Some radio nostalgia
It’s that time of year again – the kids go back to school after the long summer break and the weather suddenly seems to have a hint of autumn about it. The first leaves are falling from the trees and with the change of weather you can feel it’s the end of one cycle and the beginning of another. I wrote a post about September a few years ago and how it’s a time of new beginnings. In my life there are several moments where something new was beginning in September: Going to school, starting at “big school”, starting in the sixth form, leaving home to go to university.
As my previous blog post mentioned it is also the month where my radio and then later on voice over career began. I generally don’t spend much time looking back but every September I do have a moment of reflection where I allow myself to dwell on what I have done and where I started.
I first walked into a radio station to start work as a Community Media Liaison Worker on a September day some decades ago. I was to be working for the organisation Community Service Volunteers (CSV – now known as Volunteering Matters) who were running the “action desk” at Mercia Sound (studio pictured) in Coventry. As I discovered I was to be recording interviews with local organisations and charities and writing scripts for regular slots in each day’s programming as well as editing and preparing content for a weekly half hour show that showcased local community activity.
As if to reinforce how different things were then from now – my post was funded by the Government as part of the Community Programme. I took the job to tied me over while I looked for a proper job – in the event I got the radio bug and stayed at Mercia for more than 2 decades working for a few years on the Action Desk but then moving into presentation first as a full time presenter and then later a weekend and holiday cover presenter.
Even when I worked for national digital station Planet Rock I was still at Mercia as my weekday shows were mostly all presented from the former production studio on the top floor there and fed into the network.
It would be neat if I could say that my time in radio came to an end one September – but in fact that tidy cycle was not to be – I did my last radio show in May back in 2010. By then the studios were all stand up with digital studio desks, the music was all on computer controlled by touchscreens and audio was edited digitally on screen – a far cry from the world of vinyl records played on gram decks with fader starts, audio on cartridge and reel and reel tape all played though an Alice analogue desk with PPM meters.
My previous post has more on the kind of radio station Mercia was when I started – you can read it here.
I’m not sure how useful nostalgia is but I guess allowing myself a brief moment every September is OK. I started out in radio when it was still fun – at least it was fun to be involved with everything that went on in getting shows onto the air waves – whether it was as much fun for the listeners as it was for people involved in presentation I am not so sure.
Chris Radley – Voice Over
Find out how I became a voice over on the about page
You can download my voice over demos from my voiceovers.co.uk profile