Radio has been the love of my life since the days of Dave Lee Travis, Mike Read (First time round) and Steve Wright in the afternoon. I had always thought to myself I could do that. I made my demo and delivered it to radio 1 and every local radio station within a distance that a full tank of petrol in my Yamaha FS1E would take me. It became apparent very quickly that this was an industry that was going to be very difficult to get into. People suggested hospital radio as the place to start and I spent the next year or so in and out of them fixing bones broken on aforementioned ‘Fizzy’ on the wrong side of the microphone.
I finally got my lucky break in local radio 1500 miles away in Tallinn where my talent was at long last spotted and then spent 2 years presenting the breakfast show on Energy FM 93.2. It was for the largest radio group in Estonia which owned the top 5 stations, I had arrived. The idols I had grown up with shaped my presenting and choice of content which to some extent was quite a change from the old style presenting in the more serious, politically correct shows the Baltic’s had experienced previously. Prank calls and making fun of famous celebrities was not the done thing in this shy, relatively recently communist controlled liberated part of Eastern Europe.
I had fed the bug that had been implanted in my brain since the age of 14. Having to leave Estonia was at the time a very difficult decision to make, I had it all, a job in radio, a little bit of fame which I think most people have craved at some stage in their lives, I was doing what I loved and getting paid for it. It didn’t take long after arriving back in the UK before I felt there was something missing in my life, no longer did I shoot out of bed at first light, I wasn’t interested in news anymore, I didn’t even take an interest in music. My life had come to a boring, uneventful premature end.
Then I found twitter, I could actually talk to people that were on radio in the greatest country for media in the world. Chris Moyles is on there, you can actually send him and many other stars a message and hope for a reply. Don't hold your breath waiiting for one from Moyles though, he has his head too far up the place I think his microphone belongs. Chris Evans the radio and TV God of the 90’s is a regular too along with more of my idols from my formative years, people that made me what I am today.
Then one day I met a guy at an event organised through twitter by the Eastenders star Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale). It was the Aid for Haiti appeal, I was lucky enough to win the auction prize to spend the morning with Ed and Rachel on the Heart FM breakfast show in Birmingham. I had always wanted to see how ‘Real radio’ works in a ‘Real country’. Britain in my mind is the home of radio, where it all started and here was my chance to finally get behind the scenes of a proper station and watch how what I have listened to for so many hours is actually made.
On the morning of November the 18th 2010 at 7 am I walked into a real radio studio with walls of TV’s and computer screens, producers and real presenters, everything was nothing like I had imagined it. There was a script (Sort of) precision timings to meet time slots guaranteed to advertisers, news on the half hour read by a real news reader. That may sound a strange thing to say but she was the stereotypical voice of the news bulletin, I didn’t want to tell her to her face but she sounded like every female radio newsreader I have ever heard, but there she was sitting opposite me, word perfect with her cleverly self written, slightly different phrased twice hourly delivery, top job Mel.
I finally got my lucky break in local radio 1500 miles away in Tallinn where my talent was at long last spotted and then spent 2 years presenting the breakfast show on Energy FM 93.2. It was for the largest radio group in Estonia which owned the top 5 stations, I had arrived. The idols I had grown up with shaped my presenting and choice of content which to some extent was quite a change from the old style presenting in the more serious, politically correct shows the Baltic’s had experienced previously. Prank calls and making fun of famous celebrities was not the done thing in this shy, relatively recently communist controlled liberated part of Eastern Europe.
I had fed the bug that had been implanted in my brain since the age of 14. Having to leave Estonia was at the time a very difficult decision to make, I had it all, a job in radio, a little bit of fame which I think most people have craved at some stage in their lives, I was doing what I loved and getting paid for it. It didn’t take long after arriving back in the UK before I felt there was something missing in my life, no longer did I shoot out of bed at first light, I wasn’t interested in news anymore, I didn’t even take an interest in music. My life had come to a boring, uneventful premature end.
Then I found twitter, I could actually talk to people that were on radio in the greatest country for media in the world. Chris Moyles is on there, you can actually send him and many other stars a message and hope for a reply. Don't hold your breath waiiting for one from Moyles though, he has his head too far up the place I think his microphone belongs. Chris Evans the radio and TV God of the 90’s is a regular too along with more of my idols from my formative years, people that made me what I am today.Then one day I met a guy at an event organised through twitter by the Eastenders star Adam Woodyatt (Ian Beale). It was the Aid for Haiti appeal, I was lucky enough to win the auction prize to spend the morning with Ed and Rachel on the Heart FM breakfast show in Birmingham. I had always wanted to see how ‘Real radio’ works in a ‘Real country’. Britain in my mind is the home of radio, where it all started and here was my chance to finally get behind the scenes of a proper station and watch how what I have listened to for so many hours is actually made.
