It’s August, which of course means it’s the peak season for people wanting to take time off; especially those with families who need to work things around school holiday dates.
Ideally in radio when it comes to holiday leave you try to disrupt the normal schedule as little as possible. On a station with a relatively small number of presenters it's usually possible to organise everybody's holiday leave requests so that you don't have more than one person off at a time.
While it's usual to use a weekend/part-timer as a swing jock to cover the gaps in the schedule, it's not always possible to do it for weekday breakfast; in which case one of the other main daytime presenters will be moved to cover it and, in turn, their own regular slot will be done by the swing person.
Dick Stone, PD at Capital East Midlands, makes a good point in his blog about operating a 'One Off, All Off' principle for his breakfast show team. "...the reason being that it impacts the on air output the least in terms of weeks of the year when the full contingent are not together. A double header both with say 4 weeks holiday per year might not agree on dates and so 8 weeks of the years you are down on breakfast and not firing on all cylinders."
One advantage of presenters taking a holiday is that it gives a programme controller an opportunity to try out someone else in a different slot, as well as giving presenters a chance to show what they can do; especially if they’re usually on-air at the weekend or off-peak times during the week. The downside, of course, is that some presenters (especially those on breakfast) can become a bit paranoid when they go off on holiday in case the PC decides that their holiday cover is doing a better job than them!
As a result some try to avoid taking time off; I know of one presenter on a major London station who has often said on-air he doesn't like to take holidays and usually only takes the occasional week off "under protest". I happen to think that’s a bad idea because it’s important to have some breaks throughout the year to recharge your batteries and return to the show refreshed and revitalised.
It's also a good idea to take regular breaks throughout the year so that you don’t go for too long without one and become rundown and un-productive as a result.
That, of course, will be exactly the time your PC is wondering whether you’re still the right person for that particular slot!
Here in France, all the breakfast shows stop at the same time - roughly mid-July to the third week in August. It's a tradition, and there's always a series of 'transfer' stories just before the summer break about which presenters are moving to which rival.
ReplyDeleteThen, come late August, everyone's back for another 10-and-a-bit months on-air (with a break between Christmas/New Year).
It's an interesting idea - and it mirrors what French listeners tend to do.
When I was a PD, it was the rule that the breakfast 'team' all had their holidays at the same time. It was part of the deal, the listener and the station must come first. I have never agreed that (say) four people on a breakfast show can have different weeks off. The show could be out of kilter for weeks.
ReplyDeleteIn all honesty, there was never a problem with this as this was the rule at the start. Give people enough time to work their life out and it is no issues. The holiday season was worked out collectively well ahead.
John