MUSIC IS THE BEST MEDICINE....24/?
Title Music is the best Medicine....24/?
Author iantosdreamer46
Rating NC-17 overall, adult concepts, occasional language, m/m
Characters Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh, John Hart, Gwen, Rhys,
Spoilers None this is totally AU
Summary Jack is the Station Manager at cardiff Royal Infirmary's Hospital Radio. He helps a young man to get well and introduces him to the life at the radio.
Disclaimer I own none of the characters, they belong to the BBC and RTD. I just like to experiment with them sometimes.
Words 1,889
A/N This is completley AU and is all thanks to zazajb for challenging me to have a go. Apologies for any bad geography of Cardiff and Wales, I was never any good at the subject when I was at school.
A/N2 apologies for anyone whi is getting this more than once, as it's cross posted
A/N3 All the technical information and the comments about the records played at the hospital radio are correct. They are taken from when I used to work at a hospital radio.
Masterlist http://iantosdreamer46.livejournal.com/3003.html
“Evening boys! Where’s Hart this evening?”
“Gwen, Rhys, let’s go inside, I’ve got some news for you.”
Rhys opened the door and Jack told them to sit down. He explained everything that had happened over the last two days and that Hart would not be back at the radio again.
“So, this is Ianto Jones, the man who’s put a smile back on the face of our Captain here.”
Ianto blushed.
“I’m Gwen, and this soft lump here is Rhys, my fiancé. We’re supposed to be getting married but can’t set a date we can agree on.” She laughed as Rhys opened his mouth then closed it.
“Nice to meet you Ianto.” He said offering a hand which Ianto shook.
“I’m so sorry about what Hart tried to do to you, we hope it hasn’t put you off joining us here?”
“Erm no Gwen, in fact I went with Jack last night and collected the requests. He’s going to train me on the.....decks.” Ianto looked for confirmation that he’d got the word right and Jack nodded, “yeah, once we’ve sorted everything out with Hart and Jack’s business.”
“Oh I bet he’s going to train you, but we are talking radio and nothing else aren’t we Jack?” laughed Rhys. Gwen playfully slapped him when she saw Ianto blush. She had to admit that these two men really made a hot couple and she had to admit to herself that she was just a little jealous of Ianto having the good looking Jack as a lover.
“Ok kids, banter over, we have work to do tonight. Would you mind if I made a suggestion Gwen? I know you’re lead presenter for a Wednesday night, but would you and Rhys get the requests whilst I do the 7 o’clock programme. It will give me a chance to show Yan how the decks work and he’s not up to walking that far yet, he’s just had a hard time in physio and the pool this afternoon.” He pulled Ianto close as he saw him blush realising he’d just cottoned on to the double entendre he’d just used.
“Hey no problem, it will be our pleasure. Come on lover let’s go do some work and leave these two men to play on the decks.”
“Thanks Gwen, I owe you one.”
Gwen and Rhys could be heard giggling and laughing as they left the studio.
“Jack, do you think they know what we did this afternoon?”
“Hey we’re only doing what other lovers do sweetheart, whether they are straight or gay. Don’t worry I’m not going to give details. It’s up to us what and where we do it. And I just want everyone to know how much I love you.”
“I’m sorry Jack, I’m still new to all these feelings. I just know I never want to be without you. Now....take me into the studio and teach me about the radio....for now.”
“My pleasure.”
Jack made sure he had a couple of CD’s handy just in case anything went wrong with the playout system. “I’m going to have to explain as we go along tonight but I promise we’ll spend some time practicing when the studio is empty, ok?”
“Yep, fine by me, I’m not saying I’ll remember everything, but I’ll try.”
“Ok, as you can see hear we’re listening to the news. This is the Sky news desk and we have until 7.03pm for this, then we’ll come out of the news with the hospital radio jingle, then go straight into a 1950’s track. We have a bank of around 25,000 tracks altogether ranging from Classical to Heavy Metal and everything in between. We usually come out of every news with the 50’s track but it can be any that the presenter chooses. Would you like to pick one?”
“Erm....have you got....Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis Presley?”
“Sure, here goes.” Jack pressed a button, pulled what Ianto learnt were faders, pushed another button and clicked the mouse over the track and it played. Ianto had to admit he was amazed.
“Ok whilst this is playing let me explain what a few of these buttons are on the console.”
“Don’t we have to watch the timing on the track that’s playing?”
“Yeah, but it will go straight into another jingle and a publicity track for the station. We’ve got....” Jack checked the timings “....about two minutes before we need to do anything else.”
