Day Two - Frozen Yorkshires

Sup Blog land,
                        My second and first full day of absolute is complete. Its incredible how fast it has gone. You are never left with nothing to do. There are always small tasks asked of you. Some tasks can take literally 4 hours to complete.

There is a list of tasks that work experience people have to do each day. There is also a white board, where staff members can right any other task that they can't be bothered to do. That is where we come in.

First things first, I got to Absolute fine at 9.30am. Good start. But you may remember yesterday I mentioned the other work experience person. A girl called Nicola, who spent more time texting on her phone and on facebook than actually making the most of her experience. Well I found out why she seemed so disinterested. Turns out she didn't even want to be there. Unfair for a would be work experience person who loves radio, but I guess in radio its not what you know, its who you know.

ANYWAY MY SECOND DAY...

The post is our first task. Obviously Absolute get a lot of post, but its our job to sort it into the right pigeon holes, make sure letters addressed to people who no longer work there are returned and Junk is thrown away. Nicola got to absolute before me, so she got that job. Adam, on reception had a task for me. He wanted me to create a soundcloud account and upload random jingles for a "hot shot" absolute producer living in LA. Pretty fancy. He wanted ME to do it because his computer on reception had certain programs blocked, so it was down to me to go to floor one (where I'm based) and sort it out. Unfortunately every computer has an owner at Absolute, so us work experience have to use them when their owner isn't there. There were only 4 computers not in use, that weren't also locked. They were the breakfast shows ones. As I got there at 9.30, and the breakfast show finishes at 10am, I had half an hour to upload the clips to soundcloud, using one of the breakfast show crews computers. I did it in time, which made Adam happy.

The board had more tasks for us to (Including filling water coolers up with plastic cups and filling up the different Jars in the Zoo) We filled the cups up, then I filled up the fridge in reception with coke, diet coke etc, whilst Nicola continued the paperwork she hadn't finish yesterday. Once that was done, I returned to Floor one. All the computers were being used, so I went to Adam to ask if there were any other tasks.

Apparently there was post to sort in the mail room, so I went there. Its pretty simple, look at the name on the letter, then put it in their pigeon hole. Problem is, sometimes the letters only say things like "Head of Communications" or "Head of Sales" which is a pain in the a hole. Whilst I searched for names on letters, many different members of staff came down to collect their post. Everyone was friendly and offered help if I couldn't find someone. TURNS OUT the whole pile I was looking through was people who no longer worked at Absolute. Brilliant.... That meant I had to put stickers on saying "Return to sender" EPIC

Here are some pictures of famous names on Pigeon Holes.

Something told me that Mr Ronnie Wood didn't hang about whilst at Absolute. His Pigeon hole was filled with packages, some from America. The highlight of my time in the Post Room was a letter addressed to Richard Branson. (The amount of post still addressed to Virgin Radio was unreal) It had a sticker on it saying "Unpaid postage" and was held together by staples. I opened it, and it was a leaflet about Virgin Broadband. The sender had covered the thing in "annotations" highlighting how racist Virgin was and that they didn't want to sign up to their broadband. Weird.

Back on Floor One, I got back to the paper work I had started the day before. Basically it is a program that records whenever the Mic fader is opened on Studio A's desk. We had to listen to each one, to make sure the On air DJ had advertised the right sponsor. We then had to write down the exact time it was said. Sometimes the DJ wouldn't so we would put a cross. This took HOURS as you have to listen through every link to check they mentioned it.

THEN THE MOST EXCITING PART OF THE DAY

Whilst we were typing away, Gregg, the Breakfast Show Producer came over to us and asked if one of us could do him a favour. As I was the "Radio Enthusiast" of the two , I jump in to say I would. I was given a list of food items, and £15. My task... Simple. Go buy them. Easy... or so I thought.

The list was as follows:

• A packet of Pepperoni Sausage slices
• A block of Cheddar Cheese
• Soda Biscuits or Ryvita
• A packet of Yorkshires Pudding
• A bag of Sherbert.

Gregg also wanted the receipts. At first I thought it was some sort of trick... as I had been warned by Mr Shakeshaft of how Work Experience people can be picked on by staff at a company. But according to Adam they do it every now and then as a "Weird" taste segment.

So of I went into Cold grey London in search of a tesco. Luckily in London you can find about 5 supermarkets on one street. So I found a Tesco, where I bought the pepperoni, A block of Cheddar (OVER 3 QUID WHAT A RIP OFF) and some Ryvita, as I didn't have a clue what Soda biscuits were. For some reason they didn't have Yorkshires... SO I went in search of a bigger supermarket. On Good ol Oxford street I found a Sainsburys Central (??????) which is just a normal sainsburys with central stuck on the end. I found Yorkshires (Aunt Bessie's on sale!) so all was good.

BUT a problem... Where the hell do they sell bags of sherbert? I didn't know... so I found a newsagent and bought 3 packets of Dip Dabs... Good enough.

So I arrived back at the station. I delivered the goods. He seemed satisfied. He also said he may have other tasks for me, So i'm gonna make sure this "Relationship" blooms. First small tasks, next step Lead Presenter. (See ya later Christian)

I still haven't spoken to Christian O'Connell. He is always the first to leave from the breakfast team. They all sit on the sofas and just talk for about an hour after their show. It came apparent that their exactly the same on air as off air, as they just sat there talking about anything. Christian, Ritchie his co presenter( & Ex Bournemouth Student) and his producers.

I knew they were the heroes without voices on radio, but I have realised today just how much a producer is the core of a show. The amount of time they spend on their shows is incredible. It is clear they love the industry, just as much as us students at Bournemouth. An example. The breakfast show starts at 6 am. Gregg was still at his desk when I left at 5.30 and didn't look like finishing any time soon.

As before we had to get Tea/Coffee ready for meetings in the Boardroom. Here is a picture of the main board room.

The picture doesn't really do it justice. It is awesome. We also got biscuits etc ready. We also stocked up tea/coffee etc in the Zoo for the other staff. There are biscuits galore at Absolute, so I helped my self. I never turn down a good Bourbon :D (We are allowed to have the biscuits before you ask)

Once all that was done we continued with the "Live Reads" (The paperwork where we listen to the links) and just about finished them before 5.30.

Its incredible how fast the time goes. But it is just incredible being in that building. Sure there are dull tasks, like picking up dirty mugs and plates from around the building, but its worth it just to be able to watch professionals do their job. Every single person there is willing to help, and everyone is friendly.

We wait and see what day 3 brings. I have some more pictures with captions so take a look :)

Until tomorrow dear readers

Toddle Bye

Colin

The LED sign to Studio C, where live bands play.

Signed guitars hanging up in "The Zoo" bands include the Killers and Muse. (And of course the Table football)

The Big screen in "The Zoo" showing clips of past bands who have played live sets at Absolute

A sofa in "The Zoo" to the right of it is an Xbox and 42 inch TV, with sky + (GOOD TIMES) There is a box of those pillows, so I plan to get one before the end of my 4 weeks.

The Basement. Where most of the digital stations are broadcast from (Absolute 60's,70's, 80's etc) There are about 5 studios to the right of the picture. Supposedly that corridor is haunted.

A painting on the wall in the basement. According to Adam, Slash came in and wanted the picture. Absolute refused, so he picked up a marker and drew a beard and moustache on it. If its true that...is... AWESOME

And finally a nice picture of the London Eye at night :D