Penultimate
Saturday Boy
So, my penultimate weekend passes at 6 Music. Had a lot of fun with Richard Herring on Saturday with he overusing the medical term "faecal matter" and I almost saying "shit", but professionally pulling back after "shi..." and saying "rubbish", thus averting a diplomatic incident, and I also played some corking "free choices" (Fields Of The Nephilim, Anita Ward, Asian Dub Foundation, Colourbox, Gerry Rafferty, Eric B & Rakim, with Nine Inch Nails to finish - there ain't no other BBC radio station like it, I tells yer). My tenure is winding down, or up, depending on how you look at it. And this is how we reached this semi-momentous juncture: two Aprils ago, in 2005, I moved from my five-day, three-hour Teatime slot to the weekends. After three years of broadcasting for 15 hours a week, during which time I had turned into a DJ (something I had never considered myself to be in a decade of being on the radio), I had requested a change. Although 6 Music was still a small digital radio station with a relatively small listenership, it was no longer the slightly ramshackle, big-hearted, let's-do-the-station-right-here, favour-pulling funhouse it had started out as. How could it be?
Some background: I had given up my regular weekly gig on the Radio 4 film programme Back Row and handed in my scriptwriting badge at EastEnders in order to take up my daily post at BBC 6 Music, or "6 Music from the BBC", as we were initially drilled to call it. That's how important it was to me. A big commitment, and a regular income. But, media hyphenate that I infuriatingly am, during those first three years, my first memoir, Where Did It All Go Right? had become a surprise bestseller and led to a two-book deal with my publisher, and my first sitcom, Grass, had been shown on BBC3 and BBC2, leading to the possibility of a second series. So, cramming all of this extra-curricular work into five mornings a week was becoming more of a strain. Also, my style of broadcasting, which was kind of no style at all, had solidified: long, rambling links, Olympian attempts to read out all my emails, unscripted flights of fancy spun off those emails, discursive opening salvos, satirical headlines. Not very "daytime", where trailing ahead, cross-promotion and station idents were exerting a greater pressure. (My first producer, Frank, used to joke in the early days that presenters would one day have to say "6 Music" in every link, and we used to laugh. He would sometimes egg me on to do a timecheck and use the phrase "five 6 Music minutes past four.") The demands on 6 Music to "compete" after we started to live and die by the RAJARs (that is, the quarterly audience figures) put new shackles on someone like me. I still thought of myself as an enthusiastic amateur. So, the combination of too much work and a disinclination to get too "slick" precipitated a change in slot, one which I volunteered for.
It must be said, management were extremely accommodating, and very supportive. It was assumed by those who care about such things that I had been "sidelined" or "demoted", which was not the case. I was offered the Chart Show and a three-hour Sunday show, where I could do my rambling links and read out lots of emails, away from the strictures of a "strip show", which isn't what it sounds like. Even though - irony of ironies! - I was becoming slicker and more professional all the time, talking over intros up to the vocal, "segging" tracks to trails (ie. joining them up using foolproof editing software), I still liked to ramble. I still do. I will go out next week rambling, and I'm proud to say that in five years, apart from recording trails or station-wide competitions, I have never read out a link scripted for me, or that I have previously typed up. (Another funny thing: the non-local-radio-trained among us rarely used to talk over intros in the very early days, beceause it seemed disrespectful to the Clash and Kirsty MacColl and the Strokes and even the Avalanches, but do you know what? Talking up to the vocal sounds brilliant when you get it right. It does!) Let's make no secret of this, either - because 6 Music shared a controller with Radio 2, it may have been seen by certain presenters as a stepping stone to a national station with a reach of millions (we were always thumbnailed as halfway between Radio 1 and Radio 2 in the first place). And, in truth, it does sometimes act as a fame academy or halfway house - look at Russell Brand, and Steve Lamacq to an extent - but most were happy, indeed happier, where we were. That said, my experience of presenting in the evenings on R2 involved having a stack of CDs, and playing them - hardly handing your freedoms over to The Man.
