So what does a PAT Inspector do when not at work? Well... I've been involved with radio in one form or another since 1990. My love of radio started with the gift of a Toshiba boombox, Christmas 1986. The memory of opening the gift wrapped box, plugging in and switching on the radio has stuck with me ever since. The very first voice heard on that shiny, bright red cased new radio was Terry Wogan, back announcing Chris de Burgh and A Spaceman Came Travelling. Pure magic.
Many years later an opportunity arose to host a show on Big L International 1395. It was a wonderful time, my office soon doubled up as a radio studio and many hours were spent broadcasting to an audience throughout the UK, France, Germany, Belgium and beyond. We had listeners in America, Spain and even workers on the North Sea Oil Rigs! The AM transmitter was a powerful old beast that could really pump out a strong signal! The station played golden oldies from the sixties and seventies along with some wonderful jingles that helped recreate the authentic sound of the pirate radio ships of the day. Just look at the names I was privelleged to broadcast alongside!
The screengrab is from my early time with Big L International when I only hosted Friday evenings. Times and circumstances changed for the station and I took over the noon to 2pm weekday slot, then Saturday morning as well.
Since 2015 I've been heavily involved with Zack FM, a station based in Mildenhall. We broadcast to the Forest Heath area of Mildenhall, with an FM signal that reaches Bury St. Edmunds, Thetford, Newmarket and beyond! We also have a presence on DAB radio in Norwich and Cambridge. As well as hosting a daily weekday show between 1 and 3pm, I'm also responsible for many of the technical aspects of the station too including the FM transmitter, music scheduling, studio maintenance and writing / producing adverts. When the eqipment is behaving, its a very rewarding and fun thing to do. When the equipment is misbehaving, well, every second of dead air feels like an eternity. Thats the time to slow down, not panic, logically work through the system fault finding, then fix whatever caused the issue.
If you have a spare few minutes, have a listen! You don't have to be in the Tx area, we are online at www.zackfm.com or your smart speakers. "Alexa, Open Zack FM Player" should do the trick.
