大象传媒

:: Jenny Day
Presenter and Producer, 1984-91

I wandered into the Job Centre on West Street and spotted a job for someone to run a Helpline on 大象传媒 Radio Sheffield (I can still remember my sign off line - "That's it for the Helpline today. If you can help, please ring Sheffield 682 682.") I ended up听presenting mid-morning with Rony. On the way,听I did everything from driving the radio car to learning to drive the very scary looking desk.听

Where has life taken you since your time here?

Since leaving (in tears and very reluctantly), I've been a mum to two lovely children. But I've kept my hand in with my beloved local radio. At the moment I'm having an almost ridiculously good time producing and co-presenting with Tommy Boyd on 大象传媒 Southern Counties Radio which covers听Surrey, Sussex, and Hampshire. It's a glorious part of the world but terribly posh. And I'm regarded as incredibly northern.

What was your proudest moment on air?

I suppose I was proud when I was interviewing Arthur Scargill about a new statue of a miner being unveiled in the city centre. But I tackled him about an overtime ban. What ensued was a combat which gripped the newsroom so much that they delayed the news to hear the rest.

What about the funniest?

It involves a tape recorder, Rony Robinson, his pipe and a hot air balloon. It seemed a good idea at the time to send the two of us up in a balloon with a tape recorder (called a uher in those days) to commentate on what we could see over our beautiful corner of the country. But in reality the blast of the burners drowned out lots of what we had to say.

And the worst?

My worst moment was the horror of interviewing an MP without knowing which party they were representing.听The producer had neglected to tell me. It was almost certainly Labour but I didn't dare hazard a guess on air.听Not a classic interview by any means.

Who was your favourite presenter?

Without a shadow of a doubt my favourite presenter was, and remains, Rony Robinson. Or Robbo as I called him. What fun we had as a radio couple. He took me to his heart from day one: nurturing me, laughing at my attempts at unfunny jokes and when I messed up my timings, talking until it was time for the news.

I think he is in the Champions League of presenters and I was so lucky to work with him.

What do you do with your spare time?

Pilates, dog walking, tap dancing and grasping any opportunity for a nice glass of bone dry white wine. I'm quite a country bumpkin now. I've fallen for life in the sticks with our Cocker Spaniels, Snoop and Scrumpy, two guinea pigs Phil and Bob and the听humans Chris, Harry and Missy. We haven't even got a shop. Only two pubs and a church. Bliss. But there's plenty of action in Portsmouth, Southampton and Brighton. We can even swim in the sea because the weather's so good.听

I honestly think Radio Sheffield made me. Was it fate which guided me to the Job Centre that day and found me the perfect job? I'd had a really unhappy time in my PR job in Manchester. But it was Radio Sheffield and the the warmth of the South Yorkshire people who put me back together again, gave me back my self esteem and allowed me to blossom. And to cap it all, that's where I found my husband, Chris van Schaick.

He was a flowing haired, cutting edge reporter then. When he used to visit me in my Helpline office, I had an inkling it wasn't really the Coventry Yellow Pages he was after.
Twenty years, two children, two dogs and two guinea pigs later, we're still going strong.

Guess what we talk about over dinner. Anything but radio or our teenagers will howl in protest.