Well its the end of another day, and my last Tuesday of my time at Absolute. Sad :(
Well, today didn't start well. For the first time in almost four weeks, I overslept. Not good. Luckily I set my alarm an hour and a half before I have to get up, so I wasn't late for the train. But it meant I didn't get to open door 20 of my advent calender... and the Door was HUGE. EPIC BAD TIMES.
So yeah, I get to Absolute. You may remember yesterday that I had to get a silly list of things. (The window cleaner and stuff) Well it was used this morning by Ritchie, (Breakfast Co-presenter and ex Bournemouth DJ) as he had to dress in his elf outfit and clean cars outside absolute. Mega lols.
I'm glad my purchases went to good use though :D
So anyway I get in, and there is fruit at reception. So I go up to the Zoo to stock up the fruit bowls. Good times. Next its time for me and Guy to sort the post. There is a lot, so it takes a while. Adam then comes to see us, and gives us a new schedule.
Literally you get a new schedule everyday at Absolute. I have so many in my bag. But anyway, the schedule says we have a meeting with Lee Price... now... So I sprint up the stairs... whilst Guy strolls up.
This is someone who I hadn't seen before. Or if I had, it had only been in passing. He is like Joe Thomas. His desk is in a studio.
As you have probably guessed, he works in production. Basically he creates jingles, promos and other audio bits. He shows us the programs he uses, and explains how he creates everything. Its fascinating to me, as its an area of radio that isn't really touch upon on my course.
Once that meeting is done, we head straight for another meeting with Adrian, who is one of the News Team. We meet him in the gallery, where he is preparing his next news bulletin. This is more Guys area of expertise, as he is studying journalism at Uni. Obviously I am extremely interested as well. So he goes through how the bulletins are done, how he compiles them, and then he lets us sit in as he does a live News read. There is a clever little program called Burli, which they use to write their news. Its an awesome little program, that has news sent to it, and categorised. And audio can be found and edited on it for different news stories. Its all very clever.
O by the way, they are both awesome guys, don't forget that.
Once the meeting is over I go back to the first floor to finish off the live reads I didn't finish yesterday. I next have to sort teas and coffee for a meeting for 5. So I head to the zoo to do that. As I'm doing that, Maggie, off the Breakfast show walks into the Zoo. On my schedule it says I'm sitting in on the breakfast show Wednesday morning.
So, to make sure shes aware, I ask her if its okay "For me to sit in on the Breakfast Show tomorrow"
See, its already in my schedule, but I don't want to turn up tomorrow with her not knowing why I'm there.
Luckily she knows and tells me to come in at 9, and I will be able to sit in the studio for the last hour.
BUT I MAKE A GRAVE MISTAKE
Whilst she is talking, I cut in and say "O I don't get in till 9.30..."
LET ME EXPLAIN
The reason I say that, is because I had been told that workys in the past had sat in for the last 30 minutes... Even Adam on reception had said that. So I thought she had forgotten that Workys don't get in till 9.30.
O how silly I am
She then, sounding a bit surprised, said "O well you can come in at 9.30... but you wont see as much of the show"
I then recover and say O no I can get in for 9! its fine.
GREAT
Now the producer of the Breakfast show thinks I'm not bothered about sitting in on their show. Brilliant. I really need to keep my mouth shut.
But anywayyyy, I am sitting in on Breakfast tomorrow. For the last hour of course. So that should be good :D
Anyway, so I make the teas and coffees, and then decide to have my break. Its just gone one after all.
My plan... get all my Christmas Presents :D as you know, I now know where to get everything, So I head to the stores in question... I cue in the first one... They don't have what I want in stock.... I go to second shop... They haven't got what I saw on Friday.
So here's my conclusion
Colin = Screwed... Big time
I never leave Christmas shopping this late. Normally they're all wrapped and under the tree by now. But, being at Absolute has ended any chance of my perfect record continuing. I am running out of time.
I managed to get one thing though, so not all bad.
So I get back, a bit later than my allowed hour break, as Oxford street is further than I thought (O I forgot to say I had a Pizza Hut Express... again... good times)
As soon as I get in... Adam hands me a list... A list of things from Greg again... Perhaps even weirder than the day before...
