Primeau & Grose: Behind the Scenes

Primeau's first set of 2 week vacations is coming up next month and we have the plan to replace her. While Morley can fill in for a couple of days one week and J'Lyn can fill in for 3 days both weeks I'm left on my own for 2 days. Normally that wouldn't be a major problem but I've just noticed that one of those days I'm alone we're on location at Capital X (Or whatever we're now calling it). Let the panic begin.

I've done locations without Primeau but I've never done them on my own. There's usually quite a few technical challenges to face from losing the feed to figuring out who's doing the weather and I usually rely on Primeau to work that out. Then there's the fact that, when on location, we tend to talk about the event we're at rather than handling a topic and conversations usually require 2 people. Taking phone calls is very difficult because they come into the station and our operator has it patch them through and know when we want to go to them or end them.

One solution is to fill the show with guests but I'll be the first to admit I don't think I'm a great interviewer. I often find myself just having a conversation and forgetting there's an audience at all. The other challenge is that many people panic the second the mics turn on and trying to pry information out of them makes 10 minutes feel like 10 days. It's great to have a second host who can jump in with a new question when you see the other is struggling.

Then there's the fact that instructions from the station are coming through your headset at the same time you're trying to listen yo your guest which I still find distracting. "So tell me a little bit about... GO TO SPORTS ...umm hold that thought as we go to... MICS HOT AND YOUR THROWING TO DAVE ...ummm it's 3:55!" Don't even get me going on the fact it's a new board and forgetting to push the right button can cause some major problems.

Having said all that I'm looking forward to it. It's another step in my continuing radio education.