Soutenez

Orla Johannes, the British beauty on Montreal's airwaves

In the second year of doing these celebrity features, most of the wonderful people I have talked with, have been ones that I short listed as a base to start off the first year. A certain wish list I had but nobody that came out of nowhere, until the light went off on the Facebook media friends list.

Then, it came over me as in why didn’t I think of her before, someone unique and that we don’t know too much about, so I had my next interviewee. She’s been around the Montreal airwaves for almost 9 years, telling us about the traffic jams, talking about the latest fashion statements, and talking to people about their gourmet home-cooked recipes.

I am speaking about the lovely Orla Johannes, the petite lady with the to-die-for British accent, the long flowing blonde hair and those piercing, starlet eyes. Orla recently came back to the local radio traffic scene doing the drive home –early evening shift.

So I decided to have a chat recently with Orla and dropped by one night in the CJAD traffic booth during a quiet evening to talk about all things Orla. Since our conversation, Orla has been promoted to the plum morning shift, which I had the pleasure of having it announced to me by way of a happy text message.

Orla’s early days before coming to Canada were interesting with a sense of some adventure. She hails from Kent, England which is just outside of London and a graduate of Bournemouth University on the south coast with a degree in hospitality management.

Bournemouth is no slouch in British educational circles either. It has several well respected departments including The School of Applied Sciences (which focuses upon Archaeology, Anthropology, Geography and Forensic Sciences), The School of Health and Social Care, The School of Tourism, The Business School, School of Design, Engineering & Computing and The Media School. The reputed Bournemouth Media School is recognized as the only Centre for Excellence in Media Practice.

For Orla, even though she studied hospitality management, radio and TV were always her goals really early on. “It was an interesting course, it was like a business degree and I thought it was a great background to have, a business and marketing degree, it’s a good foundation for any industry,” said Orla with a smile as she was about to go on the air for one of those regular traffic reports every 15 minutes.

At a very early age in England, Orla was involved in the performing arts going to theatre school at the age of 7, danced from the age of 3 and always in dancing shows doing ballet, tap, and jazz, and doing lots of drama at school, winning sometimes and also confessed to me while on a sick day from school, she would call in the radio stations for something, so the fascination of radio was there.

FROM LONDON TO MONTREAL

Orla came to Canada 1998 during the ice storm but not before some travel and adventure in the USA.

“After University, a friend and I travelled the U.S., we sold peaches, raised enough money and we traveled all over, visited every single state and we had great fun, » she reminisces.  » We came back to England after the summer, we got proper jobs, and I ended up working for the Sun and News of the World newspapers, and while there I saw an ad in one of their sister papers for a job in Montreal, Canada. »

The ad stated that you needed sales experience and a business degree and she said to herself that this was for her and had her interview in London and by the time she got home that same night, she got a call saying she got the job. So 6 weeks after seeing that newspaper ad, Orla was flying to town during that January ice storm of ’98, which she thought was a great adventure and immediately fell in love with the city.

“Once I was in the job which was at Future Electronics, I identified with the city to follow my dream, I never saw French as a hurdle, because I always look on the positive side of life, and when I basically finished in the corporate world, I became a waitress at McKibbin’s downtown,” said Orla with a chuckle. 

ORLA’S DREAM ABOUT TO COME TRUE

So while at McKibbin’s, Orla started sending out demos, doing the phone thing and calling radio stations, sending out head shots and her resume by way of a mass mail out and got an agent around that time and quickly followed by a traffic gig at 940 Radio, and then got poached by the competition at Standard Radio (now Astral Media) to work on the 3 stations at CJAD/CHOM/Mix 96 around 2002, where her signature phrase “ Hello my luv” came to be heard and about 6 months before where most Montrealers really got to know her.

A new weekend show on CTV was about to start in 2003. The assistant of the show’s host heard her on the radio and was asked to do an audition for this new show. Orla continues, “The show was looking for a music and fashion reporter, and I was one out of 12 people who were asked to audition, everyone was from the Montreal Radio School and then there was little me, and I said no way I was gonna land this with all these people in training and you know what, I was offered the fashion reporter job after a week and I thought all my Christmases came together.”

