In the latest challenge for the intrepid Weston & Worle News team, STAR 107.7FM station manager Anthony Ballard dared them to read the travel news on the breakfast show.
News editor Juliet Auty and senior reporter Wenna Coombs rose (at 6am!!) to the challenge.

I made a big sacrifice for this challenge. Anyone who knows me will tell you I like to stay in my bed as long as is humanly possible.

So when I heard we had to be at the radio station for 6.45am my heart sank.

But then I reminded myself the breakfast show crew have to be there even earlier, every morning.

Juliet (pictured above) looked much less bleary-eyed than me (below), possibly because she gets up before 7am most mornings, whereas I stay in bed until after 8am.

We were taken up to the studio by Helen Sweetland, who reads the travel and co-hosts the show with station manager Anthony Ballard.

I was surprised by the size of the studio. It fits two people in quite comfortably, but start putting in more people, not to mention Bob Bowen, our photographer, and it begins to get a bit crowded.

Anthony gave us a brief rundown on what we would have to do, giving us more time to think about it and become even more nervous.

And then we were in the studio, ready to go.

We were introduced to the listeners, and Anthony told us we could join in with the show if we had anything we wanted to say.

We think Anthony had been intrigued by all the antics our all-girl newsroom team had been getting up to and reporting in our newspaper. Juliet has dubbed them our Anneka Rice-style challenges.

He tried hard not to mention our recent pole-dancing feature but couldn't resist. Juliet told him it was harder swinging round than climbing the pole in Vamps club adding: "I will try not to use a double entendre," but she did.

Radio is a bit different to having a chat in a pub. Everyone has to look at each other so people don't all talk at the same time.

Anthony and Helen bounced remarks off each other, exchanging comments with the ease of the practised professional.

I stayed fairly quiet, my usual repartee of witty remarks deserting me.

Juliet, meanwhile, got quite into it, although she hedged round a question about whether or not she fiddled her expenses.

I'm sure she would never do such a thing…

Juliet volunteered (or rather I didn't) to do the first travel news.

She looked the part sitting behind the mike with her headphones on.

Some of the travel information comes from the AA website, and some comes from the jamcams situated along the M5.

Juliet looked nervous, but it wasn't apparent in her voice and she read the travel news like a true professional.

Then there was time for me to compose myself before it was my turn.

It also gave us chance to watch and listen to the show unfold.

None of it is scripted, although the music is playlisted.

And in some ways it was similar to the pressure of a newsroom, thinking of what you are going to do next and working to a tight deadline.

The team covered topics from breaking news to celebrity gossip to chat about our editor's drinking habits.

By then half an hour had flown by and it was my turn to take the hot seat.

Give me a pen and paper or computer keyboard and I am perfectly at home.

But stick a microphone in front of my face and I freeze. Panic sets in, my palms go sweaty and my hands start to shake.

The thought of having to speak to an unseen audience of thousands filled me with fear.

Seeing Juliet breeze through it did not make the task ahead of me any easier.

I took a deep breath and began. Then about four words in, disaster. I couldn't even get a simple sentence right.

I was supposed to be talking about patchy fog in the area, but instead drivers were told to beware of patchy frogs.

So to any drivers who thought they were about to do battle with an area of freak weather conditions, I'm very sorry.

By the time we came to do our second readings of the show, in the second hour, we were much more relaxed.

We had been joining in the general banter and both traffic reports went smoothly.

It was soon 9am and time to leave the show, which seemed to have flown by.

Juliet said: "I can't believe how nervous I was considering there were only three of us in the studio. But once we got going, I quite enjoyed it."

I enjoyed myself although it was scary having to do it live, and I don't think I will be giving up the day job just yet.

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