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| URY Summer 2004: the schedule poster to be distributed to campus (credit: Chris Osborne) |
Meanwhile in a corner of York known only as Heslington I'm nearing the end of my second year at university. This is my sixth compilation of University Radio York output, so strap yourselves in for more medium wave
Time to hit play on the C90s.
00:05 Late Breakfast with Jonathan Bufton (22/04/04)
Week 1 and a special schedule is on air due to various presenters tied up in exams which until the day before this clip included me. It had been some time since I'd flown solo on air and I really loved the opportunity to have a go and see if I could still do it. This week the Breakfast Show was cut back to a two hour slot, with me on air on Thursday and Friday of that week at 11am. Given my on air history there was only one title I was going to use...
Listen out for Verity Wilde gatecrashing the studio (I still like Lucky - sorry) and my hermit-style existence during exam revision, though at least I thought they went well (narrator: the exams didn't go well).
03:58 URY Breakfast with Chris and Jo (23/04/04)
We later did a Nation's Favourite parody of these two managing to cover multiple subjects in a single link completely seamlessly which as you'll hear here was based entirely in fact. But my favourite bit is the plugging of my show where despite having done Breakfast for two terms myself, they have no idea who I am. That's showbiz kids.
05:40 Late Breakfast (23/04/04)
Listen up everyone for the very first mention on air of "Kate", who I'd known through YSTV for a few months. Here we establish we've already been to the Gallery nightclub and she doesn't think much of my musical taste. More on that story later. Also featuring a story of the British Transport Police at our house which I have no recollection of and random emails from strangers inviting me to parties in the days before Facebook was invented. And apparently my Gran was a fan of the Cha Cha Slide?!
10:48 Matt Wareham and Mark Fenton (23/04/04)
A look at URY's cheesy jingles (I entirely agree) and that day's schedule, which apparently at 4pm includes Overnight Music.
12:12 The Nation's Favourite with Michael and Jonathan (28/04/04)
Back for a brand new term with a bit of confidence under our belt, we started with an elaborate Nation's Favourite version of Perfect Day (check out out red hot seven-year-old satire!) featuring our various characters and none other than Tom Hughes on lead vocals. It's a bit hit and miss but I'm surprised to hear my John Peel impression is actually not bad. And I will admit to laughing at our tagline "it's better than the Evening Selection", so it gets to be this blog's subtitle.
As if that wasn't enough, new jingles! A new bed! 30 minutes less! Oh. URY's schedule was extremely tight this term and we were asked to go down to 90 minutes, which we did without complaining about it on air at all. And on a selfish note, having given up Breakfast it meant I now only spent 45 minutes a week driving that lovely Sonifex desk.
15:42 URY Breakfast with James Brookes (01/05/04)
James on air on Roses weekend, this year in Lancaster, meaning we were about to hand over the airwaves to Bailrigg FM.
16:28 Roses 2004 Bailrigg FM simulcast (02/05/04)
Starting with one of Bailrigg's own ads for a sticky carpet Lancaster nightclub, and confirmation that Lancaster had won. Bailrigg were recently in the news themselves facing removal of their FM licence.
18:59 URY Breakfast with Matt and Dave (05/05/04)
Warming the chairs and stinking out the studio before The Nation's Favourite, Matt and Dave are on the air again.
19:19 The Nation's Favourite (05/05/04)
A (I'll stop being self-deprecating for once) cracking edition of our show starts with another email from Kate and the in-joke at the end of her email refers to the previous night in Goodricke Bar, where she'd had one too many vodka Red Bulls. Pay attention at the back, this might be leading somewhere. Also today, the papers review Roses, The Two Freds call into Matt Wareham's show (which has quite the punchline), we fill extra seconds to the news with URY's still-very-new jingle playout system, Newsbeat is back on the air with more incisive journalism, and further thoughts of Adam Bell.
26:54 URY Breakfast with Owen Murphy, Verity Wilde and Tom Hughes (12/05/04)
The dream team stand in for James Wickham, but after three hours on air this trio appear to have fallen out somewhat.
27:40 The Nation's Favourite (12/05/04, 19/05/04, 26/05/04 & 02/06/04)
Or Jen and Jon in da Studio. Well, it seemed a good idea at the time. Jen Ayerst fills in for Michael and joking aside is better than I am. This is also somewhat unbelievably the only time I co-presented on URY with a female of the species. There's some Generic Student Radio about disgusting housemates too, the final email being a fabrication from myself but the story itself is sadly true.
The following week our
On 26th May we feature the debut of Teflon Pillock's long-awaited follow-up to Great Bridges - Hidden Toilets. Yes, really. You'll hear a few of these in this compilation mainly because a listener called Kate (did I mention her?) really liked them, especially when she found out I had written them. Then we have an interloper in the studio who we manage to upset.
Finally as we enter June we read a biography that had appeared on URY's website (sorry Adam), Hidden Toilets visits the familiar surroundings of the Politics department, I drop a swear-bomb on air, James Brookes is back with more Fascinating Facts and as we prepare to Swap Shop there's a cryptic email from KATE RUSHWORTH. Take the hint, Bufton.
