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Monday, October 05, 2009

Collings & Armstrong & Miller

The holiday cover they ask for by name! Filled in for George Lamb on 6 Music this morning, 10am-1pm (on iPlayer for seven days). Didn't attempt to match his energy levels or use any of his catchphrase, just played some records, spoke in between them, and enjoyed the guests that had been lined up for me: the engaging Tom Wrigglesworth, whose Edinburgh-anointed Open Return Letter to Richard Branson show is now touring and whose part in BBC4's Electric Dreams experiment is getting him recognised by people who want him to take the back off their telly; and Armstrong & Miller [pictured], of whom I've only met Ben Miller, at Karaoke Circus, so it was good to complete the set and make the more casually attired Xander Armstrong sit directly underneath an unforgiving spotlight. (They get a high class of guest on the new 6 Music - Shaun Keaveny had Dara O'Briain in at breakfast, and George has Terry Gilliam in on Wednesday. We used to be more than happy with the drummer from Razorlight and the man who'd written a book about Eminem in my day.) Is it wrong of me to get this comfortable behind the desk there? Is it? I can't help it. I woke up this morning feeling under the weather due to the change in seasons, and the sheer adrenalin of live radio, pressing the buttons, riding the fader, trundling around on my swivel chair, reading out texts and backtiming Down In The Tube Station At Midnight up to the news literally cured me of my ills.

16 Comments:

At Mon Oct 05, 03:36:00 PM , Anonymous Will Graves said...

Really enjoyed the show. I think you should be comfortable as you work. The seasonal change whilst hard on the short wearers among us should be welcomed. No one wants to be an LA lizard. Hope you get some more holiday cover slots soon.

 
At Mon Oct 05, 04:57:00 PM , Blogger Dominic said...

"Didn't attempt to match his energy levels or use any of his catchphrase" as oppose to "catchphrases" - is that a dig?

 
At Mon Oct 05, 06:09:00 PM , Blogger Andrew Collins said...

Not a dig, no, but I think I'll leave it in.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 01:27:00 AM , Anonymous cosmosboy said...

George Lamb gets to interview Terry Gilliam?

That hardly seems fair.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 08:45:00 AM , Anonymous Dara said...

Am I right in saying you get paid more as holiday cover then if you were doing the job normally?

If so as the "go-to guy" for holidays and sickness you must be raking it in.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 08:49:00 AM , Blogger Andrew Collins said...

You are wrong. Presenters get a fixed per-programme rate which varies from presenter to presenter. I get the same whether I am covering or doing my own show, which is entirely fair as it requires the same amount of work.

Clearly, it costs more to get two presenters in to replace another, which is why Richard and I have only been asked to do so once: it's not really financially viable in these belt-tightening times.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 10:47:00 AM , Anonymous Dara said...

Interesting. I suppose that is fair.

I guess there is no "train driver" scenario where someone is sick and no one wants to cover their shift.

Just imagine if old Lamby was sick and no one could cover...hours of dead air..some say it might be an improvement.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 11:48:00 AM , Anonymous Rick Beenham said...

Down In The Tube Station At Midnight... I have to learn that on the drums for a friend's wedding. I cannot play the drums. But it's in February, so I might get the hang of it by then.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 01:23:00 PM , Anonymous Pork Chops said...

Mr Collins, if there were a God then you would be a godsend. I'm unable to listen to 6Music between 10:00 and 13:00 on week days as I'm over 15 years old. It's reassuring to know that it's possible to have good music and intelligent chat in this slot as there used to be with Gideon Coe. Here's hoping they ship Lamb off to Radio 1 where he belongs and replace him with your good self.

 
At Tue Oct 06, 01:35:00 PM , Anonymous Lisa said...

I missed hearing you on BBC6 as I never listen to it anymore :-(

 
At Tue Oct 06, 09:57:00 PM , Blogger iMADEtheBBC said...

I really enjoyed the show. I was working from home and it was great to sit in my attic office with natural light coming in and 6music keeping me company while I "worked".

Between 10 and 1 I'm usually on Spotify...

Always good to hear you on the radio

 
At Wed Oct 07, 03:51:00 AM , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Andrew,

Did you notice that the late Kevin Mcgee was a fan of the podcast on facebook? Bloody tragic...

Keep up the great work,

K-dog

 
At Wed Oct 07, 04:20:00 PM , Blogger LF Barfe said...

"We used to be more than happy with the drummer from Razorlight and the man who'd written a book about Eminem in my day." Or the bloke who'd written a book about the history of the record industry...

 
At Thu Oct 08, 10:50:00 AM , Anonymous Swineshead said...

Off topic, loved the piece on the state of newspapers in Word magazine this (or last) month, AC.

Found myself nodding furiously along with the lot of it.

 
At Thu Oct 08, 11:07:00 AM , Blogger Ishouldbeworking said...

And also off-topic, I was thrilled to read your review of Twighlight Sad in this month's Word. Hope you've seen them live, or that you're going to. Marvellous.

 
At Thu Oct 08, 01:09:00 PM , Anonymous Lee T said...

Working in local radio, I hate backtiming - Being fairly useless at maths means that I usually start panicking around ten to each hour!

 

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