A few years back I was presenting a mid-evening radio show when the station manager decided it was time to stay late and watch the thing go out. Now, mid-evening and successful are no words that go together well in radioland - but we'd tapped into a rich vein. No-one else on the station - in the region - was doing our kind of show; getting real people to tell extraordinary stories. I don't mean, "phone up and tell us something funny", funny was often what we got but our regular diet became tales that were gobsmackinly extraordinary. The emails came in the text machine went barmy, people wrote letters to the show. It was a joy. Said manager had always said she was a fan of the show but I soon discovered that all this was going on under the management radar. She asked what I' be doing that night and I said, the usual blank piece of paper and see what we got - plus our little competition. Oh, she said, remind me how that works. It was at that point I realised that she'd never heard the show. I'd done the same competition every night since we'd started.
Last week I had a similar experience only this time I was the one with egg on my face. A voice appeared on the telephone, it was a guy I'd met quite a few times but someone I didn't much care for - and I had no idea of his name. He wanted me to send him something. In my bid to get rid of him I agreed and asked for him to remind me how he spelt his surname. there was a pause and then he said: S_M_I_T_H.
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