THURSDAY 8 NOVEMBER 2007

HOW THE PROGRAMME ‘WORKS’
I went to see Iolanthe at the Theatre Royal in Newcastle last night. On the way out, I was accosted (in the friendliest possible way) by a listener called Frank who asked if I would be going straight to the studio to broadcast the programme. Er.......
Frank was mortified (his word) to discover that the programmes are only ‘live’ between 0600 and 0630, Mondays to Fridays. At all other times, they are prerecorded. So, in the interests of BBC honesty, this is how I do it.
When I finish my ‘live’ slot each morning at 0630, I prerecord the next day’s programme. All the music you hear (except for the nightly ‘special track) is already in the BBC’s computer so I record the ‘links’ (the sections of spoken word) between them. This means that the programme is not recorded in ‘real-time’, as they say these days. I record my voice and slot it in between tracks of music, trails and jingles.
When I’ve finished doing that, the prerecorded programme is put onto an automatic timer which ‘fires’ when the programme is due to start.
When I arrive in the studio at 0530 each morning (Mondays to Fridays), I take over the airwaves at about 0559 and shut down the automatic timer. And then, of course, the whole process begins again.
On two days a week I have to prerecord two programmes to make sure there is a Nightshift on Saturdays and Sundays.
If it all sounds too easy - believe me, it isn’t. Things can - and do - go wrong all the time. But that’s another story.
Iolanthe, by the way, was quite good. I’ve been a Gilbert and Sullivan fan all my adult life but, looking round the audience at the theatre, I did start to wonder whether their relevance to the 21st century was questionable. I saw perhaps 20 or so people under 40; the vast majority of the audience was much older than that. Perhaps G&S has become too much of an acquired taste.

KNOW YOUR NORTH EAST
The two preserved hermit’s cells are at Warkworth (upstream from the castle) and at Chester-le-Street, where the Anker’s House Museum is part of St Mary’s church.

NIGHTSHIFT CLASSIC
......was the first movement of Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight’ Sonata. If there’s a piece of classical music you would like me to play in the small hours, get in touch.

THIS BLOG
I am on leave tomorrow (Friday) and next Monday and Tuesday. The next blog posting will be next Wednesday, 14 November.

CONTACT ME
Post comments on this blog or contact me in any one (or more) of these ways....
ian.robinson@bbc.co.uk
text 07786 200954 (while the programme is on-air)
call (between about 0545 and 0630 Monday to Friday) 0191 232 6565
Ian Robinson, The Nightshift, BBC Radio Newcastle, Spital Tongues, Newcastle-upon-Tyne NE99 1RN

NOTE
Please bear in mind that the views expressed in this blog are my own and NOT the views of the BBC.