A Day in the Life...
Nikki Bedi
Nikki, born to an Indian father and English mother, started off her career whilst living in Bombay. After cutting her teeth in the world of television, hosting 'Bombay Chat' and 'Nikki Tonight', Nikki joined the radio airwaves after returning to the UK in 2000.
We spent a day with Nikki recently to see just what this 'Drive' presenter gets up to on an average day.
10.00am
Nikki's day starts with a visit to the gym to do an hour's power walking. Although she may seem a fitness freak, Nikki has a method to her madness and plans her gym sessions for two reasons. Firstly, Nikki likes to stand up when she presents the show, so an hour of power walking stops her from stiffening up during the three and a half hours on air. The second reason for all the huffing and puffing is that Nikki uses the time to catch up with the daily news on the monitor in front of her.
11.00am - Nikki heads for the showers and makes a quick change out of her gym clothes.
The best thing about radio is that you don't have to do your roots and get all made up!
12.00 noon
Today Nikki is doing her weekly challenge. It's a segment of the show where listeners are invited to set Nikki a challenge to do something she's never tried before. The idea behind the segment is to increase listener interactivity and involvement with the show. After each challenge the images and story are put on the website to share the experience with as many people as possible.
Listen to Nikki's views on the challenges
- Nikki, her broadcast assistant Nisha and producer Simon go out for lunch. The team discuss ways in which they are trying to develop the show – it's a vital slot in the day's radio schedule and an important chance to reach and keep a large audience. All the team are involved in deciding what goes on air.
In terms of all the light stuff, as in light and shade in the show, I definitely get to put a lot in there.
2.00pm
Nikki goes back to the office and scouts the red tops for titbits of news from the day. It helps to have a back-up to the interviews and phone-ins as sometimes the unexpected may happen. "I've certainly been completely unprepared at times. I don't want to be winging it and get something wrong - but it happens all the time," Nikki says. If there is a slow news day Nikki takes a sample of stories from the paper and then gets the listeners to text or phone in about them on the show.
3.00pm
Nikki gets the pictures from the 'challenge' piece they have just recorded – she decides which ones should go up on the website. At 3.30pm Nikki gets the teas in for the team before going down to the studio to see the website producer. It's important that the web content reaches as wide an audience as the radio programme, so the pair discuss what text will go on to promote the piece. Then it's time for Adil Ray to help Nikki get in the mood for the Drive show.
Watch the video
3.30pm - Nikki goes outside to get a breath of fresh air before the show – she'll be in there until 7.30pm.
It's really important to focus yourself at a certain point in the day and have your time. It just puts you on some kind of focused journey. I always go outside by myself before the show because I think you need to just have a quiet moment.
4.00pm - Show Time! Nikki takes her stand at the mic and the clock counts down to the first trail. She gathers her notes and thinks about her audience. "A lot of presenters think of one person that they're actually talking to but I think that's a bit dangerous when you've got a show with such a range of audience like Drive."
The show is timed down to the second, but as with all live broadcast, the presenter has to be ready to fill in if things go wrong.
Watch the start of the show
4.30pm - The first discussion topic of the day is credit card fraud. Listeners are asked to phone in with their experiences. Nikki is comfortable interviewing people for the radio and has had some memorable moments, including her well received interview with Robert Kilroy-Silk.
He called me mischievous and condescending - you like that don't you? As a radio presenter you can't get a better endorsement.
- The news and weather follows then they go to the travel presenter on the road, but disaster - the link doesn't work and Nikki has to fill the air for a few moments whilst they try to reconnect to the travel presenter. She gives a nod to Sanjeet Saund (studio engineer) who quickly throws in a trail, they go back on air as the producer has the travel presenter on the line, but still they can't hear her in the studio. It calls for a cool head from Nikki.
I think I could make a career out of embarrassing moments. It's almost slapstick in that studio at times.
7.30pm - Show Ends 
There has been a great response from the public about one of the 'phone- in' topics, some nearly disastrous moments when the phone lines went down but all in all Nikki feels that the show has been great.
And so another show ends, Nikki and the team pack off and head home, ready to do it all again tomorrow!
The day finishes with Nikki reflecting on the good points of radio and how she compares presenting on air to her days on the television screen. Listen