The show was the light entertainment magazine show called Entertainment Spotlight seen on CTV for 5 years at 6:30 on Sunday evenings. Orla co-hosted with Mose Persico and together they displayed an easy chemistry which was a joy to watch as we watched her give us the scoop on the local and international fashion scene and we travelled the world with both Orla and Mose which made for a neat travel guide.

We also thought it was sweet to watch Mose Persico throw snowballs at Orla in their friendly way while on a Laurentians show in the mountains and listen to Mose call her by her nickname on the show which was ‘duckie’, probably after a character on British TV.

For Mose Persico, it was a great time for him as well. “We did produce some great television together. It was flattering when people referred to us as the Regis and Kelly of Montreal. Sadly, our show fell victim to budget cuts. The memories were all great ones,” said Mose Persico in a text message from Sorrento, Naples. 

The rest is history. Orla had to leave the Standard Radio traffic gig as it was taking its toll on her and sometimes not be able to stay awake juggling between the radio and TV jobs. Following her leaving CTV, Orla was offered a food and drink chat show at 940 which went for 3 years, which was successful and it was fun hearing Orla describing someone  cooking on the radio.

After the Table Talk show, Orla did a live Saturday night music show on Q92 and recently and happily came back to the Astral stations doing afternoon traffic and is now on the morning show of all 3 stations from Monday to Friday.

Also through the years, one might have seen Orla in films such as Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and St. Urban’s Horseman, which were locally shot here. As well, if you ever spent any time at a high end spa or hotel around the world, you also might have seen Orla’s name as a fashion editor in a top quality magazine called Yu. A peak at her website at orlajohannes.com will give you an idea of so much more about Miss Johannes that you never knew about.

THANKFUL TO QUEBECERS AND HER PARENTS

With the politics here in Quebec, I asked Orla if there were any difficulties early on with her signature accent. “I was never concerned and I think it’s an amazing asset and I am blown away and so thankful that a French province has welcomed me with open arms understanding the politics here,” stated Orla in a serious tone before going to another traffic report. “When I did start off in the industry, knocking on doors, it did arise, but always went into a positive direction for me and never, ever being a negative force.”

Certainly in a career that Orla has had so far, there have definitely been some positive influences with my expecting her mentioning some other big name out there. “ My influences growing up were my parents who always told me to be very positive, do your best and reach for the stars basically and I think that it’s a really a good foundation to give any child, you do your best, you work hard and try to achieve your dreams,” mentioned Orla proudly.

“My mom and dad always told me to work hard in school, I always did extra homework, at the time you kind of hated it, but then you realize it pays off,” continued Orla, telling me with a smile that she was a model student and proud of it.

PASSIONS AND HER FAVORITE THINGS

In my favorite section of getting to know my interviewees a little bit better, I discovered that Orla really loves her dog named Lulu. She hates pet abusers and dislikes what’s going on in puppy mills. As for other hobbies… “My hobbies are yoga, I love working out and taking my dog for a walk. My dog Lulu is a white Labrador, she’s two years old and she’s the apple of my eye. I love cooking for my husband, going out to dinner with my girlfriends, love traveling, and I really enjoy getting dressed up with hair and makeup, going to a wedding and having a blast. » 

What are some of Orla’s favorite shows? It came as no surprise to me that those good old British soaps were still on top and no.1 was the long running Coronation Street along with the EastEnders and The Real Housewives. Orla goes on to say, “For music, I love feel good music, lots of 80’s songs, and also a lot of Top 40 as I am a big Virgin Radio listener. My classic movie favorites are Dirty Dancing and Grease and all those movie musicals.”

But before going on to my last question, Orla really wanted me to mention another hobby or passion that her husband is not too happy with.

“I love shopping, I am addicted to shoes, handbags, and makeup, I’m a sucker for marketing and packaging and I love Christian Louboutin shoes,” said Orla with her infectious giggle.

Orla’s future plans and projects would seem to be simple and an expected next step, while continuing to be happy and being a bright personality around the stations. “I would love to be back on television, and would like to have my own radio program on whichever station. »

For Orla Johannes, who dislikes negativity, she says it’s important to stay away from negative people. Montrealers have come to know her as a genuine positive person. So next time you see Orla in person at possibly a radio station event, do greet her by saying, “Hello my luv”. It will really make her day!

Articles récents du même sujet

Mon
Métro

Découvrez nos infolettres !

Le meilleur moyen de rester brancher sur les nouvelles de Montréal et votre quartier.