Yakkity yak… 09.06.09
One of my brothers used to
always tell me I should be on radio. And no folks, it
wasn’t because I was particularly talented or anything
like that. It was, he said, so that then he could switch
me off.
Were it not for the fact that he lives in Singapore now,
he would finally get his opportunity this week because
somehow I found myself being cornered into hosting a
series of election debates on Inishowen Community Radio
last week.
I’d always thought that radio was easy. I mean what was
there to it except to sit down and talk for a while?
There is a good chance that it might not have been easy
years ago, but I’m really guessing here.
And I’m talking about way back years and years ago when
all people had was the radio and people would have
gathered around to hear the important news of the day. |
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Or maybe to listen to a bit
of old ceili music at night or the commentary on the big
match.
But then, as the song goes, video killed the radio star.
Television really has taken over folks. It’s got to a
stage now where people have televisions in their sitting
rooms, bed rooms and even sometimes in their bathrooms.
At least for a while the car was a haven for the radio
lover, but now lots of cars even have video screens in
them - but not for the driver of course.
And that’s where the radio has a big advantage over
video.
In the car when I’m driving I can listen to the radio, I
can choose whatever station I want (unless my wife and
children are with me and I have to listen to what they
want) and I can pick how loud the volume is (again
depending on who is with me.)
However I’ve found myself recently marvelling at the
clever engineers who design cars and who somewhere along
the line realised that the steering wheel should be made
of a very robust material because of the battering it
would take.
I’ve seen people beat on the steering wheel in
frustration when stuck in a traffic jam, but I have to
admit that it’s usually somebody on the radio that
prompts me to give the steering wheel the odd slap.
You see, while video may have killed the radio star,
then what we got in place of the stars in lots and lots
of instances are some wannabe starlets that just drive
me to insanity with their giggling and chuckling and
mid-Atlantic accents.
I didn’t even get a chance to try out a mid-Atlantic
accent before I found myself in the studios last week
wondering for more than a few seconds how I had been
cornered into this.
What I was hoping was that the candidates who had agreed
to turn up for the debate would look more nervous than
me. But there was no luck on that front, so there was
nothing else for it but to dive right in and begin
chatting.
And you know, it was a bit like an old car I used to
have a good few years ago, it took a wee while to warm
up, but once it got going it went pretty well.
In fact so well that I was amazed to see the producer
hold up a wee piece of paper saying ‘three minutes left’
when there was just so much more to talk about. |
By the time the whole show
had been wrapped up, I had come to the conclusion that
it had been less painful that I’d imagined, even if it
did allow me to modify my assertion that this old radio
lark must be pretty easy.
It also gave me a chance to e.mail my brother and let
him know that I would be on the radio hosting the
debates and to tell him he could listen online.
He replied within minutes to say he was delighted to get
the link.
It was ages before I scrolled down his message to find
he had added - ‘at last now I’ll be able to switch you
off’… |
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A DROP OF
PORTER is
the weekly
column of
Inishowen
Independent
editor,
Liam Porter. |
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