In the beginning, when we were the first new BBC radio station to be launched for 12 years, nobody quite knew what we were, but we knew what we were not. We were not commercial and we were not old and we were not chart- or hype-driven. We were a bunch of music fans, most of us well-known for other things like comedy or music or television (Phill Jupitus, Sean Hughes, Tom Robinson, Suggs, Tracey McCleod, Craig Charles, Bruce Dickinson, Brinsley Forde), some of us known for our work on other radio stations, both national and local (Liz Kershaw, Gideon Coe, Chris Hawkins, Gary Burton, Stuart Maconie, myself). In this regard, little has changed. We were backed by a fine team of enthusiastic producers and BAs and even managers, also feeling their way around this new train set, and given if not carte blanche to do what we liked, certainly the freedom to try this radio station lark out and see if anyone liked it. They did. In small numbers, but that had been the idea, hadn't it? Contrary to what purists might think, we always had a playlist, and new records were put into heavy or light rotation depending on whether they were "A" or "B" list. (I think we had a "C" at first, too.)
I remember we were all ready to have the BAs send in fake emails on that first day in March 2002, in case we didn't get any. But there was no need. We got emails not just from this country, but from abroad, thanks to online listening, something we hadn't anticipated. (I remember there being an early dictum about not making too much fuss of foreign listeners on air, as they didn't pay a licence fee and this might rub the BBC brass up the wrong way. How innocent those times seem now. We ignored this and made a fuss anyway.) 6 Music was a proper station - it had its own news teams, its own idents, brand new digital desks and a largely untested computerised playout system called DALET (now upgraded), which Chris Hawkins had trained us all to use (I thought he was the training guy and was surprised to find out he was a DJ too, and given his own show at the weekend). But it was also finding its feet on air, 24 hours a day. We didn't have a weekend breakfast show in those old days. Or Roundtable, or a Chart Show, or a Music Week, or 6 Mix. But we did try unusual people out when regular presenters were away, like Tony Wilson, Arthur Brown, Paul Morley, Lauren Laverne, Justine Frischmann, Clint Boon, Terry Christian (less said about him the better), Stewart Lee, Dave Gorman. This was in the spirit of the station. The spirit has survived, but the Message Boards have got noisier and grumpier. Presenters have come and gone, as have our launch bosses, John (moved to the private sector) and Anthony (moved up the chain of command). Vic went round the world. Lauren slipped through our net. The top-of-hour idents have changed. We have sometimes advertised on telly, using our most famous presenter of the day. The listening figures have gone up, then down a bit, then up again. Let's keep things in perspective.
Anyway, when I moved to the weekends, I started a blog on the 6 Music website, as a way of "staying in touch" with my listeners, who were used to hearing about my mundane "life" stuff on a daily basis. The first entry, on my first non-working Monday for three years, ran like this:
Monday April 4
First day of Freedom. All of a sudden, after three years of broadcasting every afternoon, and with my first weekend shows coming up, I suddenly have my life back. Had two meetings, one with that nice David Hepworth of Word magazine, the other with my publisher. We still can't decide what to call the third volume of my memoirs, which I have started writing. He favours MY BRILLIANT SHOWBIZ CAREER, but will people get the irony or think I'm a tosser? This afternoon I went to the shops to buy some eggs. Why? BECAUSE I CAN.
And the last entry in that first week went:
Friday April 8
More writing with The Fast Show's Simon Day. This means I have effectively worked EVERY DAY this week. What was that about freedom? My brilliant showbiz career.
So, you can see, even in that very first week, trouble up ahead. Working weekends was great fun, especially as my second Teatime producer Leona had come with me, and we really enjoyed giving a facelift to the Chart. But finding the equivalent of a "weekend" in the week was never a picnic. In my line of work, which is to say, my lines of work, it's difficult to say no, for fear of cutting off an avenue that might in the future become profitable. And thus I ended up working more than five days a week, all too often. The nadir was reached last year when I was writing with Lee Mack, Mondays to Fridays, and going into work Saturdays and Sundays. That's not healthy, hence the latest change. Queens of Noize take over the Saturday show from April, and I wish them well. The Chart Show will also see a new host, as yet unconfirmed.
