Thread by @stilgherrian

Today, Saturday 13 February, is World Radio Day. un.org/en/observances…

“At the global level, radio remains the most widely consumed medium.”

Maybe later I’ll tell some stories.

Today is World Radio Day, and earlier today I said I might tell some stories later. Well, it’s later, so I’ll tell just a few tiny stories.

https://twitter.com/stilgherrian/status/1360402027679948801

It begins in the 1980s, ’cos I’m getting old. I started at community station 5UV, now Radio Adelaide. Over a couple of years I learned how to do pretty much everything. I produced and presented a lot of different things, but started with classical music. radioadelaide.org.au

Something I can link to immediately is my interview with David Attenborough from 1984. I probably have a recording on cassette (!) but here’s the transcript.

“Leaving room for elephants: a chat with David Attenborough” stilgherrian.com/media/david_at…

I’ll tell two quick stories about some of the impromptu outside broadcasts I did there. I’ve always liked getting radio out of the studio and into other environments. I like sound being *from* somewhere, not the anonymous void of the studio.

One was when I was producer of the Saturday afternoon chat show when it was being presented by Tony McCarthy, who later joined what’s now called ABC Adelaide. At the time, 5UV’s studios were in a windowless dungeon at the University of Adelaide.

“It’s lovely outside,” Tony said when he arrived.

“Well let’s do the program outside then,” I replied.

In the hour before going to air, I ran some cables out. Only three. One for mic, one for monitoring, one for intercom. Sorted.

People overthink microphone placement. I was taught by Rick Palmer* who was once an audio director for Channel Nine way, way back. In semi-retirement he was 5UV’s chief technician.

* Photo just found online.

One of his lessons was to keep everything as simple as possible. Look at the situation and start with one microphone. Where will you put it? OK, now where’s the weakness? Choose a mic and fix that problem. And so on. Important in TV if the mics have to be out of shot.

A chat show is just a group of people sitting and chatting. So stick chairs in a circle and hang an omnidirectional mic down into the middle. Sorted.

If one person is louder than the others, move their chair out a bit.

BUT THERE’S BACKGROUND NOISE YES THAT’S WHY YOU’RE OUTSIDE.

The show went really well, and if I remember correctly we made it go even better by stealing some wine from station manager @KeithConlon’s office fridge.

Hi Keith! *waves* Happy World Radio Day!

@KeithConlon Keith taught me lots and lots of things too. One I remember to this day is: “The best ad libs were written down first.” Shoosh, don’t tell people that one.

The other impromptu outside broadcast was triggered by a failure. Like most AM stations, 5UV’s transmitter was located in a swamp rather than on a tall hill. I don’t have time to explain why. Anyway, a trench digger cut the cable to the transmitter. Pre-microwave days, kinda.

My on-air shift was next, the drive-time show. So to keep the station on air, Rick Palmer grabbed me and a little equipment, and we drove out to Dry Creek and into the swamp to plug directly into the transmitter itself.

We had a small 4-channel mixer, one mic (Electro-Voice 635A since you asked) and a long cable, a cart machine for the idents and promos, a turntable and a box of records, and a Nagra IV-S reel-to-reel tape machine (pictured) to play back the pre-recorded bits.

It was a clear evening, so we just set everything up outside the transmitter hut (which was hot and stuffy) on the upturned milk crates we’d thrown the equipment into. This was in the days before mobile phones so we had zero contact with the outside world.