The Big Switch
Ten minutes before we went on air, Tony Currie tempted fate by telling me stories about other big media launches that had gone belly-up. There was the announcer who forgot the name of his own radio station and the television studio where all the cameras started crashing into each other.
鈥淪till,鈥 said Tony, 鈥淚鈥檓 sure this will work.鈥 He then pressed a button and the desk in front of him began to sink towards the floor. So did my jaw. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 meant to happen,鈥 he explained, 鈥渋t鈥檚 adjustable.鈥
It was well past my bedtime鈥en minutes to one, in fact, and we were sitting in one of the brand new . At the top of the hour, the announcer in Queen Margaret Drive would flick a switch and, fingers crossed, 大象传媒 Radio Scotland would be broadcasting from our new home in Glasgow.
Tony had re-jigged the opening of his regular Nightshift programme to include a short interview with me so that I could say something profound about the future of broadcasting. I was determined to come out with words that would stand the test of time and not just blether on about all the lights and buttons I could see around me.
What had been conceived as a week of low-key test broadcasts was now taking on the proportions of an epic event. Since midnight a steady stream of producers and technicians had been arriving in the production office outside the studio. They had come equipped with cakes and biscuits and most were planning to stick around until dawn. A film crew arrived and then the Controller of 大象传媒 Scotland, Ken MacQuarrie.
Amazing what a box of biscuits will do.
And so, at exactly one o鈥檆lock on the morning of Tuesday 17th April 2007, we were 鈥渓ive from Pacific Quay鈥.
Tony turned to me and asked for my thoughts on this historic day.
鈥淭here are some amazing buttons around here,鈥 I said.
