'I recognised the struggles': Longford radio presenter and blogger teases new work

Rachel Masterson is a Longford blogger and volunteer radio presenter. Married to Greig Berry since 2023, and having a daughter in July 2025, she has plenty going on in the near future. She was the founder and editor of Ceol Caint between 2015 until 2018, which focused on Irish music. From 2015 until 2019, Rachel Writes Stuff took off, having poetry and personal blogs. She currently volunteers for 8Radio, as well as works for Music Generation as a resource executive.

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With a new member of her family in her life, Rachel came to chat about her beginnings in Longford, how luck brought her into radio, and how she has a new project ready for 2026: https://www.instagram.com/onmotherhood.ie/

Where in Longford are you from?
I’m originally from Longford town. Grew up in Longford town and live in Ballinalee now.

Would you tell me your first experience with blogging?
Straight out of college. I got a job as a content writer in a company in Cork. It was a blog that was doing quirky news. And I worked there for about ten months. It was a startup. It didn’t fully take off.

When that shut down, they exported our content. Some time there, I set up a blog to put all the work that I’d done on that website. It spanned my own writing, I suppose, and content creation. I did my undergrad in Ballyfermot College of Further Education and my master’s in NUI Galway. I had a funny background. My undergrad was in radio programming and production, and media production management. My master’s is digital media.

Would you tell me a little bit about Rachel Writes Stuff?
It was really, I suppose, a personal blog. A lot of different content around mental health, living in Longford. Those were two of the main things.

I ran a marathon. I put the journey of the marathon on it. Yeah. I did some podcasting. I had the podcast hosted on the website. It was really a mix of stuff. I did a lot of music interviews; music blogging. I also had a full music blog. I don’t think it’s online anymore.

It was an Irish-dedicated music blog, just for Irish music. That was all about interviewing and reviewing up-and-coming Irish acts. That was the one I had the most focus on. The Rachel Writes Stuff was a personal mismatch of stuff.

How did you start building up your blog(s)?
The music one was the most relevant because at one point, that was full-time. I haven’t done it in a long time. The music blog was my full-time work for a while. I lived in Dublin and I used to meet musicians, interview them, go to gigs, do the reviews.

That’s how I got my work in 8Radio. I’d talk about the bands. Through that work, I got hired by Electric Picnic and was the official blogger for 2016-2017.

Concerning 8Radio, would you tell me what you do and how you got started?
I was very lucky in going to college in Ballyfermot. There were amazing lecturers and students. I made a lot of contacts. My college lecturer set up 8Radio.com. When he launched it, I got in touch with him to be on the station. It was through that that I got my slot. It’ll be ten years this year. I joined in 2015 but it was started in 2013.

I started with a Thursday night on “A Cuppa With.” I’d meet a musician, have a cup of tea. It was informal, talking about their life and music, to farming and gardening. That was a fun thing to do. I did that until 2021.

During Covid, the conversations naturally went to how they’re struggling with the lack of work and gigs. That was quite difficult to maintain. That’s where I started doing the podcast series on the mental health side in the music industry. I recognised the struggles.

Once I did that in 2021, and had it broadcast on 8Radio and archived on Rachel Writes, I moved to a Sunday morning. Normally, when not on maternity leave, I’m on 9am on a Sunday as Rachel Berry.

I’ve been doing that since 2021. If anyone would like to listen, I’ll be on Christmas morning, people can listen by downloading a free app on 8Radio Ireland. Follow 8Radio on any social media channels.

Do you still blog even today, now that you don't write for Rachel Writes Stuff?
I still write in many ways. I’m on maternity leave. I’m not doing anything right now. Up until maternity leave, I’m still doing 8Radio and doing shows over the Christmas break.

That’s weekly music, talking about music, interviews. So, that’s ongoing. In my work, I do a lot of my writing work with Music Generation Longford, so I do the emails and blogs for the job.

I always do it in any part of my work. I focus on poetry and performing spoken word. I’m working on launching a new website in the new year between motherhood.

I’ve been working on a project about being a new mother. I hope to launch it in mid-year. Yeah, I always have something going on.

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What do you often hope your readers will get from your upcoming work?
It’s totally different. It’s about motherhood and it’s poetry and art, and a podcast and a blog on motherhood. It’s going to be called “On Motherhood.”

Why I’m doing it is because it’s a place in my life, content with what I’m most experiencing. I’ve been lucky to go to mother-baby groups and exercises.

Through that, it can be isolating at home, as wonderful as it is. When you go to these groups, you realise that there is a connection and a need for connection.

It really hit home with that saying: “It takes a village.” It takes a village with a community of mothers bouncing ideas, experiencing hardships, and wins each week.

That’s where it stems from. The whole transition from being totally doing whatever I want into motherhood. It’s all-consuming. It’s a full part of my life now.

It’s a lot of talking about that transition, that change, what it means, how people can adapt, resources and local support. I want it to be locally content-based. There’s so much if they’re feeling isolated or make a community.

That will be OnMotherhood.ie. I’m on a self-imposed social media ban. If you want to be my first followers, join it on Instagram. Trying not to do anything until my maternity leave is over.

What has been your greatest achievement?
The first one was being hired by Electric Picnic, paid to go to the festival and review the gigs for the weekend for two years.
That was amazing. I was away travelling for a third year. Then they went in different directions with content and Tiktok by that stage.

The two years were absolutely amazing, and that they found me through my content was super. My second, in 2021, I created a six-part podcast on music and mental health.

The idea was audio content to help musicians navigate the slower return to live music. In each podcast episode, there was an interview with a mental health expert and musician.

How to know your work, get back to life, music. How to deal with imposter syndrome. All these topics with musicians who didn’t know when they’d go to work.

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Do you have any advice for young Longford individuals who may want to begin blogging or radio?
Creating the content is so important. In the start, start writing, creating podcasts and content for people. I’d say this to musicians, create the content. It doesn’t have to be perfect, but keep doing it. Once you have content, start networking to get people in the industry.

Don’t be afraid to get out there. That was a big thing for me, making those contacts. You’d never know when you’d make a contact to interview. Create the contact and don’t be afraid to get out and about