thots on caoimhe and uaneen 19 December 2002
Bill Dorris

Caoimhe Buckley, graduate of Communication Studies, was awarded the Uaneen Fitzsimon's award, set up by Uaneen's parents, in her memory. Bill Dorris, lecturer in the school of communications gives his 'thots':

- caoimhe's honours thesis was a radio feature, entitled 'living the dream: an insight into irish pop bands'

i worked with caoimhe - or more to the point watched her work - over the course of many months, chasing up the likes of louis walsh, keith duffy, ronan keating, and eventually all six of 'six'.. when i would long ago have thrown in the mic and headed back to the safety of the archives..

needless to say caoimhe reminded me of uaneen not so many years back.. not only in her choice of subject matter.. but especially in the way she went about chasing it up.

i could tell from our first conversation about her proposed thesis, way back in term one - on the experience of boys bands - how they come about, what it's like on the inside, how it effects the stars who go from invisible to mars and then usually after a short few years come crashing back to earth, burnt out and forgotten..

i could tell from the amount caoimhe already knew.. that she'd be ready to do her interviews long before she had anyone in sight..

what i was worried about was how would caoimhe, as an undergraduate student, be able to rope in the big players she needed for a radio thesis on irish pop bands...

i might as well have been worrying about uaneen ..

here's a couple excerpts from caoimhe's thesis production log re her chasing up the big players.. in particular ronan keating and louis walsh

"the first person i approached was Ronan Keating. .. I was at a Paul Brady concert in Vicar Street, which ronan was also at. i spoke to him and explained about my thesis. he said he would be happy to do an interview for me if he was around. he gave me louis walsh's office number, and told me to contact him. i did this and was told to email my request .. having got no reply after a week, i again rang, and was told that my number would be passed on to ronan's tour manager. i never got a reply. i contacted louis' PA on several occasions, but there was nothing she could do unless ronan's tour manager got in contact with me. at this stage it was approaching christmas..

in late February i finally got to speak to Louis Walsh himself. He seemed quite interested in what i was doing and agreed that he would do an interview for me and would also give me an interview with ronan keating. however both of them were to be in Los Angeles for the next week. I was to contact him after that. a week later i began trying to get in contact with Louis. i rang him on several occasions, but he was always too busy to speak, or i would leave a message on the answering machine, but never get a reply. i called every night, and was beginning to get a bit downhearted..

on march 4th the Meteor Irish Music Awards took place in dublin. I got tickets..and got to talking to Louis Walsh, who said he had not forgotten about me and was still happy to give me the interviews.. After the awards i tired to get back in touch with Louis, but again with no success.

on March 22nd i heard that ronan was going to be on the late late show... so i went to the studios (minidisc as ever in hand) and sat in the television reception until Ronan was finished. Louis and Ronan both came out.. unfortunately Ronan was in a rush, but....

louis brought me into the Green Room and finally after a 4 month chase..(with television yacking in background) in his 'very abrupt manner'.. ever 'interrupting my questions'.. 'he gave me some really good material.."

multiply that by keith duffy, linda martin, westlife, tony fenton, ray d'arcy, and the 'six'

exactly.. and who's that bring to mind in spades.. uaneen.

as for ronan keating.. well louis walsh said 'i could get an interview with ronan after his concert in the Point Depot on june 23rd....i went back stage after the concert.. unfortunately.. ronan had only sold out half the point and before going on stage he's seen an upcoming tv documentary where the other four members of Boyzone slated him'... he was not in the best form.. so no interview.. and he continued on his european tour after that..

way i look at it.. ronan needn't worry... he'll get his break one of these days... who knows, maybe with a little luck....... he'll make it into..... Caoimhe's first MYV Special.