The thing I have loved the most about my time at "Radio 6" (our name hasn't exactly entered public consciousness in five years - even people who love it or have been on it call it fucking Radio 6 - but it's too late to stop now) is the listener response. And playing the Goth records of course, but even then because of the listener response. The emails and texts are what made the job worth doing, for me. I don't love the sound of my own voice, as some of you might think. It's a bit nasal. But I hope in talking about myself it has merely acted as a cue for listeners to do the same. At best, it's a dialogue. That's how I will remember Teatime and the Sunday/Saturday show. I plan on spending weekends like normal people do from now on (you can devote yourself to a radio station, or you can treat it as a job of work and try and make it fit in around your life), and I'll carry on spinning my media plates during the weeks. I'll be back on Radio 2 with The Day The Music Died this summer and on Radio 4 at the helm of the third series of Banter, which will at least give me chance to spar with the incomparable Richard Herring, who was always a highlight of my weekend. New book in May. Sitcom and one-off comedy drama still to be written. Two weeks sitting in for Francine Stock on Radio 4's Film Programme (the son of Back Row), starting April 6, and another dep for Mark Kermode on Simon Mayo's show on that same Friday. These things please me no end.
The views expressed in this column are the views of Andrew Collins and do not represent the views of the BBC. Yeah, I'll be glad not to have to live by that diktat until I land the Newsnight gig.
posted by Andrew Collins @ 8:26 AM
25 Comments
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25 Comments:
Best of luck in your attempts to get your life back. I too find it very hard to say no to extra work, but the sad thing in my case is that the work concerned will not lead to any extra money and/or promotion - I just can't say no! So I heartily commend your attempts to cut down on your workload. Just watch for it starting to creep up on you unexpectedly again, because work has a habit of doing just that.
Best wishes.
I for one would never complain about someone wishing to reduce their workload. It's just a shame everyone can't have their cake and eat it!
I have a confession.
I never used to listen to your teatime show due to not having a digital radio in the car, but I always enjoyed dipping in and out of the Sunday show - perfect for a lazy afternoon on the sofa. It was never quite the same on a Saturday for some reason - I was usually doing something else - but the bits with Richard Herrings were always worth a listen on the pseudo podcast thingy.
This sounds like an obituary, but it's not meant to be. It's the end of an era, but more importantly the beginning of a new one.
Good luck with all of the new projects, and more importantly with finding some time to have a life!
The powers-that-be at 6 Music seem intent on eradicating the maverick quality that made me start listening to the station in the first place. I'd never regularly emailed a radio show in my life before yours, and I probably won't again - it was the inclusive, faintly 'shambolic' ( in a good way) feel of the programme that made it so endearing, and such a laugh. Still, you're on to new and exciting things, and having weekend time should stop you turning into a burnt-out wreck of a man. And If you can control Richard Herring in the last show, you'll have done well.
A word or three about the "BBC fucking Radio 6" phenomenon . . .
In 2002 '6 Music From The BBC' arrived into my life which was not a fun place at the time. Still grieving from the loss of two close family members I was off my head and getting through the 9 to 5.
Sometime during the first week or two of 6Music I mailed Liz Kershaw's lunchtime show to say that I had at last fallen into a demographic. Not since the pirate radio stations (Dublin late 70s early 80s) had I felt anyone was saying anything to me about my life.
During 2002 and 2003 as the fog lifted I figured out how to juggle my meetings around my favourite shows... if only my project teams knew... now and again I'd send mail to Gideon, Liz and indeed Andrew. I discovered your books and the fog lifted further - where exactly *did* it all go right eh ?
Things started to get a little silly in 2005 when my (then) 6-year old son featured on Vic's lunchtime show with a song of his own making. I managed to gatecrash one of Liz's weekend shows with my guitar. I don't think the listeners ever really recovered.
At one point I devised a rather clever system of recording Marc Riley's Mint so that I could listen to it in the dreadful traffic that gridlocks our suburbs.
Stuart Mac's Freak Zone is a Sunday staple in our home. We sit as a family to a traditional sunday dinner while some of the most bizarre noises stream across the internet and into my hifi. I think our 11-year-old has finally admitted to liking the show.
I like to think of myself as the offical 6Music stalker :-)
I too started to say no to non-essential work and I'm winning the battle to get my life back.
It's difficult to turn down work when people offer it, especially when it's quite flattering, or they're paying you money. It's more important though to choose your projects carefully and make sure that you have the space and the free time to enjoy them. So, good luck sir.
