This weekend sees the broadcast of the forty-ninth American show, which is a wonderful thought as I am about to break the half century. I've enjoyed doing it, especially as the whole thing came about by accident, not unlike a lot of aspects of my career. One day I was doing some research into children's radio shows of the 1950s and earlier; having found The Lone Ranger among other serials. As The Sunday Alternative broadcasts from Nottingham, I tried to find out if there was ever a Robin Hood series and typed 'Robin Hood radio' into the search engine. Of course the first thing I found was a radio station called Robin Hood Radio, which I assumed was a community station based somewhere near Sherwood Forest. It wasn't until I had a look around the website that I realised this was an American station. The idea for the show didn't hit me straight away, but a few days later I put together a polite email to the station pitching the idea of marrying the name Robin Hood with the city of Nottingham. Luckily, they thought it was a good idea and that was that; suddenly I had a radio show in America, pretty cool huh?
I have always known that I wanted to do a job like this, and have the career that I have, I just wish that I'd had the courage to act on it sooner in my life. Part of the problem was not knowing how to act on it. When I was a kid I used to write short stories, film synopsis, even poetry on occasion. Apart from sometimes sending things to the BBC, (and having one of my ideas stolen) I didn't really act on it to take it further. Radio was the area that I really wanted to be involved with, as it seemed like such a glamourous world. Up to the late 1980s, there weren't the millions of radio stations that there are today; in our house Radio One was the default station, I heard Radio Two at my grandparents because it was considered an elderly station back then, local radio was either the BBC or commercial station. To a kid of my generation, listening to anything other than Radio One was alien. The music didn't really do it for me, apart from John Peel and a couple of enthusiasts like Alan Freeman, it was the presenters. It might sound weird in retrospect, given the 'Smashy and Nicey' image, and the fact that most of them are helping the police with their enquiries or at least shitting themselves every time there's a knock at the door, but Radio One DJ sounded like the best job in the world. Using two cassette recorders, one with a microphone, I was able to make my own radio shows in my bedroom. Due to the cost of new cassettes, I often used to record over things and re-use the tape; the exact same blunder that the BBC did with countless classic television moments, I regret doing it now as I'd love to listen back to the eight year old version of myself presenting a radio show. It can't be as bad as my first few Sherwood Radio shows!
My lack of an early archive is something that I would change if I could live my life again. I'm not as much of a hoarder as I used to be, but I do keep anything relating to my career. All the notes I made, scripts I've attempted to write, comedy sketches that I used to perform, stand up routines, all gone. I'm determined not to make that mistake again, and now keep and date everything of interest.
To go back to the comment I made about my career, it has all been the result of a series of lucky accidents. During my childhood and teens, I should have been writing letters, knocking on doors, and generally being annoying, but I just didn't know how or where. My parents didn't really encourage this ambition, (although my dad is now one of my biggest supporters to be fair, but we weren't close when I was growing up) so all I had was the dream. When I walked out of my marital prison just before I turned thirty, I was determined to make up for lost time, and I have been making up for lost time ever since which is why I now border on workaholic. The first lucky accident was radio; all I had to do was email a small rural community radio station, go along to meet them, and end up doing a radio show with 100% creative input. Okay so Sherwood Radio wasn't run as a professional business, and I didn't get paid for it, but if you listen to the 39 shows in order, you can see how I grow as a presenter. I was crap to begin with, but gradually gain confidence and the Christmas special that I did, (that still gets downloaded every year) remains one of my favourite bits of radio I have ever done. My joining Trent Sound was equally as easy; I phoned up and offered to continue doing the same show, and they said yes. The name The Sunday Alternative was thought up, (I don't even know if it was my idea, although I do own the name now), and I am now doing (in my opinion) a brilliant show every week.
I remember a family holiday one year (I think in Skegness) where I took a photo of a man who looked just like Elvis Presley, except he was in civilian clothes. When I got home and the photographs were developed, I wrote an article intended for The Sunday Sport in which I had spotted Elvis holidaying in Skegness. This was in the days when The Sunday Sport was actually quite a good comedy paper. It was never a 'proper' newspaper, but before it became a 'look at this sneaky photo of a soap star's tits' paper, it was known for comedic spoof news articles about Elvis being alive, London buses being found at the North Pole, Marilyn Monroe and Adolf Hitler being alive, people being born with a bum for a face, and all manner of amusing bullshit. My mum found the article on my desk and complimented me on it, (a rare moment of encouragment) and said that I should send it in, but I can't remember if I ever did. In fact, I didn't write for a newspaper until I moved to Nottingham. When Selectadisc closed down I submitted a guest-column about the death of independent record shops and they published it. I didn't write for the paper again for ages, when I submitted an article with photos about 'ghost signs'. The editor of Bygones, (the nostalgic sister paper of The Nottingham Evening Post) said that if there was anything else I wanted to contribute then I could send it in. I replied saying that I fancied writing live music reviews, he passed my details to Simon Wilson, the entertainment editor, and that was that. Lucky accidents.
The Internet has made it so much easier to get ahead in creative work, and when people ask me how to go about it I tell them to go ahead and do it, but do it for their own enjoyment. Podcasts, blogs, and YouTube videos are the easiest ways to get your work out there and see where it leads. The same goes for music, just record it and stick it on Soundcloud, (Internet promotion actually began with music when Myspace opened up the opportunities) and someone might like it. Steve's LP Box and Covermount are two podcasts that I believe should be radio shows, but by doing it myself I am not restricted to time.
So that is my advice to wannabe singers, writers, broadcasters, comedians, and any other form of entertainment; stop waiting for someone to ask, just go ahead and have a lucky accident of your own.
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