Shamus Neeson: Arts Champion

Welcome to Airdrie Inside. We are the city’s narrative infrastructure—the platform for the builders, weavers, and warriors who form the fabric of Airdrie.

In this episode, host Chris Glass sits down with Shamus Neeson, a man of many hats and one singular heart. Shamus is a recruitment manager for Canadian Blood Services, a veteran radio personality, and a foundational member of the Airdrie Arts and Culture Council.

The Strategy of the Signal Shamus discusses the "Apathy Gap" in blood donation, the City’s mandate for self-sufficiency, and why 100% of Canadians expect blood to be there when they need it, even though only 1.35% donate. But the conversation doesn't stop at the clinic. Shamus reveals how "Small Talk Leads to Big Opportunity," his journey from Saskatoon to becoming a fixture in Airdrie’s arts scene, and the secret behind the "Voice of God" in the music industry.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Bada bing bada boom. What what did you do? I ate some cookies. I drank some juice. I saved someone's life. And when we uh do our presentations in high schools, we always ask people just to close their eyes and think of someone that they love. Welcome to Air Drew Inside with your host, Chris Glass.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

We are here at Micro Acres. Uh, this place smells great. Uh, you have to check them out. You can find them at your local ranch. They've been gracious with their space. This is our third straight time uh recording here, and we love it here. And I have a great guest for you. I have the Voice of Air 106, one of the uh champions of arts and culture here. Seamus Neeson, welcome to the show. Well, thank you very much.

SPEAKER_01 0:45

And I have to uh mirror what you said. It smells really nice in this building. Very fresh.

SPEAKER_00 0:50

Yes, and it's not me. It's the thing, and everything else smells nice.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

I walked in and I was like, what am I walking into?

SPEAKER_00 0:57

So, Seamus, I gotta start off right now by thanking you for triggering me uh with your sweater. Uh, I hated the St. Mary Saints. I was a Dr. E. P. Scarlet Lancer back in the day. Oh, yeah. And we used to fight Bill McConkie's team all the time. Oh man. So yeah, absolutely. So I just uh I I appreciate the the old school vibes and I hated at the exact same time. So okay. Well, I'm glad it weren't then. Yeah. Stimulate some conversation. Absolutely. So, Seamus, tell me a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

Well, where do I start? Yeah. Uh so um I'm 48, it's gonna be 49. Uh, I moved to uh Airdrie almost two years ago. Uh my girlfriend, who is amazing, lives in Airdrie, and I was living in Calgary. So for 10 years, I was making the drive in, I want to say three or four times a week. And then the time came just to buy a place. I was like, let's do it in airdry. And I'm very happy that I did because I'm starting to plant some uh roots in the city and I absolutely love it.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Yeah, yeah. It it is one of those cities where you move to at thinking this might be transitional, this might be a step in my journey. And then that was it for me. I came back from Edmonton, couldn't afford a house in Calgary, settled on airdry, and then fell in love with this place and kind of laid my roots and became uh kind of a fixture here. Like I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:17

Well, it's so easy to do it. I mean, really, the people are phenomenal, super friendly, super easy to talk with. And then you've got everything that you'll ever need here. And if it's not here, it's like 10 minutes down the road. It's easy.

SPEAKER_00 2:29

Absolutely. Plus, we almost have a Costco.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Almost. I just go for the hot dogs and gas. That's it.

SPEAKER_00 2:35

Yes. Yeah, the hot dogs are a great perk. So let's talk about some of your many roles here. So part of my reason why I wanted to have you on is uh you've built some pretty big ties with the radio station, with the arts and uh culture council. Um, I think those two things are part of our community here. So talk to me a little bit about your involvement with both. Okay, sure.

SPEAKER_01 2:58

Uh I have to clarify, my role with the radio station is minimal.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

I still hear your voice on it though.

SPEAKER_01 3:03

Whenever they uh need an extra set of uh lungs, uh an extra set of vocal cords, they'll give me a shout and I'll help them out whenever I can. Yeah. I took the uh broadcasting program in Calgary at uh Mount Royal. I graduated in 2005, and uh I absolutely love radio. But the funny thing with radio is I didn't think my job would end up being in radio. The way that the program worked at Mount Royal is that first year's television, our first year is radio, second year is television, and I had a practicum in the creative department at A Channel before it flipped to City TV. A channel.

SPEAKER_00 3:34

Now we're going back with Dar McBoole on the roof. Absolutely. He was my favorite weather guy because he always looked as surprised as I was with the weather. He's always looking at the sky, going, Looks like rain, maybe snow.

