My BBC Radio 5 Live Interview About Apple Watch
The host, Nolan, sounds oppressively harsh but I don’t think he is playing devil’s advocate to provoke conversation on his show. His opinion is the same stance a lot of general public take when the first see the Watch. Shaking off the initial impression that the Watch is pointless and unnecessary is difficult, because in many was it is exactly that. It isn’t an essential gadget like an iPhone is.
The logistics of radio are interesting. I was asked to join the show at about 2pm over email. A screener assistant called me soon afterwards to get some thoughts off-air. I assume he was checking that I was actually going to be able to say something of interest on the real show. We exchange phone numbers and Skype information, as I had told him I have a professional mic (which I normally use for podcasting).
Then, at about 11:23, two minutes before Nolan introduces the Watch segment, the producer dials me in to the show. I had setup the Skype mic but I shouldn’t have bothered. They completely ignored the Skype arrangements and called my mobile number, which was supposed to be the fallback option.
When I pick up the call, the producer asks me if I can hear the other end of the line. I have no idea what would happen if I didn’t answer immediately or if something went wrong. There wasn’t any time allocated for problem-solving.
The first time I actually spoke to Nolan was live on the air. Once he says goodbye at the end of the segment I hang up the phone and that’s it. For BBC Radio, this must be standard practice but for me it was alien and a bit disconcerting. When I podcast, it takes ten minutes to verify if Skype is actually working.