Things are starting to take on the form of normalcy at 2RPH. Last Wednesday I had a reader present in my own studio with me, rather than sitting the other side of a pane of glass. Being able to pass comments or articles across the desk certainly beats having everything sorted in advance, which can be restrictive at times. The lengths of articles, the speed of the reader and the time constraints of each segment mean that quite a lot of fine-tuning is required in real time, something that is far more difficult if you have to walk between studios. In fact, it is quite impractical.

I have to say that, of all my jobs volunteering over the years, this is probably my favourite. There is something dynamic about going live to air, no matter that we have a job to do, with all the chance occurrences that can crop up. Last week part of a studio roof fell in while during a live program. No-one was hurt but the program had to be continued from another studio, with some sort of explanation for the audience. 

Little glitches occur all the time - a wrong button pushed, a reader beset by a bout of coughing and so forth. I heard of one program that never went to air because the presenter forgot to flick a switch in the control room. Their audience was themselves! Another issue of course is 'dead air', long unexplained silences that, we are told, are quite unprofessional. I am very keen on avoiding the latter and so, plan every segment in advance. Better flick to a sponsor or station message than leave the listener wondering if they should spin the dial.