AN open secret in Scottish radio was yesterday confirmed on an online forum: talk107 presenter, Dominik Diamond, is paying for his own producer.
It follows a decision by the station that presenters organise their own guest roster, meaning a dual presenter/producer role for the likes of Diamond.
On the Digital Spy website, Diamond says paying for his own producer was necessary if he was going to continue working for the Edinburgh-based all-speech station. It is understood his bosses are fully aware of his decision to go public.
Diamond writes: “Yes, I am paying for a producer from my own pocket. I told the powers that be this was the only way I could carry on working for them.
“I’m not doing it to prove a point to the bosses. I’m doing it because, to be honest, it’s the only way I can achieve what I want with the show. And all I care about is the show. If I do a good one I go home happy. If I do a bad one I go home furious and depressed. This isn’t just a job to me that I clock on and off for. It’s a horribly unhealthy addiction.
“I simply can’t prep the next link with [co-presenter] Marisa [de Andrade] if she’s stuck in another room chasing up a guest. Also, if I suddenly have an idea in the middle of the show there was no way to implement it.
“It obviously pisses me off that the only way I can do this is by taking money from my own kids’ mouths to pay for a producer. But not as much as doing a crap show pisses me off. And at the end of the day I genuinely have four hours of radio a day during which I can do exactly what I want – whatever story, whatever music, whatever surreal ideas. And I can do it with Marisa and Joe Odber, who really are the most phenomenal people I’ve ever worked with on air.
“I would not get that anywhere else in commercial radio.
“What would have happened if I had said I would quit if I didn’t get a producer back? I don’t know. It’s not a line in the sand I wanted to draw. Yet.
“How long will I be able to afford to pay a producer? I don’t know. Can I do the show without one? Absolutely not.
“Bottom line is that the two shows we’ve done this week [Monday and Tuesday] with a producer have been great. I’ve gone home happy and unstressed. And experience in commercial radio has taught me not to look too far ahead.”