But I'm gutted that the Saturday show is to be no more. What's going to be the only thing that I make a point of watching or listening to every week now? (The smart money is on the Simon Mayo Thursday Book Panel, actually, especially after last week. Or possibly the Friday film slot...)
Meanwhile, the listen again link is broken, and the herringpod is still playing the previous week's show. I've emailed the website's "internerds" but it's not happening. I mean, there's only one more left, it's a scarce resource. I need to listen again to the show I missed last Saturday. Eek.
Sally said to say hello, and thank you for your kind words.
I'll miss the shows, Andrew. You're right; much of 6music is the same as it when it started. Comedians were presenters then, as they are now, it's just that the current ones don't appeal as much to the musicologist listeners that 6music was once a haven for.
Yes, there was always a playlist but it feels as if today's playlist is much shorter and it seems to include many songs that are on Radio One's and Radio Double One's list.
Thanks for making it what it was and I hope to hear you back depping on 6music one day.
Isn't the tyranny of rajar figures flawed?
Say there is 1 radio station paid for by everyone in a small country and, to ensure fairness, there's a rule that all shows on the station have to have an average of at least 5 listeners per show. An oddball presents a show that only has an average of 2 listeners so it's replaced with one more likely to get at least 5, which it duly does. The new listeners also listen to several other shows which it resembles. The 2 listeners to the previous show no longer listen to any shows which are all quite similar and not to their taste. With the more popular show replacing the less popular show and the station's overall figures going up... FEWER people in the country are now served by the station. Surely diversity is what is needed to ensure the largest number of people are given something for their money.
As ever thanks Andrew, thing off chest. By the way I've always thought your conversational style and lack of airs were 'popular' and daytime in the best sense - I still think Teatime was the most entertaining daytime show ever. And I don't think I've ever called 6Music Radio 6 - what a sycophant eh.
To be honest the Andrew Collins show ended for me when it moved to Saturdays.
I used to look forward to spending long Sunday afternoons in the kitchen, cooking, in the company of AC, RH and the many contributors and features. Occasionally popping upstairs to throw in a comment via email. Whilst I still have Stephen Merchant on and he's pretty entertaining, it's not the same.
I used to love 'In your own time', Jim Reid and Luke Haines(or did I dream that?)talking about what films and books they liked. I would like to have heard what would have happened if AC had done the Roddy Frame interview. No offence to Pete Mitchell, but he seemed a little over-excited.
I also won Screen Age pics twice. Hope that's not going to be the subject of a Rchard and Judy style enquiry!
So all the best AC. Hope it's not the last we've heard of you rambling on the airwaves.
Well, sad though we are that we won't be hearing your friendly chatter so much, we wish you luck. When you were on in the week, we were at work so we used to tape the show (on a video via the digibox and then transferring it onto a cassette) and listen to it later. People were in awe of how I would put high tech digital onto a cassette! We'd often listen to them in the car making dreadful traffic jams quite enjoyable (especially that one out of Glastonbury!). You've introduced us to some wonderful music. Thank you.
Orynthia & Tom
Bristol
Just want to say thanks for all of the music really. Been listening to your shows for the past 5 years and they've given me a lot of enjoyment. I'll miss the rambling links that made me chuckle, Northern Soul O'clock, the goth tracks, Sunday Best and you holding back Richard Herring from the brink of BBC oblivion week after week!
Can't imagine life without 6Music. The radio is on all day. Some of the spark will have gone though.
All the best with the plate spinning...
I was 21 when 6 Music started, but it still felt like my station. I have the ears of a man in his forties (a cool one, who's a bit gay), and one of my favourite people to listen to was always Andrew. Since the Hit Parade, actually. Thank you!
You're all very kind, clearly, but that's what I was saying about the "dialogue" - I wouldn't have had half as much fun on 6 Music without the input of so many listeners over the five years. I am grateful to have had that opportunity. (Yes, Valentine, I used to love doing In Your Own Time when we first moved to Sundays - it was always nice when pop stars agreed to come in live and do it, but even the pre-recorded ones, like Wayne Hussey and Brett Anderson and, yes, the incomparable Luke Haines, were fun. It showed how much goodwill there was, and still is, to our modest station. Long may it remain modest.)
