This one is about my more creative flair, most utilised on the radio Network I broadcast across.
The plan was working well, play the song and when there was the silent bit, pause song and play a random sound effect. Excellent fun! I kid you not, I even heard someone telling a colleague of theirs in River Island they had heard a random horse sound played in the P!nk song, Sober last night on the radio, ha ha.
So my plan continued, undetected by management (most importantly).
That was until.... a few months into my secret plan. When, I made a school boy error.
Great! I remember thinking every time I found out that P!nk Sober was on the playlist. (Contrary to belief, radio presenters don't pick their own playlist of songs).
What sound should I play tonight I wonder? Hmmmm? Oooh, I know, a fart sound, yesssss.
So off I went to research fart sounds available to download. Got one, plan in place, looking forward to continuing my random sound effect fun.
All was well, song played, sound executed. End of show, off to relax. Brilliant.
The following day....
Message.
Boss: Steve, can you pop in today, around lunch time?
Me: Sure, no worries, what time?
Boss: 12 noon.
Me: Ok, see you then.
Now, let me explain something pretty important within the radio world, it does not ever matter how well your show may be doing (or not) in some cases, you always know there's a possibility of getting the sack, it's true. So you enjoy every moment, whilst it lasts.
In my head arriving for the meeting, I won't lie, it had crossed my mind, is this the end?
Now, the meeting with this particular high profile figure within broadcast media, actually began like all the usual meetings we'd previously had at lunch time, with them eating their cheese sandwich and walkers ready salted crisps, so nothing unusual there then.
I had previously made a polite suggestion that perhaps our lunch time meetings could begin upon the conclusion of their lunch, of which I received a firm - no. Fair enough, you're the boss.
After they had finished their lunch and we had been having some light hearted chat, my boss glanced up and said, "I had a call, text message and email last night, telling me the entire network had gone off air and we had to take a listen back to hear what had happened, then we heard this..."
I was played an audio clip. Yes, you guessed it, it was a clip of P!nk, Sober and a random fart sound contained within where the silent part of the song usually happens.
My heart sunk, I turned extremely red. Inside I wanted to also burst out laughing, as it was pretty funny.
My boss then simply then said, "You won't be doing that again, will you?" It was a rhetorical question. Meeting over.
As a drove back home, my own self-analysis commenced. How did I get caught? Where did I go wrong? I discovered after speaking with an engineer friend, I'd left a few too many seconds gap silence following the fart sound, which had made the emergency music kick in (it's what happens if a radio station goes off air for some reason), damn! And subsequently the silence that was too long had alerted every high level manager and on-call engineer within the radio network.
I also remember thinking the next day, well at least I know my limits now.
My internal mantra for my radio show was, it's easier to apologise after the event, than to ask for permission. You see, by then you've been able to do what you wanted and make that available for a demo reel when you are inevitably faced with the sack.
I enjoyed my show on the Hit Music Network immensely, working with some incredible talent, some of which I remain friends with to this very day and I thank them for all of those golden memories.
Good news! You can hear the best bits of my Hit Music Network shows, right here:
Steve Reed Radio - Hit Music Network, Best Bits Part. 1.
Steve Reed Radio - Hit Music Network, Best Bits Part. 2.
And if you don't remember the silent part in the P!nk song Sobre, check it out here on YouTube.
------
Steve Reed | Relax With Reed Podcast
Speak soon,
Comments
Post a Comment