Unpopular Point Of View
It's been a trying summer for many reasons and the icing on the cake came with the announcement during August that the Bauer Media FM stations in Scotland were to introduce networked programmes at certain times. The upshot as reported in the newspapers is job losses for some and I'm one of them. While I'm naturally upset at friends losing their main source of income I'm actually okay about my own position.
For those who haven't kept up with the story, I moved from Kingdom FM to Tay FM in Dundee back in November to host the Saturday Night Love Songs between 10pm and 2am. At the time I was dating someone who lived close by which helped make the 2am finish slightly better however the past four or five months where I've been driving back to Glasgow on a Saturday have been tough. During the summer months I was getting home at 4am and it was light. That doesn't make sleeping easy nor does it lend it self to a relaxing weekend.
Ironically the first part of networking started a few weeks back with live overnights from Clyde which start at 1am. It's amazing how getting home at 3am is so much better than 4am. The overnight is very well done too with local branding and an engaging presenter. There's been a lot of talk about whether a presenter in Glasgow can relate to listeners in Dundee, Edinburgh or Aberdeen. I personally think they can and certainly I've spent 7 years living outside of the are that I broadcast to without it being an issue.
So this weekend sees the last outing for the Love Doctor (I still can't believe people write letters addressed to the Love Doctor) before he's struck off. As I say I'm basically fine about it but I can't help but feel slightly cheated mainly because I'm out of radio at someone elses decision. I always believed that if you were good then there'd be a job for you. My ego won't let me believe that I'm rubbish (apart from those two rubbish show at the end of August).
So, if this is the end then it's been a laugh and I enjoyed being the guy off the radio. Don't ever under-estimate the icebreaking powers of having this job as a hobby. Somehow though, I suspect I'll be back sooner than later.
