VIV STANSHALL

Trevor's Friday night programme attracted a vast range of guests. Among them was Viv Stanshall, straight from some Nottingham stage. As Trevor started to introduce the radio people Stanshall interrupted saying: 'I'm too heavy. I have to sit down.' He did, and proceeded to provide amusing entertainment. It was the best show on radio. As Trevor points out in his blog, not a lot of people knew that. I was the Friday night reporter, alternating weekends with Simon Cole, now incredibly important in news management at Sky. After laughing myself stupid and waiting for the guests to depart I wandered through to the control room where a worried looking Trevor was busy doing something with that evening's tape, a legal requirement that also allowed either Tom Beesley, the manager, or John Bright, the Programme Organiser, to listen at their leisure. There had been a helluva lot of swearing on that night's programme. Although no one had rung in to complain, Trevor was worried about his job. 'The managers don't listen, do they?' I asked, confident in the knowledge that had they done so that night they would have called to complain. 'No,' he replied. 'And they're not going to get a second chance, either.' He was bending over several hours worth of tape. It was sitting on a massive magnet used to recycle tapes. Taking it over to one of the main tape players he listened carefully on headphones before commenting, with a broad smile: 'Oh dear, yet again the machine's failed to record the programme.' The presenter was right(in Trevor's blog): he did go far in broadcasting.