On the morning of November the 18th 2010 at 7 am I walked into a real radio studio with walls of TV’s and computer screens, producers and real presenters, everything was nothing like I had imagined it. There was a script (Sort of) precision timings to meet time slots guaranteed to advertisers, news on the half hour read by a real news reader. That may sound a strange thing to say but she was the stereotypical voice of the news bulletin, I didn’t want to tell her to her face but she sounded like every female radio newsreader I have ever heard, but there she was sitting opposite me, word perfect with her cleverly self written, slightly different phrased twice hourly delivery, top job Mel.
Photo above right: Ed James, Producer Steph, Rachel and head producer Kelly (with child)
Ed James has been laughing and smiling as he talks, (A must for any budding presenters reading this} still sounds as enthusiastic as I’m sure he did 8 years ago. Rachel sits eating her rice crispies scrolling through the hundreds of texts like a pearl diver prising open oysters, “Yes here’s a good one” I hear in amongst the snap crackle and pop, “let’s call this one”. I was surprised to learn that all calls are now recorded before they go to air, it’s not even the fact that someone might say something untoward for 8am in the morning, it’s more important that they sound interesting. It proved to me that my time in Estonia on radio had been raw, slightly cavemanish from a technical point of view, we would whack them straight on air and to hell with the consequences. But in civilised society where advertisers mean the very existence of commercial radio stations, it’s the companies spending their diminishing promotion budgets that are pulling the strings, or sliding the faders up and down as the case maybe.
I was totally blown away by the importance of one particular member of the team from Heart breakfast, an unsung hero whose position up until today I thought was just another job title given to someone who never quite had the talent to be a presenter, a bit like a Doctor that ended up as a vet. I couldn’t be more wrong, she was the person bringing it all together like a jigsaw puzzle without the picture. If I was in a potentially life threatening situation I would want Steph the producer in charge of reviving my heart to make sure it beat at exactly the right pace.
If I had to name one illusion that has been slightly shattered by visiting the Heart FM studio it would be how clinical it all seemed, you have to play 8 songs an hour, the news must be on time and most importantly the people that pay for our entertainment, the companies purchasing those valuable seconds in the hope we will all buy loads more stuff than we actually need or others want. There’s a new subject for tomorrows phone in.
I would sincerely like to thank Ed and Rachel, Steph and Kelly the producers and last but by no means least, the assistant producer Matt who makes sure that all those people calling in with a story to tell, or an answer to the question that might just lead to them going to meet Michael Bublé in New York no less, without him none of it would be possible either. He also works the heart website www.heart.co.uk/westmids where you can listen to the weekly podcast he somehow manages to squeeze into an already bulging schedule. Who said men can't multi task.
Ed James has been laughing and smiling as he talks, (A must for any budding presenters reading this} still sounds as enthusiastic as I’m sure he did 8 years ago. Rachel sits eating her rice crispies scrolling through the hundreds of texts like a pearl diver prising open oysters, “Yes here’s a good one” I hear in amongst the snap crackle and pop, “let’s call this one”. I was surprised to learn that all calls are now recorded before they go to air, it’s not even the fact that someone might say something untoward for 8am in the morning, it’s more important that they sound interesting. It proved to me that my time in Estonia on radio had been raw, slightly cavemanish from a technical point of view, we would whack them straight on air and to hell with the consequences. But in civilised society where advertisers mean the very existence of commercial radio stations, it’s the companies spending their diminishing promotion budgets that are pulling the strings, or sliding the faders up and down as the case maybe.
I was totally blown away by the importance of one particular member of the team from Heart breakfast, an unsung hero whose position up until today I thought was just another job title given to someone who never quite had the talent to be a presenter, a bit like a Doctor that ended up as a vet. I couldn’t be more wrong, she was the person bringing it all together like a jigsaw puzzle without the picture. If I was in a potentially life threatening situation I would want Steph the producer in charge of reviving my heart to make sure it beat at exactly the right pace.
If I had to name one illusion that has been slightly shattered by visiting the Heart FM studio it would be how clinical it all seemed, you have to play 8 songs an hour, the news must be on time and most importantly the people that pay for our entertainment, the companies purchasing those valuable seconds in the hope we will all buy loads more stuff than we actually need or others want. There’s a new subject for tomorrows phone in.
I would sincerely like to thank Ed and Rachel, Steph and Kelly the producers and last but by no means least, the assistant producer Matt who makes sure that all those people calling in with a story to tell, or an answer to the question that might just lead to them going to meet Michael Bublé in New York no less, without him none of it would be possible either. He also works the heart website www.heart.co.uk/westmids where you can listen to the weekly podcast he somehow manages to squeeze into an already bulging schedule. Who said men can't multi task.I learned one very important thing today, radio is not about Chris Moyles, Chris Evans, or Ed James, it’s about a group of people that all contribute individual skills that gel together into that magical media that is radio.
My heart belongs to media and the chance, along with a great team behind me, to reach that special place in the early morning listener’s homes, cars and workplace. I hope one day I can put my heart where my home is, radio.
My heart belongs to media and the chance, along with a great team behind me, to reach that special place in the early morning listener’s homes, cars and workplace. I hope one day I can put my heart where my home is, radio.
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