Someone once asked a friend what I did, to which they replied, he’s a runner…

Their reply? ‘Oh, I didn’t know he was a professional athlete!’

There does seem to be a bit of mystery out there as to what a runner actually does and unless you’ve had any contact with the world of media there’s not really any reason why you’re likely to know. However, even within this industry of ours it’s a bit of a hazy area – the species exist in recording studios, post-production houses, record companies, production companies and on all your favourite TV shows (they’re probably the people who do the food shops on Big Brother!), so it’s not surprising there’s a bit of uncertainty there. What I can say though is that I know of no other runner job outside of ours at One Golden Square with more responsibility and which is a better platform for career development.

We tried to find out when the company first introduced runners and even tried to find out what they were doing now, we asked around, obviously Adam Bowie was our first point of call but even he was unsure. The most likely answer is that Chris Evans brought some with him from Ginger Productions to pander his needs and make him tea – but ever since then the job has stuck and become more and more relied upon within the company.

Over time the humble runner has evolved into much more than that of its media relatives and has become part of the furniture at One Golden Square – to the extent that most of them never really want to leave. Our very own Annabel Port before she was Porting Controversy on the Geoff Show started life as a Virgin Radio runner, as did programming’s Tim Vernon and Alysia Ives and Luke Moore started as a runner before becoming a successful Sponsorship Account Manager. And there are a whole host of others some of you may remember who worked their way up through the rank, Mark Augustyn, Lali Parikh, Katy Adair, Beccy Pinfield are just a few…and I’m going to claim Nelson Kumah as one of our own (well he did start with a stint of work experience here).

Working across all departments also has it’s perks, as a runner you tend to become the eyes and ears of the station, we’re often asked to work at events, run errands for people and just tend to be around a lot so we’ve built up quite a repertoire of stories, ever wondered:

• Which former DJ demanded a torch during a small powercut as they refused to pee in the dark?
• Which band had us running around Soho buying specific quantise of Iron Bru before they’d perform?

Or even,

• What the new station name is? (Don’t worry, only joking, not even we’ve managed to find that out yet!)

Basically the trick is trying to keep a staff of 100 happy all of the time and when every job is the most important one, there are times when no matter how good a juggler of tasks you are, someone will feel a little unloved. So as much as we take every request task seriously we have to confess there are some that are quite frankly unbelievable! Obviously we couldn’t print them here…well…ok then maybe a couple:

• “Can someone bring XXXX’s phone down to reception please”
• “There are no custard creams left in the biscuit tin ,only Jammie-Dodgers and bourbons can somebody fill it up now”
• “Can you get a work experience to remove the skid-marks from the loo please”

It’s true to say that no two days are ever the same for a runner here at One Golden Square and that’s what makes it such a great place to work.

But for every custard cream in the biscuit tin, bit of post franked, paper recycled or birthday champagne put on somebody’s desk, we get to produce funny montages for Christian O’Connell, go along with Ben Jones to interview Hollywood A-listers, get to record interviews on tour buses at V and work in the studio with some of the UK’s best talent…the list goes on.

This is why you won’t find a runner like a One Golden Square runner. We’ve got a great history of giving talented people a unique chance to forge a fruitful career in a great radio station and hopefully there’ll be many more to follow in those footsteps in the future!

Now, time to go see if that first floor printer needs paper!

Hannah & Gareth