A battered Mars Bar?!?!?!?!? Okay that is weird... Luckily there is a Fish and Chips down the road from Absolute, so I plan to go in there and ask if they can deep fry one for me.
Everything else, I think, is pretty easy to find. The root beer I'm a bit worried about, as I didn't think that was even sold in the UK.
So its half 2, and I have a meeting at 3pm with Donach. Hes a CEO... a big fish so I can't miss that. So I go to the M + S just down the road to pick up a few of the items before the meeting.
I manage to get the Salad Cream, Baguette (Half, as a full one is WAYYYY to big) Cheese and Wotsits. I then have to get back for the meeting. I plan to go out after to get the rest of the stuff.
So I go and see Dorach. He has his own glass office on the 4th floor... Yes hes that important :D
So I get in and he asks me a bit about me and then asks me about my time at Absolute. I say how brilliant it has been, and how awesome the staff are. I then tell him about how I wanted to come to Absolute to find out more about Commercial radio, as it is basically a "A No Go" zone on my course.
Literally, my lecturers hate it. Its always BBC this or BBC that... which isn't really helpful to us... well it is, but I would like to learn about radio as a whole.
Anyway, Donach tells me a bit more about Absolute and the current commercial radio climate. He includes that he arrived at Absolute when they changed from Virgin.
He also said about what they are planning for the future, and their plans with "Target" advertising, where they hope to gain more advertisers as they will make advertising more relevant to listeners.
It is an awesome meeting, and he tells me to keep in touch after I leave.
Next, it is time to get the rest of the stuff on the list.
My first stop, the fish and chip shop, to ask about battering a Mars Bar.
They say they can't, as they have been asked before and it has caused problems with their oil. I bet that's a true story...
So I head on to get the other items. I get some toffee Popcorn and easily find the ice cream. Ironically I get the last tub at Tesco Metro (and its on offer!)
I also look around for root beer... But I cant find it. The only place I can think is newsagents, as they normally have unusual drink selections.
So I look in the newsagents near Absolute, and right on the middle shelf I find this:
Australian Root Beer... who would have though it.
Well that's 7 out of 8 items found. I plan to head back, to Absolute, drop off the stuff I have, and then go back to the fish and chips shop to explain I am from Absolute radio, and that if they deep fry a mars bar, they will get an awesome free Absolute mug :D
But I get back, and Greg says its fine to just get a normal Mars Bar... clearly they are hiding a Deep fat dryer in the basement.
But I now have another job... They don't have a freezer at Absolute. So Greg wants me to drop off the ice cream at a hotel around the corner, as they have agreed that Absolute can put the ice cream in their freezer... an easy job
But I head there, and its an over the top fancy hotel. So picture this, I walk in, in a thick coat, and tub of ice cream... Not fun.
The receptionist thinks I'm crazy and asks me to go to the restaurant. They think I'm crazy too, and I stand around awkwardly, whilst people fancily dressed are eating their meals.
Finally I hand it to the chef, and its all sorted. So I get back, and continue on getting clips for Brian. Ironically, we have a meeting with Brian at 4. But due to the tasks we have to do, he asks to move it to 5.
So at half 4 I collect the post. There is a lot. Loads of Christmas cards, and all the envelopes me and Guy sorted last week are now being sent. There are only three specials, so I sort them. I cover reception whilst Adam sorts the post, and then I return to floor one.
Brian isn't there. So the meeting obviously isn't happening.
But then we are given a new job by Paul Sylvester. He wants us to to create a Christmas "Bible" Throughout the building there are Bibles, which are basically manuals telling you how to do different tasks. Well over Christmas, things change, so a special Bible is created. We need to buy Ring binders, print them off, and create a front cover.... before midday Wednesday!
Guy has photoshop on his mac, so we create a cover for the bible. I give the ideas, he creates it. It is awesome... So look out for it!
Well that was my day... tomorrow sees me in on the Breakfast show, so exciting stuff!
But Until tomorrow Bloggers,
You stay Classy,
Colin
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