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A DAY IN MY LIFE What’s it like to rise before dawn but still have enough energy to present a four-hour radio show? We asked Capital FM breakfast show presenter Dan Kelly to talk us through his day As long as I can remember I’ve always been a night person. As a teenager I used to lie in bed on school nights so I could listen to the radio and went through a computer game phase which would often last until the sun was rising.
06:00: The Capital Breakfast Show starts. Caffeine’s kicked in, Katy Poulsom, my co-presenter, is already telling stories which are starting to wake me up and then we’re off on a four-hour journey of music and gubbins.
Growing up, I then became part of the DJ circuit and had numerous late night radio shows. I was that friend who would see more moon than the sun.
10:00: Show ends. We sit in silence for ten minutes to recover from the verbal diarrhoea before scoffing some food (this is our lunchtime!). After that, we’ll listen back to some bits so we can berate ourselves, then listen to some proper presenters and applaud! We’ll also start planning some ideas for the show for the next day.
So the irony wasn’t lost on me when I was offered the biggest job of my life, the Capital breakfast show. A show which meant I’d have to get up around the time I normally went to bed. So what does a day in the life of a breakfast show DJ involve? Here’s an average morning for me: 05:00: Ok, I’m up. I’m not functioning but I’m alive. It feels like someone’s hit ‘ctrl alt del’ on my brain while it boots up. Then after a minute or so I’ll remember my name and fortunately remember just in time that leaving the house naked is illegal. 05:45: I don’t live far away so after a dozy stumble around the house I’m ready and parking up at the studio. It’s easier this time of year as it’s light when I drive to work: an unbelievable luxury when you spend nine months of the year getting up in darkness. Mix that in with some sunshine and I’m already planning a barbecue before I’ve even had a coffee.
Sometimes, we’ll have to record an interview with a guest that morning for a future show. This is one of our favourite things about the job. We love trying to speak to our guest on our level and try and get their personalities out a bit more. Sometimes it works and we’ll get to hear a revealing side to them away from what’s also being promoted. It doesn’t always work, but getting to meet the stars that we listen to and watch every day is something I still feel really lucky to do, even if not all of them are as pleasant as you’d hoped! After we leave the studio we’ve got our beady eyes everywhere and try to observe everything going on around us. The smallest little things often end up being the stuff we really get our teeth into on the show and get the best reaction - so watch out, Birmingham we’re watching you!
TUNE INTO THE CAPITAL BREAKFAST SHOW WITH DAN AND KATY, WEEKDAYS FROM 6-10AM. issue 39
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