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Yeah, he was a character for sure.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Dar, you have him, you have a Doppler radar that can tell you these things. It's like it's okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

No, A Channel was great. And it was fun working there. And I thought that at the end of my practicum in the creative department, which I loved, that they would offer me a job. And at the same time, I had a practicum at a radio station. And it was the radio station that said, Hey, do you mind staying on? I was like, Yes, I would love to do this. So that was back in 2005. Which radio station was that? I first got hired with um 88.9 Shine of Fam in Calgary. Okay. And uh I worked there for about a year before moving down to Lethbridge and starting working with a different radio station down there until 2010. And then I went from full-time radio to part-time radio because I got hired 16 years ago with Canadian blood services. Right.

SPEAKER_00 4:35

And I know how passionate you are about Canadian blood services. So I am.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

Yeah. So let's talk about that a little bit. Sure. Okay. Um, I think the problem with people not donating blood kind of uh surrounds itself around apathy, yeah, but also ties in with if you've never had to think about donating blood, your family has never needed it, you don't have any friends or family members going through cancer treatment. There's really no reason for you to think about Canadian blood services. But when you look at the stats, every minute of every day, someone in Canada will need blood. So, really, we're at a position now with Canadian blood services that we are trying to distance ourselves from can uh from the United States. Some of our blood products, because we don't have a processing plant in Canada, okay, gets sent down to the states, they process it, we get it back, and uh it goes out to people that are going through cancer treatments and whatnot. Um, the mandate that just got given to us is that we need to be self-sufficient in Canada, which means that my role as a recruitment um manager is to get more and more Canadians to donate blood so we can be self-sufficient, so we don't have to rely on any other countries. So we talked about blood products, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:47

Like a lot of people think I donate blood, they take it from me, put it in a bag, goes into somebody else. But that's not the case. There's there's plenty of blood products that come from that. So when you donate blood, what happens next?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

Well, if you remember some of the ads, every time you donate blood, you save the lives of three people. That's because when you donate blood here in air dry, you're donating what we call whole blood. So you're donating uh plasma platelets and uh red blood cells, yeah, which gets fractionated into three different elements. Um, so that blood that you're donating in air jury today, uh, within five days, an element of it will be transfused into somebody else.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

Yeah. And how many Canadians need blood services at some point in their life? How many people does this affect?

SPEAKER_01 6:32

Well, I I don't know how many thousands, but the stats that we throw out there is every every minute of every day someone will need it. Most of the blood that we collect goes towards people going through cancer treatment. And when you look at Canada as a whole, at any given time, 50% of Canadians can't donate blood for a wide variety of different reasons. Could be medication, it could be uh tattoos and piercings, could simply be just travel. But when you look at the remaining 50%, uh, one in 87 actually do. So it's 1.35% of Canadians will donate blood for those people that are eligible. But 100% of Canadians will expect it if they ever need it. So that's why my job is to constantly try to encourage people to come and see us. And it doesn't matter what your motivation is, because we could talk about motivation. Some people, all they want to do is go in there, eat their weight norios, and then they're out the door. The free cookies. But some people depends on how they start with Canadian Blood Services. When you first start donating with us, chances are it's going to be in a mobile neighborhood clinic. You're donating homework downstairs like that. Yeah. So your motivation is the greater good. But then all of a sudden they talk to you and say, Hey, Chris, have you ever thought of donating plasma? Oh, tell me what that's all about. Plasma, you could donate on a weekly basis. So when you hear those stories of people that have donated 1700 times in their lifetime, which is an everyday thing in Calgary, that number becomes motivation because everyone, it it the first time they hit 100 donations, they're like, that did not take me that long. And then 200 and then 400. Uh, tomorrow, I have to be uh a bit of a braggart here, but tomorrow, um, in the airdry clinic, I'm making 308 uh blood donation. Most of those are plasma because I lived in Calgary for a while. So I was doing it every week. But now that I'm living in air dry, I mean the clinic is like five minutes away from where I live, and it takes me about 27 minutes in and out. One episode of the bear is all it takes for you to save someone's life.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

That that is a good recruiting tool. Putting it in the term of TV shows, right? One episode of the good place, you can find out the twist at the end of C. Bada bing, bada boom. What did you do?

SPEAKER_01 8:41

I a I ate some cookies, I drank some juice, I saved someone's life. And when we uh do our presentations in high schools, we always ask people just to close their eyes and think of someone that they love. And would you donate, let's say, an hour of your time to save someone's life? I mean, most people would raise their hands. So yeah, sometimes it's an easy ask, sometimes it's not so easy.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

Yeah, of course. Um, what are some of the challenges that are uh that you're facing right now? Obviously, that self-sustaining side of it has to be putting some pressure on the system, but what else is going on?