Ianto watched as Jack set up the next track, noticing it was one from the 1960’s. As he was setting the track he began explaining about the playout system. Tosh, he said had designed this version. They’d had a simpler version until she’d got her hands on it, now all the hospital radio stations were head hunting her to write theirs.
“Is she going to do it?”
“Yeah, but she’s said she’ll only do it if they offer her the right incentive. She’s got a good business head on her shoulders and will go far one day.”
“Can I ask you something Jack?”
“Sure.”
“You’ve just played the 50’s track and I see you’ve got a 60’s one to play next, is there a specific order you have to play the songs in or do you just pick random ones?”
“They’re random to an extent in as such you have the decade chosen for you, but you can pick whatever track from that decade you want. If you notice I’ve just selected the Drifters and Save the last Dance For Me.”
“Yeah, I saw it was 60’s, do you go up through the decades so the next would be the 1970’s?”
“No, if we did that it would be too clinical and people would get bored and switch off. We try to think about the average age group and play to them. Ok sometimes we get it wrong with what we chose to play.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take a couple of weeks ago, I was doing the nine o’clock show and played John Farnham’s You’re the Voice.”
“Oh yeah, I know that one, it’s quite loud if my memory serves me correctly.”
“Yeah, well, I played it about ten minutes to ten and woke some people up with the loud beats at the beginning and the bag pipes in the middle. Well we got a complaint saying it was too loud and noisy, it should never be played again. We can’t do that, so we’ve consigned it to the 7 o’clock hour. We never refuse to play any song, unlike some stations I know of.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s one station, which shall remain nameless, they’ve banned their presenters from playing Terry Jacks’ Seasons In The Sun and Frank Sinatra’s My Way” Jack smiled and shook his head.
“What’s wrong with them cariad?”
“If you listen to closely to the words you’ll hear that they are about dying, and the hospital of this particular station says it would upset the patients and cause great distress. They can’t even play them if they are requested.”
“That’s madness. What if someone wants to hear it? Ok, how many people know what the songs are really about? I’ve listened to many a song, not thinking about the words, just listening because I think the tune is good. There are some I’ve really listened to the words to but never thought anything like that.”
“It’s the same as Queen’s I Want To Break Free or Englebert Humperdink’s Release Me. Would you believe some hospital radio’s won’t play those either. They think if they do the patients will keep asking to go home.” Jack grinned as Ianto rolled his eyes. “Ok Yan, I’m going to come out of this with a link, are you ready?”
Ianto nodded he didn’t want to say anything as he saw the Red Mic Live light come on.
“Good evening, you’re listening to Jack Harkness at the Royals Hospital Radio and for the next hour I want you to relax and listen to the great music we have on offer for you tonight. You’ll see our intrepid request collectors making their way around, so if you want your favourite song playing, let them know and we’ll play it for you. After all, the Royals got the patients so we’ve got the patience!”
Jack brought the fader down and the red light went off. Ianto didn’t realise, but he’d been holding his breath. “Wow Jack, how do you know what to say? I would have been lost for words.”
“You’ll get used to it. It took me a while but it’s like everything, gets better the more you practice.” He leant across and kissed Ianto “including that, my love.”
Ianto watched as Jack set up the rest of the playlist for the remainder of the hour, noticing the diverse tracks that he chose to play. He was fascinated at how quickly the music and the jingles for the hour came together. “How many times do you have to say anything?”
“It only needs to be every couple of songs. You’ve got to remember that there is a huge age range of people in the hospital at any one time and some will know the songs, so for those who don’t it’s a good idea to let them know what’s being played. Plus unfortunately you can’t please everyone all the time.”
Ianto noticed that the song was coming to an end and Jack had his finger on the mic fader. “You’re listening to the Royals Hospital Radio and you’ve got the dulcet tones of Captain Jack tonight playing all your favourites. Coming up at eight we have Gwen Cooper with the request programme, but in the meantime here’s Blake Shelton and Austin.”
Ianto smiled at the Captain term he used. He thought it was only the staff at the radio that called him that. “You said Captain, how come?”
“Oh it’s a joke with all of us and when I go collecting requests I always wear the coat. It seems to make people smile and that’s what we’re here for. And besides you agreed I look sexy in it didn’t you?”
Ianto blushed remembering his answer when Jack had put him on the spot asking what he thought to the coat. “You do look sexy in it cariad, but I think I now prefer you with nothing on at all.”
