For those who are unsure, the Radio Dj simply named “Olga” has been ruling the airwaves of Samoa with her matter of fact and down to earth approach to hosting the ever-so-popular morning shows of Magic FM here in Samoa. Olga, at any time could whip out a myriad of responses in live on air callers and respond and handle any situation with an ease that comes with her 10 year radio Dj Career, a fact that she shakes her head in realising that it has been that long. For me, personally, Olga has always been my favourite on air host, she’s the kind of girl at the party that is friends with everyone while she marches to her own beat while respecting the standards of others. So it was this morning that I sat down with her in her office in Savalalo and at first anticipating a slick and high profile radio woman, Olga steps into the door of the reception commanding attention with her Puletasi and peeps over to see what her young son is doing in her office (who at that time was clicking around on youtube on the office computer). This high profile Radio host is also the stations General Manager and runs her work in a family friendly environment. So I sit down with Olga and start setting up my note-taker and have a bit of catch up talk and explanation of what this interview is about etc etc.. and here it is. Enjoy. So, Olga, whats the full name? Olga starts laughing “The full name?” (mumbles out a long sounding name and starts laughing). “Well, its, Olga Moeileula Von Reiche-Keil.” Awesome, well, lets start with the cool stuff.. what would have been your coolest experience working here @ Magic? Olga thinks hard “Oh, I’ve had so much I’m not quite sure.. but there was this time when I had a whole bunch of little kids who came in on a tour and were running around while I was on air, the nicest thing about them was that they sent a nice poster that they drew at school (Vaiala Beach School)” Olga gets up “I’ll go get it, because I’m a show off” She runs off into the studio and comes back in with a large colored poster with little pictures and messages of thanks “It was so cute and I loved how they did it for me, so definitely, that would have been the coolest thing, for me”. What about, one of your worst on air moment? Well, not really, I guess everything is all good, if there was anything bad it would have been when I first started, I always did things by the book and then there was this bad caller who had called in and wanted a song, I couldn’t play his request and he started giving me attitude. What do you mean? Well, he was just being an egg I guess, it was all these swear words and him having this whole gangster type attitude. So I played that Three Doors Down song “Loser” and I told him “this one is dedicated to you”. But you know, over the years it came with experience. We get bad callers and then we get good callers its about not taking things personal. Recognised on the street? Olga laughs “No, not really, but you know, once I start talking, they take a second to think and then ask ‘hey are you the girl from the radio’. But generally its not a big deal.” How long is a normal day in the Studio? “A normal working day I guess, I’ve stepped back a bit from doing on the air shows and focusing on the behind the scenes stuff and we’ve recently just moved closer so there are some times when we’d have to rush back into the studio to do some last minute recording for radio ads or something like that, but, when we were living further away, we’d just leave at 5 and that was that” So what do you do for Fun, outside of work? Taking care of my clan, I have four beautiful children, the eldest is 12 and that takes up most of my time. So family is pretty much everything I do and work for. Oh hey, by the way, is there any kind of songs or artists that you just hate playing? Olga smiles and then laughs at it “Oh you know what? Anything from Celine Dion or Willy Nelson. But hey, you know, thats just Personal preference, our people love that stuff, but for me, I’d stay clear from that as much as I can” Would you say you have an Influence on the Youth here in Samoa? “Yeah, I try to! But I guess in smaller ways, I’m always finding that I’m pushing out positive messages here and there, you know, simple things, like manners ‘Please, Excuse Me, Tulou. Those are the things I stress alot, oh! And especially driving and being cautious on the road” Do you get any feedback because of that? “Oh yeah definitely, thats what I miss the most (when I’m not doing a show) is the amount of supporters ringing in saying ‘good work’ ‘you guys are doing an awesome job’ and the texts of compliments and good feedback, I look forward to that and it means alot.” Well, being on radio obviously has you listening in to a huge amount of different music, personally though, what are your music tastes? Or what are you diggin’ right now? “Oh, I’m really into Lady Gaga, Katy Perry the strong type of women artists and alot of the U.K artists like Lily Allen and of course Amy Winehouse, the wierd type of music” So to the Teuila Questions, What was the hosting of Miss Samoa like for you, did you enjoy it? “It was really good! A lot of pressure, chatting to the nation and alot of nerves! All together or overall it was a great experience and I’m happy that I did that” Do you agree: Yes, Definately. Would you host Miss Samoa again? “Yeah, I’d love to, I’d definitely give another thought into it! You know honestly, and humbly I didn’t think I did a good job, Verona is excellent at that type of thing – but I guess it comes down to experience, if I had another go, there would be improvements” Well, I think you did an Amazing job, both you and James. “Well hosting it with James was good he was excellent at making me feel at ease, we could read each other, like, opposed to working with someone older or..” Olga starts laughing “well, what I mean was, we were able to bounce off each other and he could read what I was thinking, so there was a professional connection there” So what are your thoughts on Teuila in general? “I love Teuila, I guess the highlights for me are the fautasi race, paddling and the regatta canoes and If I can make it, the float parade! – some of them are so funny with the floats but more importantly the effort that goes into it, seeing all the different displays – its special to see so I’d love to take the kids down and get them to watch that” So looking on to the future..what are Olga’s plans? “I don’t know, we (Corey Keil) just put our heads down and work so hard, I want to go to Europe, do alot more travel, I have a dream to take them (children) to see the world. Hopefully one day. But it all comes down to money” Olga starts laughing “Its always the case”. Any words you’d like to share to our 1Samoana Natives and the Samoans around the world? “COME TO SAMOA, TRY THIS BEAUTIFUL EXPERIENCE. This is a beautiful Country. I am always proud of our country and what it has to offer, not just in terms of how developed Samoa is compared to other island nations but the lifestyle is a totally different experience, there is so much to see and do and experience” Any places of recommendation? “Probably Lalomanu, Vavau Beach in Upolu, if you were to invite someone to come to Samoa to relax then I’d definitely say Savaii, everywhere in Savaii, every beach in Savaii its so nice and isolated. My favourite things to do in Savaii and have taken my kids would be the turltles, its an amazing experience, so come! Everybody come back home!” I couldn’t agree more! Thanks so much for your time Olga and can’t wait to catch up with you during the Teuila Festivities 2009!
