Bedroom radio was, without question, great fun. It was the result of a passion that was quite clearly beginning to burn brighter by the day. Radio wasn’t something I had ever given much thought to or had much interest in; at least I didn’t think it was. I do remember a moment in my first year of secondary school, during a drama lesson when the teacher was scribbling a logo onto a piece of paper. RIVI FM. Rivi being the name of the school (Rivington and Blackrod High School). I watched him for a while, wondering what it was all about. On asking him he was reluctant to tell me, and I didn’t probe any further, never giving Rivi FM a second thought; that was until it actually launched.
Without me knowing it, my school had developed and launched its own radio station. RSL’s where becoming more common amongst schools and communities. RSL stands for Restricted Service Licence and is a short term radio licence for anything between 2 days and 2 months. My school had opted for 3 days and built a schedule of programmes produced by the pupils. It had a Breakfast Show, Mid-morning, Afternoon, Drivetime and an Evening Show. It was fantastic. The buzz around the school was electric, we had our very own station where we could hear our classmates presenting shows, doing the weather and reading the news live on the radio; and I had totally missed out. I had always been a performer and as well as wanting to be Politician (which in its self is a performing job) I had carried an ambition to be an actor for most of my life. I was that kid that always took the lead in school plays and would love nothing more than being a bit of a drama queen. I was a member of a local theatre group and was being pushed from every direction into a life on stage before a career in Politics became a more attractive option. To have missed out on all this excitement was devastating!
Rivi FM was a huge success and made household names (within the school at least) of its presenters. The following year I heard a rumour that Rivi FM was set to return, given the success of the first effort, it came as no surprise that uptake was massive. Hundreds of people auditioned for a role, and in the 12 months before my chance to be involved I had honed my skills by listening at length to the professionals on Century FM and playing around with Media Player and a microphone in my bedroom. I was all set to audition, my stomach sick with nervous and excitement, my big chance to be a presenter on an actual radio station. My audition was moments away, when I was pulled to one side by my drama teacher, Miss Holden; a gorgeous, talented lovely woman and my hero. With drama being the only subject I was really doing well in, Miss Holden got on like a house on fire. She took me to one side with nobody around and started to talk about Rivi FM. She said how time consuming it would be and that I would probably need to spend time out of some lessons. My heart sank. I had a feeling where this was heading. I was never interested in school; I was on the school council and was very much involved in projects outside of education, but all that resulted in me always being behind and failing exams. They must have decided that Rivi FM was a step too far and that it would do nothing but disrupt my already deteriorating studies. She took me step by step through all the downsides to being involved, almost attempting to brainwash me into thinking myself that the whole thing was a bad idea. I couldn’t let this happen.