Daring to do the things we normally wouldn't do. What the heck?
So, yet another week has passed, in this 'mindfunk' of a year.
'Normal life' has become an increasingly meaningless phrase. Weird is the new normal, but thankfully, going out is the new staying in. Finally. Social distancing adherence, of course.
Time is ever more difficult to pinpoint, and now that people are starting to adjust back to life, they are nevertheless wondering what the future will look like. And, if 2020 is anything to go by so far, what the Hell is around the next corner, literally.
There seems to be a growing number of beautiful humans out there though who want to ensure any lessons learnt during this challenging period will be remembered beyond this time.
And of course, there will always be the small number of mindless idiots that ruin everything for everybody else.
Of course, we can only be responsible for ourselves and so as we have been building The Buzz Mcr during this crazy period it has given us a renewed sense of purpose and honed our values. We want to create a radio station that will add something valuable to people's lives. We truly respect the precious time you would give to us when you listen to the station, and so we want to create broadcasts that entertain, inform and just make you feel good. We want to help create great moments for you that will become good memories.
So that's what we're doing.
We've had another busy week here at Buzz HQ.
We received some new equipment this week, which always makes us very happy. Up until these last few weeks, being in lockdown had meant that the delivery guys were the only people we generally got to see. We've become true besties with our delivery guys. Keith collects Star Wars figures still, even though he's 52. Martin has a secret love for disco music and has a mirrorball in his bathroom, much to the annoyance of his third wife. The fellas will probably be coming over for Christmas dinner this year, if COVID doesn't ruin that too.
With technical engineers also unable to visit us in person, this recently left us with the terrifying task of having to cut our own hole into our perfectly varnished wooden desk, in order to drop the mixing desk into it. A few days of nervous procrastination passed by, until it became no longer possible to avoid the inevitable. Jigsaw in trembling hand, brow sweating and heart-pounding, we finally took the plunge. Ten minutes later we had a perfectly imperfect hole in the desk and the mixer fitted in snugly (a bit too snug in fairness - but hey ho, nothing ventured nothing gained). Now we've just got a mass of tangled cables to rearrange and label correctly, no worries - we'll do that tomorrow....
We have also been writing the idents for the station. We call them the Stationality. These are the little soundbites that you hear regularly in between songs, and they are vital in defining a radio station's personality, vibe and attitude. We've never had to write idents via the medium of FaceTime before, and who knew how much fun it could be? We've been making each other laugh (a lot) with some of the weird and wonderful ideas we've been throwing around, but we are very pleased with how the initial writing sessions have gone, and we think you are going to love them. There are a few surprises in store too which are sure to cause some controversy.
One of the idents that makes us chuckle, but somehow actually sums up perfectly both The Buzz Mcr and our beloved city is the simplest of idents which simply says 'The Buzz Manchester: SOUND'.
Another one proudly states, 'The skidmark on the underpants of Manchester radio. We're The Buzz'.
Whilst doing our writing, we took a trip down memory lane and revisited some of the radio idents that were a huge part of our formative years and making us fall in love with radio, namely the local radio god that was Piccadilly 261. If you click the image below you can listen to some of the idents of theirs from the 1970's, 80's and 90's.
Some of them are absolutely priceless, and a worthy trip down memory lane.
