Rosemary Drylie

Hello, I am Rosemary Drylie and I started taking an interest in radio during lockdown. I was looking for something which could engage a sector of young people across Scotland, whom I worked with at the time, and involve them in Participation. In particularly, a show geared to Looked After Children and Young People. I dabbled in an Internet format and ended up presenting a show on a Thursday evening. Young people would message me during the week and ask me for different tunes or let me know it was their birthday or they were celebrating something, or even just to ask for a shout out and it proved very successful, so I’m told!

I absolutely loved doing that because I’ve loved music all my life. My kind of music involves all different genres and if you saw my playlist, you would not think it’s from the same person!

When I was young, my parents had a traditional radiogram with lots of LP’s and 45s, dating way back to the 50s and music was on in our house all day long, and all week long.

I got in touch with Lomond Radio when they were attending a market event in Helensburgh and I saw a sign saying “volunteers wanted”. However, I wasn’t sure if they wanted a golden oldie like myself, as a lot of our presenters are much younger than myself. However having a young thinking mind, and great enthusiasm, they have given me an opportunity and great training, which has led me to present a regular Thursday show, every week between 2:00 and 4:00pm.

It's called “Thursday Tunes” and during this show I have a feature called “3 on a Thursday”, where I invite people to send in their three favourite songs and their selection will be played immediately after the 2.30pm news bulletin. This has proved to be very successful and I haven’t once had a week where I’ve not been given requests by people, so I’m absolutely delighted that this has taken off.

My husband Robin is very supportive of me being a Presenter, albeit he is quite bemused. My two daughters and son in laws think it’s fantastic and listen in at 2pm most weeks. If for some reason their work schedules don’t allow this, then they always get me on “Listen Again” a feature which is available on our website. Two of my grandchildren live in Delaware USA and apparently think when they shout at me when I’m on the radio, that I can speak back to them! Xander is 7 and Isla is 3 years old.

My four other grandchildren live in Banavie, Fort William, and call me “Gangsta Granny” which I find highly amusing. Allegedly this is because not many Grannies of my age like the kind of music that I like and play on Lomond Radio. I do have other hobbies as well and these include bowling, line dancing, singing, walking and camping. I can also be found 5 days a week at the Helensburgh Leisure Centre participating in Zumba, Aquafit, Aquabike and Chair Yoga. So there you go, I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied since retirement, haven’t I!

You can contact me on WhatsApp on 01389 888137.