Vernon Kay is trying to explain what it will be like to present the most popular radio show in Europe. We are in studio 6A, on the sixth floor of the BBC’s Wogan House in central London. Outside the room is a Yamaha DC7 piano donated by Elton John in 2010, and recently tinkled by Benny from Abba and Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie, and a loo that is reserved for Radio 2’s star presenters, who can quickly nip in there while a song is playing. In the studio, Kay jumps up and takes two long strides to a mixing desk. It’s a messy jumble of monitors, buttons and lights that looks – to the inexpert eye – like the cockpit of a basic aeroplane.
“Let’s say you’re my producer and there’s two of us in the studio,” he role-plays. “It’s pre-show and we’re just chewing the fat: ‘What did you do last night? Blah, blah, blah.’ And I’m sitting here, looking at the clock and the fader is down, right? So there’s two of us. Then all of a sudden, when you do this…” Kay pushes a yellow slider knob, which controls the microphone, to the open position. “Now you are live to 8.4 million people. It’s the most bizarre experience ever.” He continues to slide the knob up and down, almost lost in a daydream: “Just us two… Eight million… Us two… Eight million… Us two… Eight million.”
