Seventh Heaven
I was back through in Edinbugh this morning to meet Mary Kalemkerian, the controller of Â鶹Éç 7. It's one of the U.K.'s most successful digital radio stations and has a schedule brimming with classic comedy, archive drama and childrens' programmes.
Mary is a big fan of Fred MacAulay and especially enjoyed Fred's Edinburgh festival shows when his co-host was Sue Perkins. If things go to plan then this year's Radio Scotland festival shows will get a second airing on Â鶹Éç7.
It was interesting to hear about the inner workings of Â鶹Éç 7. I had vaguely imagined that their producers would spend fun-filled hours wandering through the radio archives, selecting programmes for transmission in much the same way that children approach the pick 'n' mix counter in a sweetie shop. Mary told me it wasn't quite that easy and there are a lot of issues surrounding rights and contracts that prevent her from transmitting certain programmes. Some older programmes also contain language and references which a contemporary audience would't find acceptable.
This upsets those fans of comedy who like to record and collect programmes and get frustrated if they don't have every episode of every series. I told Mary how I'd encountered a group of these collectors when I was on holiday in Yorkshire last year. They were gathered in the corner of an old record shop, comparing notes and exchanging casette copies of Dad's Army and Hancock's Half Hour.
Apparently angry collectors are a force to be reckoned with and Mary says some of them resort to name-calling. She has been called Miss Jean Brodie - a reference to her original career as a Scottish primary school teacher.
Well, this was the first time I'd met Mary and she didn't come across like that at all. As you'd expect, given her connection with comedy, she had a great sense of humour. A class act, really.
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