Pop Shield

Started to feel a degree of concern last night when the swirling snow fell thick and fast and settled all around. I made provision to travel in to London by car instead of by train and to leave much earlier than normal for the Saturday breakfast show on Nations Favourite with live band Florals in session.

Come 4am I have preempted my alarm by a good half hour and decided to leave. The snow is several inches deep and the country lanes around me have turned to pistes, the dual carriageway more of a mono carriageway. As I press on carefully through the thick fog armed with blankets, a flask of green tea and the back catalogue of 20DD, I stab at the heated front windscreen button repeatedly, in the quest to prevent my limited frosty view from closing in on me.

Fast forward ninety minutes. I am safely ensconced at Wobegon Towers in plenty of time. I am warmed to discover that Mad Dog has already kindly got the band mics out for me as per our emergency plan.

After the soundcheck Florals come through to the control room for playback prior to live transmission and the lead singer says “Great. Always get the best sound at The Corporation.”This comment makes me swell with pride. On behalf of all of us who strive so hard to make bands sound nice on the radio. Proud that finally after fourteen years I no longer feel that I am letting the side down. That I am getting somewhere.

These relationships with artists are the crown jewels of The Corporation. These little nuts-and-bolts studio sessions are not technically complicated but the challenge is to capture the feel of a band in eight or nine channels, straight to stereo, no retakes, no remixes, live to air to millions of listeners. The real goal is not to obsess on one part and lose the bigger picture.

Come 4pm I am driving back up the clear black North Road, this time with my session on repeat. Melting snow all around, warmth in my heart.

Love my job ❤️