I do something similar. I run screen within screen; my top level screens are all separate remote hosts I connect to, each themselves running screen locally. O

I do something similar. I run screen within screen; my top level screens are all separate remote hosts I connect to, each themselves running screen locally. On one remote host I run irssi and use screen's 'M'onitor feature to alert me when people are talking. I also 'M'onitor the hosts screen for activity. This is somewhat convoluted but works for me.