42:16 Gone in 90 Minutes with Jonathan Bufton (05/06/04)
I was keen to take any fill-in slots thrown my way this term and it appears I had found out just 12 hours earlier I was doing this one, though I'm rather glad I did it. Apart from continuing to enjoy solo presenting again, this show ended up being rather significant for me. Kate was emailing in again with an entertaining subject line, and I must have been on fire today because afterwards she suggested we meet up together that evening...ta, URY. Also today there's talk of the legendary one-off URYVision Song Contest.
44:45 The Score with Verity Wilde, Jonny Wilkinson & Mark Fenton (05/06/04)
Saturday's sport coverage kicks off with racing news provided by IRN. Verity spent the next academic year in France so this is my last audio of her - she's now an Assistant Editor at BBC News.
46:01 Gone in 60 Minutes (06/06/04)
The following evening I'm back again as URY's supply teacher. It's the morning after the night before and the email from Kate is what's known as a private joke. The rest, after a weekend and a half, isn't vintage, so that's all you're getting!
46:21 The Nation's Favourite (09/06/04)
Another URY first as Listen Again is launched - initially via Real Player (whoooooooo), but still beating Radio 1 by some months in making every show available on demand. Well, not quite. Ironically this one was not, due to one of Michael's increasingly controversial remarks. Then a final Hidden Toilets as Teflon visits Vanbrugh.
48:42 Gone in 60 Minutes (13/06/04)
It was only as the day of my latest fill-in dawned that I realised I was presenting during England's opening match in Euro 2004 against France. No wonder no-one else wanted to do it. What else to do other than play football songs in the run-up to kick-off, then ridicule the fact that no-one's listening? (England lost 2-1, by the way). Afterwards I went to watch the rest of the match in Goodricke bar...with Kate.
51:06 The Nation's Favourite (16/06/04)
At Monday 14th's York University Media Awards Michael had won Best Presenter but not turned up, leaving me to collect it on his behalf. What a charmer. Hear here just why he won it. Then another first as you can now text into URY! ("finally", screams an ecstatic campus). Note the slight tension at the start of the show as we'd got into trouble yet again the week before. Michael did enjoy controversy, while I was less keen on needlessly pushing it.
54:53 Student Broadcast Network (16/06/04)
The SBN folded that August so were now nearing the end. We were obliged to air their news, ads and promos at the top of each hour, a Breakfast Show between 0800 and 0900, specialist output between about 2100 and 0100 each weeknight and the Student Radio Chart each Sunday between 1700 and 1900. At all other times they aired their own programming which would get put out on 1350AM (or any student station that subscribed to them) if there was a gap in the schedule. Here's an example of a DJ link of theirs already in progress as we faded up the sustaining feed at the unusual time of 1330 after our show.
55:15 Woodstock 2004 promo (16/06/04)
Janos Bene promotes the annual campus last-Saturday-of-the-year music festival taking place that weekend...
55:45 URY Breakfast with Jonathan Bufton (20/06/04)
...and guess who got the bum deal of filling in on Breakfast the morning after. In my final ever appearance presenting the URY flagship we have news reports of a late night bar brawl (based entirely on me seeing it as I was walking home), reference to the YSTV crew members still asleep on my bedroom floor as I left to do the show and many more memories of the day. Also listen out for promos for URY Breakfast with Chris & Jo and James Wickham (voiced by Matt Wareham), the URY Evening Selection (voiced by someone who hasn't woken up yet) and, now into their final week as URY's sustaining service, more SBN as it was heard during the show.
1:03:21 URY Breakfast with Matt and Dave (23/06/04)
The final appearance on URY of the Wednesday studio stinkers as they crash headlong into SBN News.
1:03:56 Jonathan Bufton (23/06/04)
Michael was unavailable again so my last show of the year was flying solo, which was probably for the best after the last couple of Nation's Favourites. Listen out for a somewhat uncharitable farewell to Matt & Dave, sexual chemistry & requests with James Gallagher in his final week at York (James is now Health and Science Correspondent at BBC News) and a request fest including *cough* Rolf Harris *cough*. I've also included the last full SBN news bulletin, ads and promo junction I've recorded. Apparently we weren't allowed to mention them on air by this point, which I gleefully point out.
The main that I hear listening back to this show was how absolutely knackered I was following an awful lot going on off air in the previous couple of weeks. As you'll hear those exams results weren't great and there was copious amounts of URY and YSTV off-air politics to deal with too. However, Kate and I got there eventually, and shortly after the end of term we became "official". Sixteen years later we're married with a daughter, so my apologies in advance to Elise for having to listen to this when she's old enough...
1:10:56 The Oddbin with Sarah Forster (23/06/04)
Ever wondered why the show was called The Oddbin? Wonder no more.
1:11:47 URY Breakfast with James Wickham (25/06/04)
Following one of the last airings on URY of SBN's pips that were a signal to us to opt-out, the final words go to a URY legend in a very brief clip from his final show on the station after three years (which is sadly all I have). James can now be found at BBC Radio 5 Live presenting the North American Sports Show.
So ends my second year at York. Coming next time, we're into the final year, with Autumn 2004. Shit's about to get real.
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| Fifteen years on...myself, James Gallagher, Verity Wilde and Tom Hughes at BBC Wogan House, Christmas 2019 |