SPEAKER_01 9:14

I think, like I said, it's a lot of apathy. Apathy, it's a lot of misinformation that's out there. One of the biggest um, I guess, hurdles that we had for Canadian blood services is that we have these rules and regulations in place uh for years and years and years that um recently got um removed. For example, if you lived in the UK between 1993, no, what was it? Regardless, it was if you lived in the UK for uh a vast amount of time for more than six months, you couldn't donate anywhere on the planet. And that was because of mad cow disease. But now, um, country by country has been removing that based on updated testing. So even if you lived in the UK during those time frames, you could now donate blood in Canada. And a lot of people don't know that information. So they've got it in their heads that they can never donate once, now I can't donate ever again.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

That's right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

So certain things with Canadian blood services will change uh regularly. For years, we told diabetics, keep walking, pal, because you can't donate blood. But now it all ties in with whether or not they are insulin dependent. And then it ties in with the type of insulin. So right now, if you're diabetic, you got a pretty good shot that you can donate blood now.

SPEAKER_00 10:25

Right. And for somebody who's diabetic who needs uh insulin and needs life-saving uh intervention at some point, this makes sense because you can give it back and you can help out. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

What goes around comes around.

SPEAKER_00 10:39

I love your passion for this.

SPEAKER_01 10:40

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Uh speaking of other passions that you have, and and probably how you and I got to know each other uh first. I remember our meeting at the table. Uh, they're not a sponsor, but they should be considering how much I eat there. Uh little airdry gem. Oh my god, yes. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

As soon as I walked in, I've never been there before. As soon as I walked in, my eyes just went whoop huge. Because I mean, I'm a fat guy who likes to eat, and they've got this beautiful display of all their handmade foods. Uh I I think you should get sponsored, and I think next time you do one of these, it should be there.

SPEAKER_00 11:12

Well, if anybody's listening who has a connection to Chef Eric, uh put them in touch with me. We're gonna have him on the show. Yes, Chef. Yes, Chef, because man, that is an airdry delicacy. But uh, I remember sitting there talking about um uh the one of the roles I have with uh with Airdrie Culture Fest and and being on the board of Airdrie Culture Fest and your role with the Airdrie Arts and Culture Council, a lot of acronyms there, uh, and just working together on that. So talk about your passion for the arts and what what got you to be involved in the council.

SPEAKER_01 11:45

Uh well, it was a couple of things to be honest. Um, so before I uh so when I first got hired at Canadian Blood Services, I first got hired uh with my first major radio station, it was down in Lethbridge. I made some great friends there. Yeah. And then I had made uh a comment to a few of them hey, I just bought a place in Eritree. I'm gonna be moving there. They're like, you need to say hello to my friend Heather. She is on city council. And I was like, okay, I'll keep that in mind. And I was uh in the Canada Day Parade for Air 106. Yeah, I happened to know, uh notice that uh there was a politician, a local government person in front of me. Uh, she had her sign, Heather Spearman. So I introduced myself and she's like, Oh my gosh, this is great.

SPEAKER_02 12:25

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 12:25

Uh so at that point on, whenever I saw her, I would ask her a couple of quick questions and I said, Heather, I've got a radio background. I love music, I love arts, I love culture. Is there anything that I can uh maybe get my hands dirty with here in Airdrie? I want to grow some roots. Please point me in the right direction. And she said, check out the Airdrie Arts and Culture Council. They're they're looking for people to join their board. And I did, and I had a great interview with uh Amanda um and uh some of the other members there. Right. Uh Ryan was on there, and uh yeah, it was just great. It was a great fit. I felt the way that I kind of compare being on this board with uh Airdrie Arts and Culture Council is it reminds me of when I was taking the broadcasting program at Mount Royal. I mean, we all had the same kind of outgoing personalities, the same love for trivia, pop culture, music, movies, and we would travel in packs. So when I started on this board, all those amazing feelings came coming back to me because there's some amazing people, and we all have the same kind of uh likes and dislikes and just uh desire to grow the city.

