See? I told you it was a love story. Mary Picken was one of the first reviewers to receive a copy of The Red Light Zone and she kindly gave us an early glance of her article so that we could include a quote in the book itself. Mary’s website liveanddeadly.net is well respected among readers and authors. It’s mainly devoted to crime fiction – one of my own enthusiasms – but Mary spent part of her career working for BBC Nations and Regions and so, as she says, was interested to read my memoirs “partly to see if it rang true”.

Here’s what she thought:

The Red Light Zone – An Insider’s Laugh ‘n’ Tell of BBC Radio by Jeff Zycinski @JeffZycinski @LunicornPress @Lunicorn

 

“There was no real element of jeopardy or strategy. Contestants couldn’t undermine each other by, say, using a large mallet to rob an opponent of vital brain cells.”

-The Red Light Zone

 

 

The fun part of any book review is deciding which sentence to extract from the body of the text.  Rob Waller, I’m happy to say, left me spoiled for choice when he got in touch yesterday.  As a news journalist at Radio Clyde, Rob was particularly interested in my descriptions of the Clyde newsroom in the early nineties, just a few years before he started working there himself.  This got me hunting through my scrapbook and I found the photograph above which was taken to publicise Clyde’s coverage of the 1992 General Election.  Anyway, that’s enough preamble, here’s Rob’s review:

‘The Red Light Zone’ is an absorbing read from cover to cover.
Like all good broadcasters Jeff has a way of writing which makes you feel that he is talking to you alone.
The book provides a fascinating glimpse of the inner workings of BBC Scotland for those of us who’ve only looked in from the outside. (The chilling descriptions of management meetings are perhaps a comfort to those of us who’ve stayed on the commercial side of the fence.)
I joined Radio Clyde a couple of years after Jeff jumped ship but his vivid depiction of life in the newsroom is exactly how I remember it when I started. It is inspiring to read the adventures of someone I’ve looked up to and admired who sat at the same desks and spoke into the same microphones that I do.
Jeff’s passion for discovering new talent is a theme which runs through the book and his stories are a useful reminder that the most essential attributes for a journalist / broadcaster are curiosity and an ability to connect with people – everything else can be taught.
The most fascinating chapters for me were the ones where he writes so movingly about the impact of his career on family life and the realisation of the inevitable consequences of those choices and compromises.
Those looking for salacious gossip or for the settling of scores will be disappointed – with the notable exception of an amusing chapter on the adventures of a high-profile breakfast presenter in the Highlands.
I do hope there will be a sequel.’

 

“The drawers of the desk were empty but for several Kit Kat biscuits. Clare explained that my predecessor had a fondness for Kit Kats and coffee. ‘And the guy before him was obsessed with flags.’

   ‘Flags?’

   ‘Yes he wanted a wall-mounted flagpole outside the building so that he could fly the BBC flag here in the Borders.’

   ‘Why?’

   ‘So that he could mark Royal birthdays and deaths. He wrote lots of letters to London about it but he had no joy.’

   ‘Who did he write to?’

   ‘I’m not sure. There might be a Head of Flags.’

   ‘Really? I suppose it’s possible.’ “

-The Red Light Zone

 

 

“There was also an annoying bouncer who had been instructed to keep an eye on me and who kept leaning into my microphone shouting ‘He can’t wait to see the naked girls!’ In truth, I was quite nervous about seeing the naked girls, not because of my youthful shyness, but because I couldn’t figure out how I could translate nudity into audio.”

– The Red Light Zone

 

“Had I, for example, pocketed one of the Children in Need collecting tins? Had my numerous expense claims for chocolate muffins come to the attention of the auditors? Had someone finally unearthed copies of those old student magazines and discovered that article I’d written about the Pope?”

The Red Light Zone

About a month away from the official launch of The Red Light Zone and review copies have been landing on the desks of journalists and radio newsrooms around the country. It’s oddly disquieting to get random messages from people who are actually reading my wee book.  So far, those messages have been positive, even allowing for the text I received from Radio Clyde journo Rob Waller who told me he was speed-reading chapters between news bulletins and was slightly traumatised by my description of the Clyde newsroom in the 1990s.  Similarly my old radio chum, Tom Morton, described the book as funny and moving, but also felt strangely disturbed by memories of our time together in Inverness. David Walker at MFR, meanwhile, has taken his copy home for holiday reading. Lets hope my memories of Moray Firth Radio don’t cause him such anxiety.

 

Stations like Nation Radio Scotland didn’t exist when I was working in the business, but I’m now a firm fan thanks to a glowing on-air review from Suzie McGuire. She has promised to send me the clip.  Equally blush-worthy was the praise heaped on me by Tessa Williams who interviewed me today on her show for Chat and Spin Radio.

Meanwhile, if you are looking to pre-order a copy of the book at a discount price, I see it’s now on the booktopia.com.au site for just $22.25. But you have to be in Australia. Best stick to Waterstones and amazon.co.uk if you live here.

 

 

Years before Jamie Oliver tried the same trick, BBC Radio Scotland had a format in which famous folk were invited to teach a lesson in a Scottish school.  The series was called Class Act and included names such as theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh, Chef Brian Turner and newsreader Dermot Murnaghan.  My favourite edition featured the comedy actor, Karen Dunbar who talked to pupils about her childhood dream of being on television or in movies. She also described her own anxiety and confidence issues and illustrated it with this tale of going for an audition, almost bottling out and then asking herself some key questions.