked at "Peak 107.3" in Calgary before it switched to playing classic rock. Your listeners back home really miss hearing you on the air...they told me so!
That's nice to hear! I loved the Peak and the listeners were incredible. A couple of us stayed on after the flip. I maintained a management roll for another year with the company, but missed being on-air, so I jumped at the chance to come to Dubai.

Q6)Moving to the U.A.E must have been quite a shock to your system...I mean we have 10 months of summer!
Everyone thinks Canada is so cold! And I suppose it is compared to July and August in the U.A.E. The crazy thing is, though, I wear sweaters all the time here...I'm always cold because of the air-conditioning!

Q7)What do you miss the most from back home?
I miss my friends and family, of course, but I also miss the 'green-ness.' Where I live here, it's all cement and sand. I miss green grass and trees. In Canada, I lived just an hour away from the Rocky Mountains. I love running, snowboarding in the winter, and just being outside in natural settings (ie: away from traffic!).

Q8)Tell us something about yourself that no one at the studio knows about you...
Hmmm, sadly I'm not much of a mystery!

Q9)What's the biggest personal challenge you've faced in the years you've been on the radio?
I'm probably going through it right now, in this job. I've never been a news presenter before, so it's been a bit of a learning curve for me.

Q10)Dish out some dirt about someone at the studio...
Nice try!! I haven't been here long enough to screw anyone over yet!

Q11)What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you while you were on the air?
I'm really good at blocking that stuff out! I did cross the line with Dido once. She and I had been talking over the phone, a great interview. We were chatting like old friends. But I got too comfortable. Off-air I asked her to say a line for the station...something like "Hi, This is Dido and you're listening to The Peak 107.3" (Artists say these lines all the time for stations). She said it once and it just sounded a little flat. But instead of just asking her to do it again, I felt like I could be honest with her. So, I said, "Okay, now can you SAY IT LIKE YOU MEAN IT!" Ouch! I give her full credit, she bit her tongue, just responding with a clipped, "uh, right," and then repeating the line. I've never been asked to interview her again!

Q12)Favorite song at the moment?
I think KT Tunstall is fantastic. I love "Other Side of The World."

Q13)What's the best part about being on the radio?
I've had a number of roles within radio stations, on-air and off, and the best part about being on the radio is the sense of autonomy it gives me. Even though I have a boss, when I'm on air it doesn't feel like it, not in the same way a 9-5 gig does. Plus, playing music, talking to people, giving away prizes, making someone's day...how do you pick the best part of that?...it's all fantastic!

Thanks a lot for your time Laurie, it's been great to have you featured on the Channel 4 FM Fan Blog!

Well...today's Josh Anderson's Birthday! And though he'd like to forget about it I'm sure, we're not going to let him! =) So here's wishing the very best to you Josh on your birthday from everyone here at the Channel 4 FM Fan Blog!