Easy Like Sunday Morning: Radio Production at the BBC in 2021
A lot of founders have their individual quirks. Mine will make you squirm.
I love working early on Sunday mornings.
I know. It’s not normal. But let me explain. The work that gets me out of bed when the rest of the civilised world, it seems, is enjoying a lie-in, is live radio production.
In fact, it’s a job that has got me out of bed with a smile on my face for almost 30 years.
The buzz of being live on-air
There’s nothing like the buzz of being in a studio as that red light flashes. You are live on air and whatever’s said into the microphone is being broadcast to thousands of people.
My live radio experience mainly involves producing and directing those on mic. That’s largely due to a crashing realisation in my early 20s that presenting the Radio 1 breakfast show was beyond me.
Since 2018, Bengo Media has produced many live Sunday morning magazine shows on BBC Radio Wales. We’ve worked with Carol Vorderman, Connie Fisher, as well as four series with brother and sister duo, Colin Jackson and Suzanne Packer.
This year we added rugby’s odd couple, Jonathan Davies and Nigel Owens, to that mix too.
The production process
Production is a rolling process. In the week, our brilliant researcher, Giorgia Rescigno, finds guests and writes briefs. She also sifts through some of some talkable topics for our panellists to chat about.
Come Friday, it’s my job to write all that up into a script, along with the 10 or so songs we’re going to play.
Over the weekend, presenters will read through everything before we all meet pre-show to put the finishing touches to our plans.
Then it’s showtime. And no two shows are the same. That’s the beauty of the job.
I hope what comes out of the speakers at 9.30am on Sunday mornings is worth getting up for.
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