tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1930103.post5971251477557404380..comments2024-03-29T10:17:18.826+00:00Comments on No Rock And Roll Fun: Radio One More Time: Studio B15Simon Hayes Budgenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07084524317888577404noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1930103.post-49724518065012279152007-09-21T16:33:00.000+00:002007-09-21T16:33:00.000+00:00I participated to the "Studio B15" listener partic...I participated to the "Studio B15" listener participation programme in late 1980, aged 15 and sounding very Welsh. I wrote in to the show and insisted the producers unleashed me on a frenzied, unsupervised wander around BBC Broadcasting House. Of course it was decided in advance where I would visit. The locations were to be the BBC canteem, the Sound Effects Department and (rather uninspiringly) the Radio 4 newsroom. I was accompanied by a studio assistant and using a TV style minaiture radio mike - only the mike in question decided it wasn't going to function after my visit at the start of the programme to the BBC canteen. Almost two hours later and a cabled-up mike, rooted through the Radio 4 news studio, gave presenter Adrian Love the chance to ask me to return the following Sunday. Of course I was overjoyed! To have a personal tour of the BBC's national radio headquarters, to broadcast on the only radio station that kids listened to throughout the UK, and for the exhilaration of a second all-expenses paid trip to London was an intoxicating prospect - not to mention being provided with an invite to break the programme's rule of all contributors being restricted to just one visit to the programme! The moment I was escorted from the programme office to the actual Studio B15 was a surreal experience, enveloped by the entire history of radio broadcasting in the UK. During my first visit I met rock group XTC who were there to be interviewed by another listener/contributor. The Studio was located in the bowels of BH, a deeply carpeted corridor which let to Studios B10, B12, etc. It was a talk studio that was traditionally used for recording plays for Radio 4. Adrian Love sat at the head of a long table, that was able to accommodate perhaps a half a dozen guests with two cart machines for playing jingles; the sound balance was done through the glass in the control room. I was benused to find the control room's ancient mixer consisted of dials rather than faders! It was more like being at the helm of a Lancaster bomber than a contemporary radio studio. So I returned the following week, and discovered they had taken no chances on the radio mike front - all interviews were conducted on mikes cabled and rooted through nearby studios. My roving took me to the BBC Record Library - consisting of two rooms; one was a room of filing cabinets consisting of a million index cards providing details of all the records the BBC held - and the other room was full of stacked shelves of the records in question. I was told the BBC even possessed Edison type cylinders in addition to early wax recordings. My assignment was to dig out the worst record in the library and we found an awful record performed by none other than Tony Blackburn! Next, back to the BBC sound effects department, to play with miniature doors and a device that created the sound of wind when you turned a handle! The presenter Adrian Love is a top bloke and I told him it was my ambition to be an outstanding broadcaster like himself one day. He replied - "you want to end up like me? Drink too much, get divorced.." (he muttered similar self-depreciating moans). It never quite transpired that I was to hit Adrian's heights, although later in life I did some freelance reporting for BBC Wales. I also like a drink and have a divorce under my belt! It was an awesome experience and the kids back in school were rightly very envious. Thank you BBC Radio 1 and all credit to B15's incredibly talented producers Mary Bell and Chris Reilly.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com