The burning of the midnight oil tonight. Well not quite, as it was just 6.30 pm when I snapped this image as I left the building. That said I was one of the first to leave. Radio production is always hand to mouth, but we are in an exceptional busy period, so busy, there is literally no studio space left in December to mix programmes. That's three studios at full capacity for a month. It's not life and death of course, just making radio, or now endless podcasts for BBC Sounds. As a colleague said to me this week, we continuously bust a gut, no longer have weekends free to spend with our families, all to just make a radio programme that once it airs, is forgotten about. She's leaving at the end of the month to pastures new, as have a couple of other senior producers who have resigned, this year, taking with them decades of skill and experience. Sad, but they no longer relished the relentless toil. Not if that toil is instantly forgotten about. It's something I've always struggled with, what exactly is a radio programme? A TV programme for that matter, or news? Many people I contact asking for them to be recorded for a long running series on the radio, have no idea who or what I'm talking about, or what Radio 4 is. I remember ringing the press office of the Scottish Parliament when working for Farming Today. The press officer asked, "Radio 4, what's that, is it a UK service"? Says it all really. Keeps me grounded, as did the sound of redwing 'seep seeping' flying overhead as I took this image. Now that really is a lasting memory.
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