My First Time

“Your first time will be something you will never forget. The music, the words spoken, the goof ups, the laughter… all will remain with you as a sweet and cherished memory through out your life. You might do it again thousands of time but the first time AH! That will be something that will be with you in your heart for the rest of your life.”, said a senior RJ to me while I was on training in All india Radio. Since that day I was waiting for the first time to happen. And yesterday it did.

I went on-air for the first time in my life, armed with my script, prepared with the songs I wished to play and of course the nervous excitement that was my companion for the day. Eight ten by the studio clock and I was a different person. I could sense the transition in me. I knew at that moment that there were hundreds of unknown people who were tuned in and among them hopefully 10s of my family and friends who would be giving their feedback. The faders were where they were supposed to be, the songs had been all tuned in and in fact the first track was already on air… Hello by Lionel Richie was playing.

Halfway through the song the duty officer decided to alarm me. He came barging in the studio… “What is this you did not announce the name of the show, your name or the song… even a Hindi announcer could have done that?” I was a changed person. Did not raise even an eyebrow. Very coolly I replied, “Sir it is a part of my script. Please be patient and I’ll be saying all that needs to be said and more.”

My confidence (read as pretence of confidence), it seems cooled the big boss and he left me to survive through the rest of the show. The songs and the order of the songs that I had decided upon had, due to technical goof-ups and highly complicated machinery, gone haywire. The systematic version of myself was suffering from convulsions whereas the ‘brilliant-at-the-spur-of-the-moment’ part of me was glad that now I had the opportunity to show off my spontaneity.

So the biggest goof up, if you want to call it that (I‘ll be calling it a close and intelligent save), of the day was as follows:

According to my script I was going ga ga over Bryan Adams and how he never disappoints with any of his songs. To my horror at the late realization, which I blame on the pressures of handling the studio equipment all by self for the first time, Ronan Keating was crooning “You say it best when you say nothing at all.” I was to be on air in 2 minutes and before that the spool had to be cued-in. First thing first I cued in the spools. Went back on my chair and took my position in front of the microphone.

“ Mr Bryan Adams has after all decided to not say anything at all today. But thank you so much Mr Ronan Keating for stepping up and coming to my aid. You truly are the best Mr. Ronan Keating”

This is how I’ll always remember the first time I did IT… hey! dirty minds I am talking about doing my first live show on air.

Do tune into Yuva Vani on 1017 KiloHertz at 8:10 pm to listen to “In the Groove”. A nice show that plays good English music.