SPEAKER_00 13:28

Yeah, you know, I I I really think uh the arts, whether it be music or or any other of the creative arts, uh, it really has an ability to give a city or a town an identity that wasn't there before. And I and I think it brings everybody together. One of the cool things about doing the show uh is I've been privy to some amazing artists. Like uh our first musical guest was Eden Taylor, and we were at Glitch Gaming, and and she played guitar, and uh this girl in front of me's voice fills this room, and uh it's an experience I'll never forget because it was the first time we had a musical guest on. Uh, but my my point in that is the talent in this city uh in so many of the arts disciplines uh is exceptional. And to see it showcased finally is is uh in my mind overdue. So I love the work you're doing elevating these voices and elevating uh these different groups that haven't had a microphone before.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

No, and I love the the passion that they've got. I mean, really, we're not millionaires, but we kind of have these things in our heart that kind of drives us. We have our nine to five job that pays the bills, but once that's done, it's almost like the last day of school um before summer vacation where we're busting out that door and we're now focused on our true passions, whether or not it's arts, it's music, it's um just making the community stronger.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Yeah. So talk to me a little bit about what uh the Arts and Culture Council has on the go. Because I know you have some events coming up. I know the uh Airdrie Walk, uh the Art Walk is is coming up.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Uh yes, the Airdrie Art Walk. And uh this is something that we're excited on because this is the first year that it's uh it's happening. And uh being a part on some of those uh meetings where people are discussing on what they want it to look like, it's uh it's inspiring because you again, you've got these people that have got a passion, whether or not they do it themselves or it's just intergrained in their DNA. Um, they just want to uh share their art with the city, and they want other people within our city of Eritree to be able to share the same gift that they've got.

SPEAKER_00 15:37

Yeah, it's it's uh it's cool to see that coming coming to the forefront. And you know, I was at inspired on the weekend, uh, you were there as well. Uh that building and to see how our arts and culture community has kind of rallied around it and and kind of taken it on as their home base has been pretty neat to watch.

SPEAKER_01 15:56

It's a gorgeous building. And uh I joke with my girlfriend. I'm like, if you don't, if you know that I'm not at home, I'm gonna be inside of that building for sure because we have so many events that happen there. Yeah. One of the uh the the events that we've got happening at the end of May, May 30th, it's a Saturday. It's a workshop that's aimed at artists specifically. So there's gonna be four different uh sessions throughout the day uh talking about different topics that kind of are um uh aimed at artists. For example, uh, if you don't know how to put uh your portfolio together, we'll have someone that's leading a session on that. If you're not too sure how to get your your art into studios and galleries, we'll have someone that talks on that. And the other one that uh really strikes home, because I think a lot of people can take this information. You don't have to be an artist. Yeah, it kind of ties on with that comment I made earlier. We're not millionaires. So we've got um someone that's gonna be talking about financial literacy in the art world where that gig economy is. Absolutely, it is a gig economy where they they have money coming in. It might not happen as often as they had hoped, but here's a way to be smarter with your money so you can make it last until the next gig is there.

SPEAKER_00 17:06

That's so many cool things are on the go. Uh, and and it's great to to see that being a part of it. Where do you see the the council moving towards in the future? Where uh in five years we take a uh wider view of this. What does it look like here in Eargy? What's the scene look like and what's the role of the council?

SPEAKER_01 17:25

I don't know if this is a pipe dream or not, but the way that I see it, and pipe dreams are okay. Again, because I'm I'm new to this, is I see the uh ERG Arts and Culture Council to be almost like an umbrella. So uh people will come and approach us. Uh, they want to work with us because we have those resources for them. Uh, we've got website, we've got the social media. So if you've got a smaller group that uh, for example, uh the francophones uh in Erdry, there's not a lot of them, but they're passionate, you know, and they like to eat, may we, but uh they want to work uh together because I mean, you know, it's it's one of those things again that we're doing is we're just celebrating the love of the different cultures within our our community. So I think in five years, um the um Ergy Arts and Culture Council will be the the the umbrella. Uh we'll be working with um a couple of other groups, we'll have our, let's say, five major events per year that is going to be the major focus. But if people are curious to see what's going on in their city, they go to our website and they'll see everything listed there. It's almost like a non-stop shop.

SPEAKER_00 18:28

Yeah, I I do love that feature of where if you don't have anything on the go, you can go to your website and you guys do a great job of keeping that updated where we can look and go, hey, oh wow, I didn't know that person was playing here, I didn't know this uh play was here, I didn't know this art display was going on and kind of picking and choosing uh from that menu. It's neat to see. Oh, thank you very much. So now uh let's talk about what art you're into. What what what's your passions here, right? Because I know you're a very musical guy. Uh so what are some of your influences here?

