NO WONDER I'M DePRESSED

As regular readers will be aware I’ve been short listed for the Best Newcomer award at the National Hospital Radio Awards. I’m rightly proud of my achievement thus far and why shouldn’t I be? I worked hard for it and I always say that if you don’t blow your own trumpet, no one else will.

The radio station I’m on doesn’t seem to have a policy when it comes to issuing press releases to publicise events and achievements so, with the chairman’s permission, I put one together myself. The small but perfectly-formed press release, in which I actually gave top billing to my colleague John who is nominated in one of the more prestigious categories (Male Presenter of the Year, which he has won twice), was e-mailed to the local free papers, as well as the Fife Free Press and the Dunfermline Press. The radio station is based in Kirkcaldy but I sent the information to the Dunfermline Press because I figured that they might just be interested in a story of a local resident doing good.

I had hoped that making the final 10 of a national competition might be deemed newsworthy but, no, they weren’t interested. (I don’t know if it was in any of the free papers because the one week in which I wanted to read them they never appeared!) Anyway, imagine my surprise when I saw THIS STORY from this week’s Dunfermline Press.

Now why do you suppose that my story didn’t make it and this one did? We’re both in the running to win a UK-wide competition and yet the tall, leggy, big-breasted father-of-one is ignored in favour of a 23-year-old phlebotomist*.

Maybe if I offered to lie down in my vest and pants they’d print my story too.

The newspaper’s snubbing of me may have something to do with the time I took them to the Press Complaints Commission over their attempt at character assassination. I’ve also written to their letters page about issues that I thought would be of interest to them and local residents only to find my letter doesn’t appear in print and but a story on the same subject appears elsewhere in the paper. No thanks, no acknowledgment, nothing.

I’ve also been known to point out their spelling mistakes and grammatical errors so maybe it’s understandable that they might want to take their “revenge” by ignoring a perfect decent little story. It’s their choice, albeit a rather sad one, if they want to cut off their nose to spite their face.

What is rather ironic is that there’s a possible follow-up story/photo-opportunity because Stagecoach have kindly offered to sponsor us on our trip to Blackpool by loaning us a 7-seater people carrier, complete with a tank of petrol.

The only problem is that the DePress hates Stagecoach more than it hates me!

The Cat
=^..^=

* If Ms McDaid wins she gets £10,000, an appearance on the cover of FHM and a chance to present a music show on KISS TV. My prize, if I’m lucky enough to win, will be a certificate, a mention in On-Air magazine (the official journal of the Hospital Broadcasting Association) and the undying admiration of my family and friends. (There used to be cash prizes but times are hard). Ms McDaid says she’ll buy her mother Botox, while I’ll be lucky if I can afford a stick of rock.