PODCAST: Interview with Marian Finucane
This weekend was exciting. I was invited to be a guest on the Marian Finucane show on Ireland’s RTE Radio 1. It’s always an honour when people are interested to hear about A Year of Reading the World, but I knew this was a particularly big deal when my Irish neighbour’s eyes lit up at the mention of the programme. ‘Oh how wonderful,’ she said. ‘I must try and listen in.’
Because Dublin was a little far for me to travel from London on a Saturday morning, the producers had booked a studio for me at BBC Western House near Oxford Circus. The arrangement was that I would go there and do the interview remotely.
There was only one snag: as the place is unmanned at the weekends, I would have to let myself in. There wouldn’t really be anyone around to help set me up.
Not being a technical person, this made me slightly nervous. I had visions of myself sitting in front of a bewildering array of buttons and switches desperately trying to work out what to press as poor Marian called my name again and again from across the Irish Sea.
Luckily, the reality was quite different. I arrived in the studio to find three microphones –coloured so that I could be sure I was sitting in front of the correct one – and an incredibly comprehensive list of instructions. ‘To your left there is a phone,’ I read. ‘Pick it up, dial this number and tell the control room in Broadcasting House that you are ready to proceed.’ It felt a bit like being a secret agent in a spy film.
Before I knew it, I was listening in to the show, waiting for my slot. If I’d been at all anxious from the technical shenanigans, I’ve no doubt Marian would have put me at my ease. She was so charming and interested in the project that it was a real pleasure to speak to her.
As you can hear from the podcast of the show above, we had a great chat. And if I needed any more proof of what a star Marian Finucane is, the number of visitors to this blog from Ireland over the last few days has told its own story. Céad míle fáilte to you all.
Photo by curtis.kennington