Clare Teal: After the nerves, my new radio show goes with a swing

Sunday saw the start of my new Radio 2 show now unscripted and live, featuring the best of big band and swing old and new.

The last thing I wanted to do was get stuck in traffic, that A303 can be tricky, so I set off for London ridiculously early leaving more time than even my Dad would’ve to get to Manchester Airport.

Sitting in Chris Evans’s chair which incidentally is in much better nick than Ken Bruce’s, I watched the clock tick and listened to the nine o’clock news in a way I never had before. As the show jingle kicked in I couldn’t help thinking, “Chris Evans must be very tall my little legs are dangling off the floor” that and, “Clare – why on earth do you put yourself in these terrifying situations?”

The green light went on and the next two hours were a complete blur.

As soon as the texts and emails started rolling in from real-life people actually listening and responding to the music I relaxed and started to really enjoy 
myself. What’s not to enjoy about playing some of the greatest records ever made? There was also a nice selection of biscuits in the control room.

At one point in the second hour during a particularly swingy tune (incidentally Chris Evans’s chair is better than both Steve Wright’s and Ken Bruce’s for bopping about in) out of the corner of my eye I noticed a new blue light was flashing. “What does the flashing blue light mean chaps?” I casually asked the busy people in the glass box, “Oh no – that’s the fire alarm!” Well that’s typical – my first live show – and we’ve got to evacuate the building, how jolly inconvenient. Thankfully they were only testing the alarms.That first show must have been equally nerve-wracking for the production team who worked so hard to make things great, giving endless help and support. We celebrated after the show with a glass of champagne and now I can’t wait for the next one.