We have contact
You know, to carry passengers commercially on South African roads, you need a special license. If I'm not mistaken, it is commonly known as a "PDP license". Like a pilot needs a flying license to fly a passenger ...typically called a Commercial Pilot License.
For what I do at East Coast Radio I think there should be at least a special permit; if not an official license. There should be a special academy and I'll be the "Professor Xavier" - without the blinged-out wheelchair of course.
Here's the thing - this week, the East Coast Breakfast team has been broadcasting live from different locations in Switzerland. Now, as a Broadcast Desk Controller, responsible for everything that comes out of your radio speakers, I couldn't help but feel like Lt Geordi la Forge from Star Trek. You see, unlike a DJ booth at the club or wedding, which operates on normally no more than four channels at a time, there are 20 'live' channels of audio that play some sort of sound out of the studio and out your speakers.
From presenters microphones, traffic, news, music, jingles, audio clips, phone lines, internet etc.. The co-ordination of these channels rests on only two hands...my hands. Just like Lt la Forge on Star Trek, "there can be no breach". This is a typical day at the office, nothing new or surprising...right! Well, not exactly! When you try and do that 8000 km away from the Enterprise, with one central point, literally a continent away. Your work station can be "breached" by technology mishaps. Fortunately, East Coast Radio invested in the "Starship Enterprise" when it comes to state of the art technology. Stuff that is light years ahead of its time.
So, broadcasting technology that is ahead of its time, coupled with psychological pressures of coordinating a breakfast radio show, all this sitting 8000km away, behind an audio mixer desk that is no bigger than a lounge coffee table and thinner than a folded laptop. What could go wrong? Well, not much. Except for an unwanted cocktail serving of panic attacks, possible mild strokes and ceased kidneys from an over production of adrenaline, if you are that Desk Controller.
I had six or seven of these cocktails per hour...every three hours during the show, this week. Did I mention that you are alone in the studio? I mean really alone...the team is in Switzerland in case you forgot!
I had to politely ask Tanya, our Social Media guru, to sit with me in the studio, so I have someone to resuscitate me, should my heart give up from that cocktail of organ failure. She just thought I didn't want to be alone. Bless her heart. Ssssssh.
I'm very glad that this week is over! The team is returning back home and besides I've exhausted my medical savings, I really cannot afford to have an emergency. Jokes aside, as much as Lt Le Forge was a character, purely created for our own entertainment on Star Trek. For me, it was real as sitting on a dentist's chair and it starts reclining back. You know it's going to be a painful and pleasurable experience at the same time...depending whether your dentist wipes your drool or not.
I missed the team! I missed the " not for radio off air" jokes between myself, Darren, George, Mike Zuma...and Natarah having to put us back in line. I miss the "undeclared family love" and genuine caring nature of everyone.
The "high fives" before and after the shows, the team's acknowledgement when a "moment of brilliance" is created live on air. I missed the human to human contact in the studio. I'm no means an enemy of progress, technology is wonderful. It'll take us to "infinity and beyond', as it did with this overseas broadcast. However, technology will never be able to replace that human to human contact.
