This was going to be an amazing post highlighting my upcoming radio show for this Monday, on BBC Oxford… but unfortunately, the BBC are not, afterall, going to be playing my show out on that date.

In one sense this is discouraging; I have worked very hard on ‘Around the A4074’ throughout this whole summer, including a ridiculous amount of editing in the past week, and I have had it in my mind for months that 30th August is the broadcasting date for the programme. I hope that the many people I gave that date to will not be disappointed to find that the show is not going to be playing out then. However in another sense, I am quite excited, because the BBC have said some good things about the show, and the idea is that the project will be broadcast, but that it needs some BBC polish/finesse first.

The feedback was largely positive; apparently the atmosphere and energy and pace in the second hour of the show are great; the audio is good, and in general, it holds together very well. But the first half is comparitively a little lacklustre, and the producer isn’t sure that folks would stay to listen to the second half. The plan is for me to meet with the BBC and talk about how to improve/develop the show from here on in, and the guy I spoke to reckons the show is mostly done – about two thirds of the way towards being a great radio show. Rathing than rushing it to air for this Monday with little promotion and missing a few of the bells and whistles they think need adding in, they would like to work it up to be as good as it possibly can be… which I really understand. I feel that the way things are, ‘Around the A4074’ is going to be made more accessible and get a wider listenership than it may otherwise have done. Plus I will learn huge amounts about how the BBC works, and about how to make some of my more radical ideas available to a broader audience. I am especially happy that they like the concept, and find it worth working on.

Mostly I am very excited at the thought of getting some professional help with making my stuff BBC-friendly, and encouraged by hearing from a BBC radio producer that the concept (and much of the audio) for the show is ‘brilliant,’ but I can’t help feeling a little bit sad that my show wasn’t so great that they decided to instantly air it. I have never made a 2-hour show for mainstream local radio before, so maybe it was ambitious to think I could ace it first time. But I secretly hoped in my heart that I would, and I just have to hang onto the idea that I will learn more this way, and that this – and the show being the absolute best that it can be – are what I should focus on, rather than feeling like I have failed.

Podcasts and suchlike will all have to wait until after the BBC show is done and aired, but I will keep this blog updated with the progress of the project.