I’m really getting to grips
with the idea of being a daytime radio presenter; The Sunday
Alternative suits the time slot in a way that I could never have
imagined when I started doing it in 2011. I was of the opinion that the late
night slot was the one for me as it suited the romantic notion of the Play Misty For Me style of presenting. Of course there’s the
fact that the show is still not bound by any rules and I can still play
whatever the hell I like, although as I now visualise the show as one for the
family I am a lot more careful about the content and won’t play songs with
swearing in. It would upset me to think that a family consisting of mum and
dad, a grandparent or two, and some children were enjoying the show while
sitting around the Sunday lunch table, reminiscent of the time of Billy Cotton’s Band Show, and the mood of the moment
suddenly getting ruined by an errant ‘fuck’ polluting the airwaves.
The only problem I am having
is the availability of bands and musicians to come in and perform on Sunday
lunchtime to play live. I had originally intended to have live music in every
week when The Sunday Alternative first started,
but I have had large periods of time without a guest. When I did the show with
Erik Petersen we fell into a bit of a trap of turning into a comedy act,
(although to be fair we did work well together but the show wasn’t meant to
have taken that direction) and so I brought music back in an attempt to make
the show a serious music show once again. If I can, then I want to have a live
session every week. I’m not necessarily chasing Nottingham bands for this show
as I do enough for the Nottingham music scene on my other radio shows, and it
is cool to be able to introduce other acts from around the country on the show.
The Sunday Alternative isn’t a
Nottingham show essentially, in the same way that NottinghamLIVE
and The Sound of Nottingham UK is, as we
have a much larger range. That was my beef with Fiona Sturgess from The Independent and her refusal to write about the show in
her column, she dismissed it because it wasn’t national. She missed the point
totally as just because we broadcast from a local station we do have a good
national following and listeners abroad. On the other hand, it is logistically
easier to get a Nottingham band in.
As an eleventh hour booking,
my friend and former radio colleague Bainy offered his services on Friday with
his band Blue Vulture. The two of us have taken the piss out of each other for
a long time now, playfully dissing each other’s work in some form or another.
My current thing is to keep referring to his band’s music as “quite good” in an
attempt to have it quoted on their CD sleeve (it already appears on their
Reverbnation page). The story of how the band came to be is an interesting one,
as Bainy came up with a band name, set up the social media pages, and then set
about actually recruiting the band. The end result is really brilliant
quite good.
It wasn’t the full band that
appeared today though, just Bainy singing and Dave on guitar to perform four of
their songs acoustically. A lot of the time I get frustrated at how little a
band have to say, both in interviews and in between songs during live radio
sessions, but thankfully Bainy’s radio experience helped a great deal as he not
only introduced the songs with ease but also provided something of a back story
thus making it interesting for the listeners.
I dropped a bollock right at
the end of their set when I switched the microphones back on and turned to Gary
and said “absolutely brilliant”, which I immediately retracted into “quite good”
but it was too late as Bainy heard it and said he now had a new quote.
The show is especially
enjoyable with Gary as co-presenter, so I hope he is able to make it a more
regular thing. He is a school teacher during the week and has a lot of work to
do in his own time, which is why he stopped doing the show in the evenings. This
week he brought his guitar into the studio as it was in his car, but I couldn’t
persuade him to perform on the show. I will keep at him, especially as I have
invited a very special guest in next week and said that I will let him sing
with Gary on guitar.
If the very special guest
turns up, it will be quite good.
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