URN

It was a very tense beginning to the week as the Student Radio Awards were fast approaching URN; but, as always, the station delivered and on the 9th November 2011, we were crowned the Best Student Radio Station 2011 - second year running!

This meant that celebrations had to ensue throughout the morning's show and of course, other people's shows for the duration of the day; my contribution to the festivities was playing 'Celebrate good times, come on!' approximately every five minutes, which can be heard in the podcast!

It was my third 'Wake Up With' for URN and my my, did it fly by. I was genuinely loving the show, and before I knew it, Humdingers went and gone in the blink of an eye, Joe Keogh's song (Stone - search for it on Youtube) had been played, and a huge amount of shout outs were given: suddenly it was nine o'clock.

As the title suggests, today's show (the 3rd November, not the 2nd November as I thought...) was one of the most surreal ones I've ever experienced. It all kicked off with myself being convinced it was the 2nd, until being corrected almost instantly, so thanks to eagle eared listeners for spotting that!

Within ten minutes of playing 'Humdingers,' Gurps Rai guessed the answer = 'Kids' by MGMT, and won himself four free coffees from Mooch! Tune in next week for your opportunity to win another four vouchers!

It was just before nine o'clock that the show itself moved into the realms of the bizarre, as I got a text in about giraffes affecting the road conditions. But, as always, I give a shout out to anyone, so ended up playing the News jingle and read out the peculiar phrase live on air, so check out the podcast for that!

Matthew Gundry joined me, as per usual, at just after nine to tune if for what was undoubtedly radio history. Many of you will know that the weekly Quidditch game occurs on the Downs every Wednesday, and I was down there to make amends for the Quidditch-bashing that happened last week. That was when I experienced the most surreal moment of my life to date:

Yes loyal listeners, on the 26th October 2011, Giles Gear hit URN's airwaves for the first time.

I must admit, the first ten minutes were particularly harrowing and terrifying as I was unsure if anyone was actually listening/I was even on air. But after the faithful Mother Gear got in touch, the messages soon came flying in, including a request for one of my favourite bands, AC/DC.

Highlights included Humdingers, where very basically I force unsuspecting members of the public to hum a well known song, which if guessed by the listeners, can lead to four FREE Mooch coffee vouchers being won! This week's was 'Black Eyed Peas - I gotta feeling', which you can listen to on the podcast! Things really kicked off when Matthew Gundry joined me and began insulting the weekly Quidditch game on the downs, which provoked an angry response from one listener, also available on the podcast!

Overall, it was hugely enjoyable and I barely had enough time to fit in all the games/songs/general chit chat that's needed for a Thursday morning!

NEXT WEEK: To make up for our insulting of Quidditch, I will attempt to record myself being the snitch for next weeks show, Humdingers will return, as will 9.30 knockers, and my freaked-out review of Paranormal Activity Three!

Get listening, get involved, get into Gear.