Over approximately a ten-year period, I volunteered at three different radio stations. The first was a student station at the University of the West of Scotland, which overlapped with my second, a community station in Govan. These gigs were then followed by an eight-year stint on hospital radio in Dundee.
During this time, I became so accustomed to hearing recordings of my work that I can’t recall the last time it bothered me. As such, I often forget that many people don’t like listening to themselves.
The main reason I gave up the hospital radio was to focus on writing, but the ability to play back your own recordings is definitely a transferable skill. I also have a camcorder, and I used to ask someone to film my live performances so I could learn from them.
During this last year of online gigs, going on camera has become almost the only way to perform to a live audience. Here’s one that’s been submitted to Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists for an event tonight:
When I look at that, I can see it’s not very well framed, and there are a few pauses towards the end as the last few lines were improvised. However, the sound is nice and loud, so it’s good enough for the purposes of the event.
Gavin Cameron 
I did a search for Hospital Radio on here in the past few days and this post came up. So maybe in another parallel universe, we might have met on here if we hadn’t all those years ago lol. That’s an interesting thought over the skill of being able to listen back to yourself. I used to record my shows so yeah I too got used to hearing myself back. Great video and now I guess you have come a full circle over it in a way. I have a camcorder kicking about too but not used for years.
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