The ground level of Union House is familiar to most students at Melbourne Uni. I’ll admit that it’s not my favourite place. The dirty microwaves and food spills can be a lot to deal with. But hidden away on the building’s fourth floor, far from the overwhelming smell of sushi seasoning and the threat of an asbestos-related death, is the Radio Fodder studio. Here, students broadcast their shows and sweet tunes to the world.

This year, Farrago introduces a new column—‘Fodder Feature’. Each edition, I’ll conduct an interview with the talent behind a show on Melbourne Uni’s student-run radio station.

One of Radio Fodder’s longest-running programs is Snappy Hour, a talk show which the presenters compare to “a sleepover with your besties” or “a brunch session with your gal pals”. The show is full of banter, celebrity gossip, games, crazy stories, rants, and nostalgic pop music from the ‘90s and ‘00s. I caught up with one of the presenters to discuss the conception of the show, the challenges he and co-host Monique Langford have faced along the way, and what we can expect for the show’s fifth and final season this semester.

Here’s my interview with Radio Fodder star Trent Vu.

(I love a bit of shameless self-promotion.)

 
So, Trent, take us back to the start. How did the show come to be?

Well, it’s a funny story actually. Mon and I were sitting on South Lawn one day, and we were listening to these two guys doing a broadcast outside. Not to be shady, but they weren’t very good. There was a club barbecue happening nearby, and someone managed to score three sausages. The presenters thought that that was the most fascinating and hilarious thing ever. In fact, they continued to talk about it for a good five minutes or so. Quality content, right?

So, being the cocky jaffies that we were, Mon and I were like, “We could totally do better than that.” A few weeks later, we saw a post on Facebook that said applications for radio presenters were open and we just went for it. Two years later, and we’re still here. They haven’t kicked us off yet [laughs].

 
Now, let’s talk about co-hosting Snappy Hour. What have been some of the highlights?

There have been so many. I signed up for a sugar daddy website once. We’ve watched Paris Hilton’s sex tape. Actually, the season finale of season four was pretty great. Mon wanted to do a Broadway-themed edition of Snappy Hour and play songs from different musicals. Halfway through the show, the aux cord stopped working. We didn’t know what to do, so we pulled up some karaoke tracks on YouTube and performed the songs ourselves [laughs]. We did ‘Memory’ from Cats, ‘Defying Gravity’, ‘Seasons of Love’… It was actually really fun.

 
What’s the best part of having a show on Radio Fodder?

I know this probably sounds weird, but Snappy Hour’s become such a big part of my life. It just feels good to have something to continually work on and I’m really proud of the show Mon and I have built together. I’m also grateful for all the friends it’s introduced me to in the media collective. I’d probably be a loner eating my lunch on the toilet like Cady in Mean Girls if I hadn’t met so many people through the show.

 
What’s the most challenging thing about Snappy Hour?

I think just coming up with fresh content every week. We’ve done Lord-knows-how-many episodes, so it’s tough to keep coming up with new ideas for segments that’ll be interesting. But we’re working on some pretty great ideas for season five.

 
Which leads me to my last question: what can people expect from the fifth and final season of Snappy Hour?

I’ve got a whole list of ideas on my phone that I’ve been writing down during the break. There are some hilarious stories we can’t wait to tell our listeners. And we’re planning to have some special guests on the show too. We’ve been talking about getting someone in to do a psychic reading for us for a long time. It’s gonna be a big final season, so everyone will have to tune in to get in on the action.

 
You can follow Snappy Hour on Facebook and on Twitter. Their video podcasts are available on their YouTube channel.