I did my first radio interview as a Writer today. It was with BBC Oxford, although I am not sure if that is classified as local or mini-local when compared with LBC Radio (one of London’s many ‘local’ radio stations), which was my last voyage into radioland.
Either way my Radio Oxford experience was an infinitely better one than the LBC outing. Then I was a complete novice and had to share the limelight with Sir Bert Massie who was, at the time, head of RADAR (a national disability organisation and paled my little local action group, Disability Action Sutton, into insignificance).
As I remember it I was petrified, talked gibberish (nothing new there) and left the station feeling Bert had got one over me. I don’t think it was personal, it’s just that he was an old hand at giving interviews and I, quite frankly, knew nowt – particularly on the pitfalls of London’s public transport system, apart from the fact I couldn’t use it. A brighter spark might have taken a cue from that, but there you go, I have always been a slow learner.
Happily, this time was different. I had the show all to myself, apart from the show’s host of course, the rather dashing Howard Bentham, and I knew what I was talking about. Well I did write the book.
After being ushered into a darkened, wombish studio, complete with padded walls, I settled into what I hoped would be 10 minutes of easy listening.
As for the interview itself, well judge for yourself by clicking on the link opposite.
Link to show no longer live