Request Collecting It's A Dog's Life
Back up in the studio, it's a few minutes until the programme goes live. Just time enough to get the records together. Kathy looks up the tracks on the computer whilst Victor, still very energetic and now loosened from his working harness, plays with Chris, jumping up and hugging him.
I ask Chris how he got the idea of applying to join hospital radio and he tells me that it was the result of a conversation he had with a hospital radio member from Derby whilst on a guide dog holiday in Jerusalem.
When he first started broadcasting, he did microphone duties only and Kathy operated the desk, but since then Chris has become a fully desk-operating broadcaster himself. It took between four and six months to really get the hang of it, but now as long as he has his jingles set up and knows which CDs he's playing, he's away. The programme is now co-presented as a fifty-fifty effort, with Kathy operating the desk for the first half and then swapping over for the second.
As 8 o'clock approaches, the pair take up their respective positions in the studio and then run through the first request or two. Of course, Chris has to rely on his memory to recall the names of patients and the tracks that are being played with no written notes to fall back on - some achievement in itself.
Victor, having played such a big role during the request collecting, takes a back seat during the programme. He settles himself into the floor space underneath the mixing desk, just in front of the presenter's feet and has a well-earned snooze. It's a dog's life, as they say.
