I was up reasonably early today, as I was taking part in the nationwide event Our Big Gig at the arboretum bandstand. Jason Loftus did most of the heavy lifting as far as this event was concerned, and put together a fantastic line-up of acts. In addition to that, there was a food stall, bar (alcohol free), craft stalls, massage, face painting, and probably other stuff that I didn't pay attention to.
Although the event start time was one o'clock, I arrived just a little bit late and missed most of the first act, the brilliant barbershop quartet QM. Bongo Bongo were next on, and had all the kids up and dancing. It was a little too early in the day for me, and as much as watching two very attractive women jumping around singing 'Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes' is no doubt very enjoyable, I didn't have the energy for it. They are brilliant at what they do but I think it fair to say that I am not their target audience. The kids loved it though. On a day as hot as this, I wondered if the children part of the audience might peak too soon and get bored and restless. At six o'clock when the whole thing was over, this didn't seem to be the case, and everyone seemed to have had a great time.
I can't remember the exact order of things, but all the performers were previous live guests on Trent Sound, either on NottinghamLIVE or Nottingham L.A.C.E. as it was a joint venture between Trent Sound and I'm Not From London. Josh Kemp played in the afternoon, as did OneGirlOneBoy, Ryan Thomas, Sam Kirk, Miggy Angel, Aaron Smith, Motormouf, and Georgie Rose, every one did the city and its music scene proud.
Hopefully it'll bring a few more listeners to the station, as on a whole it isn't that well listened to in a radio sense. Unless you have a new-fangled radio set that allows you to listen to Internet radio, you're never going to be a casual listener. Most people have a radio in the kitchen and car, and they are the two biggest providers of 'background' radio, some people couldn't even tell you what station they have on. I find that quite sad given that radio is a far superior medium to television, but you aren't going to go downstairs in the morning and turn your laptop on to listen to the radio while you have breakfast. You should, especially if you live in Nottingham, as Trent Sound is the only true independent local station in the city. There is a station called Radio Trent, named after the commercial radio station that we had in the days before generic Capital FM destroyed local radio, but the current Radio Trent is a fraudulent station. Intended to hark back to the glory days of local radio, Radio Trent is a collection of pre-recorded shows passed off as live, and aren't even based in Nottingham. Trent Sound is in Nottingham and apart from a few syndicated shows, all live.
The specialist shows don't have the same problem with attracting listeners, as people make a point of tuning in for them. Using the shows that I am involved with as an example, people with an interest in Nottingham music will make a point of tuning in on a Wednesday for NottinghamLIVE, but we don't pick up casual listeners which is a shame. The Sunday Alternative is the same, people stop what they're doing for it because they know that musically they are in for a treat, as the songs I play aren't what you would normally hear on the radio. I have the advantage of doing the show on a Sunday too, which is such a great day on the radio that television doesn't even attempt to compete.
Having arrived at the arboretum at one o'clock, and leaving to go straight to the radio show which broadcasts until nine, I had done eight hours work on a Sunday. Self-employed people don't get the financial benefits of working on a Sunday, (especially as the hosts didn't get paid for the arboretum), so just out of interest I just had to Google and find out what the minimum wage is. It is six pounds nineteen an hour, which means that for eight hours on a Sunday (double time) I would have earned ninety-nine pounds and four pence before tax. No wonder supermarket staff fight each other to work on the day of rest!
I do it for the love though, not the money. It was a great day.
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