I love the drama/chaos that comes with doing an RSL. There are many similarities between running a 4 day Corinium Radio broadcast, and being part of a 3 day festival broadcast.
Our studio location is backstage…behind the main stage. It’s not actually a bad location, until someone starts playing on stage. As I read the 13:00 news bulletin today, I felt as though I was reading the bulletin from the tube.
In some ways it’s not as good as last year’s studio location (in a building with lots of room for us all), but in other ways it is better: because to get to the studio we have to go right through the main festival site. I don’t think I went near any of the stages last year, I didn’t even hear them!
The similarities between Corinium and Wychwood: The dreaded technical problems! Specifically, problems with the transmitter.
There was one year not too long ago (before we got our own, good quality transmitter, and replaced a load of old cables), when we had an engineer under the table pressing buttons on the transmitter while the Breakfast Show was broadcast from the same room. A year previously, the Breakfast Show came to a complete stop for a 15 minute period on its second morning, while our engineer went on the roof to put the aerial back up, after it had blown down in high winds the previous night.
The Wychwood problem was much more dramatic: to the extent that the station was transmitterless for a whole evening, night, and morning. The planned 04:00 alarm was disabled at about 1am, thanks to me being half-awake when my housemates returned from the festival site, alerting me to the fact the station was off air. We eventually started again at midday today.
But no matter how much goes wrong this weekend, I am very aware that this weekend is the last Tone Radio activity…the last university activity…I will ever do. And I am going to enjoy it no matter what.
With the above in mind, the plan is to be on air from as early as 06:30 tomorrow morning.
In other news…
Tomorrow marks 1 month until the day I fly out to Greece, for my 6 week ‘Grand Tour of Greece’. The online check in for my flight should open very soon…from memory, I think it opens 30 days before departure, so it could be as early as tomorrow.
Just a couple of days before I leave the UK, I’ll be spending my last night in my student house in Cheltenham.
Yesterday afternoon, I decided how to commemorate this final evening.
I figured I should attempt at least once to cook an actual meal for someone other than myself. I will be cooking my favorite type of food (Greek food), and eating it with my housemates and a couple of other friends.
Bear in mind: I’m not used to cooking large meals. If it is all ready at once then so be it; if there are large gaps between courses, well…that’s the Greek way, isn’t it? I’m sure I can source some retsina to keep everyone happy. (Update: Looks like I can order the right brand (Malamatina) from the Hellenic Grocery website).
Next steps for me… Work out what ingredients I need. Work out how long it’ll take me to make each bit of the meal. And put together a running order – like the type of running order I use for my radio shows – so I know what time everything needs to be done by.
I shall keep you updated.
Bye for now.
FH.
