Over...And Out! - Alan Brown

That same evening, I presented a folk and traditional music show called The Train Journey North and would repeat this over the next few months with an additional Friday What’s On spot called Weekend Wind-Up (that was wind as in clock rather than breeze, though we were all very nervous).

On Saturday 30 April 1994 I took over as producer/presenter from Martin Hadden for Scene Around, a weekly mix of live and recorded folk, traditional and acoustic music, song and story, and I presented my last Long Good Morning on Sunday 18 October 1998, more than six-and-a-half years after it had begun.

One week per month on Scene Around I was joined by renowned Scots singer Jack Beck, who managed to bring just about anyone who was anyone on the traditional or folk scene to Pitlochry on a Saturday morning, then adjourn to Jock Duncan’s house in Tummel Crescent for a post-programme session.

Incidentally, one of Jack’s guests was storyteller Wendy Welch, from the USA. They subsequently married and now live in Tennessee, and talking of that state, Scene Around had a reciprocal policy with radio station WETS in Johnson City which would provide us with their kind of music in Appalachian Scene Around. One of these broadcasts contained a bluegrass song about the merits of Lamb, Lamb, Lamb, and this is still the theme tune of the Highland Glen Farming News programme each Sunday.

Much as I enjoyed (and still do) folk, traditional and acoustic music, my listening tastes had broadened considerably, and I asked Heartland FM for permission to widen the scope of my programme, and double its length. I presented my last Scene Around on Sunday 31 August 2003 and it was followed the next week - and to date - by Broadband, my celebration of popular music and song. That’s the story in a nutshell, but it’s a story with an ending, because after some real soul-searching I take my leave of Heartland FM on the last Sunday in May.

My life as a professional entertainer often sees me get home in the early hours of a Sunday morning, and the prospect of not having to get up again three or four hours later is appealing, while the research which goes into Broadband translates as something like a whole morning to prepare a two-hour show.

I’ve had some great times at Heartland and met a lot of very kind people, from John Gray at the very beginning, who saw some well-hidden talent in me, from Sandie on the Long Good Morning - we made an instructional video for use by new presenters; I would shudder to see it now! - from technical wizard Martin Hobson, who can fix anything, and from present Programme Controller Pete Ramsden, who has done so much to keep Heartland FM on air. That‘s not forgetting all the unnamed guests, presenters, volunteers and helpers and - definitely not least - the listeners who have taken the time and trouble to contact me about the music I have played. To them all I give my thanks for a wonderfully exciting fifteen years.

Some say I’ve got a way with words; others say I’ve got away with murder. In either case I’ve decided to draw a metaphorical line under my broadcasting career. There are enough recordings of Broadband in the archives to keep it going at the same time each Sunday and I may be tempted to contribute the odd Christmas or New Year special, but as far as live broadcasts go it’s bye for now, do take care and enjoy your music.

ALAN BROWN