Crunch Time!

This is the week that things started to get real. We were back fresh with the holiday glow and ready to put the teams hard terms work on air.

The Tuesday session was the final editorial session before the big First Record on Thursday.

After the usual of pick-ups and greetings we got down to the hard task ahead. As usual I was the scribe while Ross was coaxing ideas and conversation out of the six members and as usual they had light bulb moments which never stop to surprise.

We felt confident about the show content because we'd had a meeting with Shireen and Nompumezo that morning that had confirmed the final elements needed for the show. It was going to be rough week but we had Wednesday, Thursday and Friday planned right down to five o'clock that we felt we couldn't go wrong.

My favourite part of the Tuesday session was when we talked about the music they wanted for the show because I always find it interesting to here what music people want to hear and it seemed everyone really enjoyed shooting each other down for their poor listening choices.

It was also particularly touching to find how much it seems the Upstart members absorb from us by even adding individual music for me (The Beatles-Yellow Submarine) and Ross (Train-Soul Sister).

Thursday came with nerves and a truly amazing introduction script from our anchor, Owethu. The producers were ready with their signs and job description and the techies were waiting for instructions. There were nightmares involving guests and technology in between but in the end there was still that first show buzz in the air.

Owethu seemed like a seasoned professional in front of guests, Johan Redemeyer and Siphosethu Stuurman. The many hiccups we had leading up to the recording meant that we could only record 20 minutes of our hour show, which was perhaps the gentler introduction to the recording process for the team.

It was probably one of the most stressful weeks ever but it was also one of the most rewarding because of the shiny piece of the show that I saw peeking underneath everything else.