The most interesting, if not rewarding part of listening back, is viewing things
differently 15 years onwards and the realisation of it not being as rosy.
Notably the mood on-air during the first week back to lectures after Refreshers
feeling a lot more low, certainly on the daytime shows.
Things soon progressed, and below are the highlights of early Spring '07
where at the time, things almost returned to normal after the Refreshers chaos.
"Almost" being the operative word, the soul show now back on Wednesdays
swapping with Shuffle and following Smoke International, who after their festive frolics
ended up relaunching again in early '07, with a cringey opening jingle at 4.21.
Fair dos to the team for soldiering on despite all being in their final year,
yet it felt more detached than last semester, ditching all the older items
and bringing in newer ones such as "Very British" and Natasha's "Doctor Sheila".
Lucy remained to keep everyone motivated, and it was her influence later on in the semester,
getting fellow students from her International Journalism course to play out work
they had done on their assignments.
Whilst a nice idea, it brought the energy on the show down,
what with the speech-heavy pieces lasting up to 15 minutes.
Meaning my show would often start five minutes late, but I just followed suit.
The Request Show soldiers on with Pete and Stoobie at 7.55.
The banter between Pete, the slick presenter and Stewart, the comedy foil,
possibly more enjoyable than when Pete joined forces with Chris in the second year.
Chris back in the first year was still paired with Phil Landers, heard at 23:07 with
guests Emma and Sarah (AKA "Pictonator and Smith"), summing up
an ill-thought Monday night DJ set at the Undercroft (one of those not
hosted by Smoke Radio.)
In my drunk state that night, I was most likely making w****r gestures at the two fellas
clearing the dancefloor with their death metal tunes, who when it came to mixing,
couldn't mix a pack of cards.
Laughing hard when one song came to a sudden end followed by silence,
if you don't include the en-masse booing from the Underpants punters.
But don't let the photo below suggest I was any better.
Pboto by Edward Burke
I was just the warm up act...
Smokin' Records returns at 11.44, and it was great hearing them and Shuffle
back to back again on Thursday evenings.
Seb and Jon possibly the Zane Lowe to Adam and Zo's John Peel.
Though having previously described Seb and Jon and Smoke Radio's
"Lennon and McCartney", Adam from Shuffle really did bear a visual
resemblance to the bespectacled Beatle.
When it came to presenting, Shuffle itself took greater influence
from Radio 3's "Late Junction" and "Mixing It".
The latter unceremoniously axed after 17 years by the station's new controller,
which Adam certainly wasn't happy about, even writing a letter
as published on his Myspace blog.
The letter also questioned what the BBC would have of cultural worth to look back on
in 30 years time , taking note of the ongoing reliance of old Peel sessions
on 6 Music, and Whistle Test performances on BBC Four.
Reminding me of a chat with a family relative at Christmas while watching the Swap Shop
30 year special, and the similar declining state of Saturday morning shows
made more noticeable by Dick & Dom's departure.
It will be a sad day when 6 Music resorts to regurgitating old Live Lounge sessions,
though the way the station's going, that may already be the case.
But digressing again.
A special Shuffle at 12.18, with "guest hosts" Trinny and Suzannah introducing
songs themed around clothing garments.
Including another outing for Good Shoes, a favourite of fellow radio student
Caroline who presented a rather cool indie show the following year.
There was no doubt Adam made a lot of new friends from the radio course
over shared music taste.
I loved chatting with the boys in great detail about music, broadening my taste further
than a specialist show on Radio 2 or 6 Music could even dream of.
But then again I wouldn't be sat in the same studio as Cerys Matthews or Bob Harris,
regardless of how desperately hard they attempt to give that illusion on air.
Let alone a large number of shows aimed at a wider audience, forgetting
there were listeners full stop with their "zoo formats", making it harder to embrace
the likes of Scott Mills, who a fair few presenters on Smoke seemed to idolize
to the point of on-air plagiarism.
Leading on to the newer daytime shows that had been airing since late autumn,
and by mid spring, still sounding as if they were presenting their first shows.
Those up above, worried about the lack of progression called a meeting
with the first years to discuss ideas on taking the shows "to the next level" as such.
Resulting in Sam and Phil's "Dinner Party" shortened to just one hour on Tuesdays,
missing a trick in not renaming it "The Late-Afternoon-Tea Party" (14.23).
In fairness to them, they did up the ante, trying out new items such as their own
"Blind Date" for Valentines Day with Sam having to choose between a "Mate Or Date".
All ahead of a relaunch in early March as "Impey And The Brain",
which you'll hear in the blog covering the second half of the Spring '07 semester.
A warm-up of sorts for Goodlass and Marshall's Valentine's special on the day itself
(17.21), with Ina, and bar manager Chris subjected to the many double
(and single) entendres.
The latter desperately plugging the Thursday night events at Area 51
and not helped by the delayed opening this year, many of them were embarrassing flops
with up to 5 people showing up.
You knew an Area night was on its arse when on a Thursday evening, you'd receive
a Facebook invite just hours before opening time.
The mood and energy on campus would start winding down on Thursdays,
as many students went home at the weekend, or if they had no lectures
on the Friday they'd bid adieu sooner.
Specialist shows on Smoke this semester were still on form.
including newer offerings such as "Jazz Etc" at 7.03 with first year science student
Sephora.
Later mentioning that the show came about on finding that the university
didn't have a jazz band or society as such.
It's offbeat and light-hearted manner complemented our other jazz show
with Joe Haddow (19.36) in his case, often straying outside jazz to give light to
similar sounds such as the innovative and somewhat amusing "Radiodread" album
which Seb and Jon were also pretty keen on.
Popping up at 26.39, the Sunday lunchtime "Crossway" show with James Poulter
and "Producer Dave" Baker, a first year film student and oft-seen punter at the
Undercroft every Monday.
James' goal was getting Cliff Richard as a guest, about as achievable
as getting Maurice White from Earth Wind and Fire to appear on my show.
At 25.01 The 80s Team now with just Ina after co-presenter Cat dropped out
of the radio course to teach English to foreign students at the Open University.
Every Friday evening Ina invited a guest to co-present the show,in this instance Helen
who provided support for a blind student on the radio course.
I didn't tend to show up in the radio rooms on Friday nights, partly because
I was knackered from two days of practical lectures, but also, for reasons
mentioned earlier, the atmosphere on campus was completely dead.
Something I forgot about on plotting the idea to move my soul show
to Fridays the following year.
To prevent my mental health reaching a worse state, the next blog post
will fast forward almost two years to late 2008, a period of big change
for the station, but still with amusing moments to boot.
We'll pick up again in Spring 2007 later in the year,
leading up to what were more than heady times.
In the meantime, here's the Spring '07 playlist.
