The Radio Show

When I was at university, I volunteered at the campus radio station. It was a tiny room in the basement of the student union building with old equipment and terrible soundproofing. — choose for gap 1 —1. I never enjoyed working at the radio station and was glad to leave2. But to this day, people I went to university with remember my radio show3. Some of them said my show had introduced them to their new favourite band4. The station manager wanted to cancel my show and replace it with something more popular5. I wanted every episode to feel like a journey through sounds people wouldn't find on their…6. That was a disappointing number, but it didn't make me want to stop7. You could hear the pipes rattling whenever someone upstairs flushed a toilet8. Most students preferred listening to mainstream pop music on commercial stations But for those of us who worked there, it felt like the most exciting place in the world. I was given a weekly one-hour slot on Thursday evenings. My show was about music that most people had never heard of — bands from small towns, singers who recorded songs in their bedrooms, and musicians from other countries. — choose for gap 2 —1. I never enjoyed working at the radio station and was glad to leave2. But to this day, people I went to university with remember my radio show3. Some of them said my show had introduced them to their new favourite band4. The station manager wanted to cancel my show and replace it with something more popular5. I wanted every episode to feel like a journey through sounds people wouldn't find on their…6. That was a disappointing number, but it didn't make me want to stop7. You could hear the pipes rattling whenever someone upstairs flushed a toilet8. Most students preferred listening to mainstream pop music on commercial stations I spent hours every week searching for tracks and writing short introductions for each one. At first, hardly anyone listened. The station manager told me that my show had fewer than twenty regular listeners. — choose for gap 3 —1. I never enjoyed working at the radio station and was glad to leave2. But to this day, people I went to university with remember my radio show3. Some of them said my show had introduced them to their new favourite band4. The station manager wanted to cancel my show and replace it with something more popular5. I wanted every episode to feel like a journey through sounds people wouldn't find on their…6. That was a disappointing number, but it didn't make me want to stop7. You could hear the pipes rattling whenever someone upstairs flushed a toilet8. Most students preferred listening to mainstream pop music on commercial stations I kept going because I loved doing it, and I believed that the right audience would find me eventually. Slowly, things began to change. Students started sending me messages asking about the songs I had played. — choose for gap 4 —1. I never enjoyed working at the radio station and was glad to leave2. But to this day, people I went to university with remember my radio show3. Some of them said my show had introduced them to their new favourite band4. The station manager wanted to cancel my show and replace it with something more popular5. I wanted every episode to feel like a journey through sounds people wouldn't find on their…6. That was a disappointing number, but it didn't make me want to stop7. You could hear the pipes rattling whenever someone upstairs flushed a toilet8. Most students preferred listening to mainstream pop music on commercial stations One listener even told me she had booked a flight to Brazil after hearing a song I played by a musician from São Paulo. After I graduated, I had to give up the show. I went on to work in a completely different field. — choose for gap 5 —1. I never enjoyed working at the radio station and was glad to leave2. But to this day, people I went to university with remember my radio show3. Some of them said my show had introduced them to their new favourite band4. The station manager wanted to cancel my show and replace it with something more popular5. I wanted every episode to feel like a journey through sounds people wouldn't find on their…6. That was a disappointing number, but it didn't make me want to stop7. You could hear the pipes rattling whenever someone upstairs flushed a toilet8. Most students preferred listening to mainstream pop music on commercial stations Some of them tell me they still listen to the artists I introduced them to all those years ago. That makes me prouder than almost anything else I have done.