S.O.S (Sylvia on Saturday) – Sylvia Cowleard
Saturday 1pm-3pm
Join S.O.S (Sylvia on Saturday), each week with the usual features.
Three words to describe your show:
Something for everyone!
About the show:
The priority on SOS is the requests from our listeners. Always striving to squeeze in one more!
When time allows features include, ‘Old News Now’ – where we look at the past week in years gone by and identify interesting but useless information. ‘Spot The Link’ – in the first hour three or four songs are connected in some way, don’t worry if you can’t get it, I’ll give you the answer at around 2 o’clock.
In the second hour there will be a ‘Country Break’, three country songs played back to back from the old traditional to the new modern, we love it all! You can choose the country break if you email your choice of three or four songs to studio@radiosthelier.co.uk and mark it for the attention of SOS – country break. Or leave a message on the answer machine. Make sure I have your choices, your name and where you are by the Thursday before the Saturday that you would like to hear your country selection.
And of course it wouldn’t be Sylvia on Saturday if I didn’t leave you with my thought for the day, something to ponder on, for example, if we’re not supposed to eat snacks late at night, why is there a light in the fridge?
Sylvia’s memorable RSH moment:
Picking one favourite moment is very tricky, I joined in 1982! However, I think the moment that always pops into my head when asked this question is something that happened on the very first show I presented – solo!
We were celebrating a Radio St Helier birthday, back in 1983 and I had been around the wards collecting requests and explaining we were celebrating RSH’s birthday. During the show, there was a knock at the door (we were in a tiny room at that time) and when I opened it, two female patients were standing at the door singing ‘happy birthday’. They presented me with a grapefruit which they had stuck cotton wool buds in as they didn’t have cake nor candles. I did the remainder of the show with that in front of me, and the number of phone calls I received was unbelievable. My first show went down a treat and I’ve been hooked ever since.
The first record Sylvia bought:
Having older brothers and sisters, I didn’t bother to buy records for a long time, I listened to theirs. But my first album, was Tapestry by Carole King and it remains one of my favourites today.
Claim to Fame:
Don’t really have a claim to fame, but I have interviewed lots of famous people, my two favourites being Lulu and Craig Douglas. I met Craig by chance some 16 years after interviewing him and he remembered me. So, if I have a claim to fame, it’s got to be that I guess.
Favourite part of being a hospital radio volunteer:
Going on the wards, meeting the listeners and helping them to remember the music they may have forgotten. ‘What would you like to hear?’ I ask. ‘Oh, anything’ they reply. But after chatting a little while, they suddenly remember a song they haven’t heard for a long time or that favourite song that was just sitting in the recess of their memory.
Favourite show on Radio St Helier:
I listen to as many as I can, but my favourites have to be Kev’s Country Clinic, Mark Haylett with St Helier 9211 and Paul Caffrey – Traversing the Noon.
But I think all RSH presenters should be applauded for giving up their time free of charge and doing the best they can to entertain and amuse the patients of St Helier Hospital and the listeners in our wider community.