I was never able to listen to 6 Music due to problems with digital reception where I stay. It looks like I missed out on a lot as I have a feeling that I would have really enjoyed Andrew's shows. Mind you, there's still Banter and The Day the Music Died to look forward to on "terrestrial radio" and Andrew will have his weekends to look forward to. You can't say fairer than that.
You'll be greatly missed Andrew. You're someone I've long admired, ever since I heard you on Mark Radcliffe's show a decade ago reading out your diaries.
I was a bit of a late-comer to you 6Music, initially hearing about it through my Herring fandom, but your Sunday show became one of my favourite moments of the week, something I would really look forward to. You played Denim for me - sold!
Probably not many people in your position who would take the effort to send a lengthy email giving advice about timid kittens either.
I can see myself listening to 6Music less and less now. I don't really 'get' Steve Merchant on his own, I'll miss Phill in the mornings, and I downright despise everything the Queens of Noize stand for from every conceivable position.
Looking forward to your next memoir installment, your TV projects, and radio stuff - (I'll actually be the one who books you for TDTMD, so I'll try to boost your fee!) - and obviously I'll keep reading this every day.
As someone who won a prize on the old Sunday show and was semi-regular emailer for a while, and had a memory lane record story told (whatever the name of that feature was), it's the end of an era.
But the start of a new one. Don't look back.
Good luck Andrew, those sweet days of the teatime slot seem very distant now!
Perhaps you'll have time for the occasional bit of travel writing now?
Thanks for all the fun hours of radio listening! The new scedule changes on all the BBC networks have upset me in the last few weeks, but then change is part of life, I am sure great new things will come along to replace things we have lost, and to be honest I am tuning into Classic FM more and more nowadays anyway... must be an age thing...
Just to add my two penneth-worth and mirror what the previous posts have said... thank you for the music and witty insight as well as the gut-busting attempts to keep Richard Herring in line.
I shall miss your dulcet tones Andrew, it's been a pleasure. I shall look out for the book, take it easy now.
The Cyberslacker
Andrew, your broadcasting has given me much pleasure and introduced me to music I wouldn't have looked twice at otherwise.
I'll miss your presence on 6Music very much, like some of the other people here, I had never emailed or sent a text to a radio programme before yours, you're something special ;-)
Oh and incase you hadn't guessed, hearing Moonchild by the Nephilim absolutely made my weekend! A thousand thank yous for that!
Best of luck with your new projects, Andrew, it's a shame to lose you from the 6 Music airwaves. Your presenting style and enthusiasm will be missed by myself and many others who have enjoyed 6 from the start, but who now find it increasingly difficult to distinguish the station from certain commercial stations (cough-XFM-cough).
Thank you so much, Andrew, for so many, many enjoyable hours. You can add me to the list of people whose work day was shaped around Teatime. On the east coast of the U.S., your show was on until 2 p.m. -- I couldn't have lunch until you were done. Many snacks were eaten. Over the years, you've helped get me through some rough spots (losing my job, Bush's re-election), and brought so much wonderful music and laughter into my life. I hope your post-6 Music life is fantastic and balanced. I will keep up with your writings and miss you loads. If you're ever in my part of the world, I do hope you'll visit my zoo. I'll prepare the kissing duck.
Just wanted to add my sincere thanks for all your work on 6 Music over the years. In fact all your work in the media in general. I go right back to your time with Mr Maconie on The Hit Parade on Radio 1 and the (much missed, nothing like it since) Movie Club on ITV and just about everything inbetween. As well as your many journalistic forays.
To be honest, I've rarely had the chance to listen to your shows on anything approaching a regular basis since you moved to Weekends, due to other commitments. I was however, an avid listener to the Teatime show. Like many other people, yours was the first radio show I ever emailed and I was always grateful that you took the time to reply. I even won my first ever competition and still display the 6 Music car sticker that accompanied the CDs I won.
Looking forward to 'That's Me In The Corner'. All the best in your future endeavours Andrew.
Andrew, I just heard on "The Day..." that you left 6 music months ago. I had no idea. I stopped listening a couple of years ago. Perhaps I just got older, perhaps the station got shitter (maybe both). I mainly listen to Radio 2 these days - not too bad but not as much chance of having your email read out! The first couple of years at 6 music were great, but life goes on. All the best for the future, it'll be reet.
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