SPEAKER_01 19:01

I am a music guy. I love music, and I have to say that um even though I like most genres of music, just like everyone else, uh for a while I I'm just stuck in dance music from the late 90s, early 2000s. And I'll tell you why. It's because I'm trying to relive my my youth, having a great time, bartending downtown Calgary, not a care in the world, but these songs. And that's what I love about music. You know, you hear a song that will instantly trigger it, could be a good memory, it could be a bad memory, it could be a great relationship, could be a horrible relationship. But that's the thing about music. It's just got that power to instantly just transport you back.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I've got back, I just got back from a work trip from Nashville, Tennessee. So I'm on a bit of a country music kick, but you're talking about that song Remembers When. There's a song by Trisha Yearwood that talks about that, like could take you right back to that moment in that cafe where you got your heart broken or that person or you saw that event. It's a pretty powerful, uh, powerful uh uh medium.

SPEAKER_01 20:02

I also have to say, speaking of uh music, I MC weddings quite often for complete strangers. Um, because not everyone has got the gift like we do with our families. So if we're getting married, there's always someone in our family that can talk. Not everyone's got that gift, so they'll hire me to do it. But when we talk about first dances and I meet with the bride and groom ahead of time, I'm like, why did you choose a song? And I write down as exactly what they tell me. So when that song comes up and I'm inviting people to come to the dance floor to take the pictures of the first dance, I kind of go into explaining why they chose their song. Some people, it's their first song when they first started dating like 10 years ago. This is always gonna be their song. And some people it just the lyrics resonate with them.

SPEAKER_00 20:50

Yeah. Well, when you talk about first songs, so I've been a wedding DJ for 20 years, too. So I've seen my fair share of first songs, and uh it's usually that song that's popular that summer you get four or five at the times that summer. But uh for my wife, uh when we we were in London, England, and we were hopping between little pubs with a friend of hers, uh, who's just a brilliant human being, and we were having the time of our lives. We're listening to early 90s, early 2000s, and almost at every bar we went to, there was something playing. And we I remember sitting there in that moment and we were listening to the song. I'm like, this is gonna be our wedding song if we ever get married. Guess what song it was?

SPEAKER_01 21:29

I swear. All for one.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

That's a good guess, but we had to slow it down for the first part because it's a faster song. Okay, and so we had DJ Willie Snipes kind of handle the the music for us there. But it was I Wanna Dance With Somebody by Whitney Houston. Oh, which song which is a fantastic song, and to this day, still kills at weddings if you play it.

SPEAKER_01 21:49

Absolutely. I mean, she's she's got uh the voice of a golden god. I mean, even her rendition of the American anthem, yeah, was it the American second best of all time? Oh my gosh. Like it gives me goosebumps, and that's the thing with music. There's something about it, and I think it's because our brains are wired differently, where all of a sudden our bodies will react, goosebumps, tears of joy when certain songs come on.

SPEAKER_00 22:12

You're like, oh my god, I sure I remember this song. Now, if people wanted to learn more, I'm gonna give you two chances to plug here because there's two separate uh tracks here. Sure. So uh since you're a vampire or a blood recruiter, or I don't know what you refer to yourself, is it a vampire?

SPEAKER_01 22:30

I dressed, we dressed up as a team as a vampire, one one Halloween. So you can say it.

SPEAKER_00 22:36

Okay, so give me a plug for uh uh Canadian Blood Services. When's our next clinics? Where can people go if they want to donate?

SPEAKER_01 22:43

Well, we actually have clinics in air tree quite often. If you're ever curious to find out when and where, all you have to do is type in your post a code on our website, which is www.blood.ca.

SPEAKER_00 22:55

Blood.ca. How did you guys get that one?

SPEAKER_01 22:58

Uh we're wicked smart fan. Well, it was-I mean, Canadian Blood Services uh was created in the 90s because of a blood scandal that happened.

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 23:08

Uh so uh yeah, blood.ca, our phone number hasn't changed in the same amount of time. One triple eight two donate. There you go.

SPEAKER_00 23:16

Okay, and then on the second track, if people want to get more involved with the Arts and Culture Council or want to find out more information, where can they go?

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Uh, our website is pretty user-friendly and there's a ton of information on there. And uh, forgive me because I'm relatively new. I'm gonna say w dot ergree arts and culture council.com.

SPEAKER_00 23:35

Okay, and we will link that in the show notes. So don't worry about that. We got you covered, and uh, I know uh the support you've given us for Airdrie Culture Fest has been great over the past uh three years. So I look forward to having you're gonna have a booth there at our event. Happy to do it. We can't wait to see you there. And uh I really appreciate you coming on the show. Well, thanks for having me. It's been a fun, fun uh event together. Before you leave, let's get a Go Lancers or Go Mustangs. Can I no?

SPEAKER_01 24:05

Yeah, if you want. No, it's okay. They've got a good band program.

SPEAKER_00 24:10

Thank you so much for being on the show today, and thank you so much for joining us. We're gonna be back with more great episodes shortly.