“Mmmm hold that thought my love and we’ll remedy the situation when we get home.”
Ianto noticed Gwen and Rhys were back in reception and sorting out the music for the request show. He looked at his watch, five minutes to the end of Jack’s show. He couldn’t believe how quickly that hour had gone. He heard Jack saying it was the end of the show and then going into the news at eight.
Gwen entered once the mic light had gone off. Jack rose and “the chair’s all yours Miss Cooper. Erm, Yan’s feeling tired after the physio today, so I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to take him home and put him to bed!”
Ianto blushed.
“Too much information for my delicate ears” laughed Gwen “but go, have fun, you deserve it. We’ll see you another night.”
Jack thanked the pair of them as he and Ianto headed out the studio door hand in hand.
tbc
Chapter 25 http://iantosdreamer46.livejournal.com/28439.html
Author iantosdreamer46
Rating NC-17 overall, adult concepts, occasional language, m/m
Characters Jack, Ianto, Owen, Tosh, John Hart, Gwen, Rhys,
Spoilers None this is totally AU
Summary Jack is the Station Manager at cardiff Royal Infirmary's Hospital Radio. He helps a young man to get well and introduces him to the life at the radio.
Disclaimer I own none of the characters, they belong to the BBC and RTD. I just like to experiment with them sometimes.
Words 1,889
A/N This is completley AU and is all thanks to zazajb for challenging me to have a go. Apologies for any bad geography of Cardiff and Wales, I was never any good at the subject when I was at school.
A/N2 apologies for anyone whi is getting this more than once, as it's cross posted
A/N3 All the technical information and the comments about the records played at the hospital radio are correct. They are taken from when I used to work at a hospital radio.
Masterlist http://iantosdreamer46.livejournal.com/3003.html
“Evening boys! Where’s Hart this evening?”
“Gwen, Rhys, let’s go inside, I’ve got some news for you.”
Rhys opened the door and Jack told them to sit down. He explained everything that had happened over the last two days and that Hart would not be back at the radio again.
“So, this is Ianto Jones, the man who’s put a smile back on the face of our Captain here.”
Ianto blushed.
“I’m Gwen, and this soft lump here is Rhys, my fiancé. We’re supposed to be getting married but can’t set a date we can agree on.” She laughed as Rhys opened his mouth then closed it.
“Nice to meet you Ianto.” He said offering a hand which Ianto shook.
“I’m so sorry about what Hart tried to do to you, we hope it hasn’t put you off joining us here?”
“Erm no Gwen, in fact I went with Jack last night and collected the requests. He’s going to train me on the.....decks.” Ianto looked for confirmation that he’d got the word right and Jack nodded, “yeah, once we’ve sorted everything out with Hart and Jack’s business.”
“Oh I bet he’s going to train you, but we are talking radio and nothing else aren’t we Jack?” laughed Rhys. Gwen playfully slapped him when she saw Ianto blush. She had to admit that these two men really made a hot couple and she had to admit to herself that she was just a little jealous of Ianto having the good looking Jack as a lover.
“Ok kids, banter over, we have work to do tonight. Would you mind if I made a suggestion Gwen? I know you’re lead presenter for a Wednesday night, but would you and Rhys get the requests whilst I do the 7 o’clock programme. It will give me a chance to show Yan how the decks work and he’s not up to walking that far yet, he’s just had a hard time in physio and the pool this afternoon.” He pulled Ianto close as he saw him blush realising he’d just cottoned on to the double entendre he’d just used.
“Hey no problem, it will be our pleasure. Come on lover let’s go do some work and leave these two men to play on the decks.”
“Thanks Gwen, I owe you one.”
Gwen and Rhys could be heard giggling and laughing as they left the studio.
“Jack, do you think they know what we did this afternoon?”
“Hey we’re only doing what other lovers do sweetheart, whether they are straight or gay. Don’t worry I’m not going to give details. It’s up to us what and where we do it. And I just want everyone to know how much I love you.”
“I’m sorry Jack, I’m still new to all these feelings. I just know I never want to be without you. Now....take me into the studio and teach me about the radio....for now.”
“My pleasure.”
Jack made sure he had a couple of CD’s handy just in case anything went wrong with the playout system. “I’m going to have to explain as we go along tonight but I promise we’ll spend some time practicing when the studio is empty, ok?”
“Yep, fine by me, I’m not saying I’ll remember everything, but I’ll try.”
“Ok, as you can see hear we’re listening to the news. This is the Sky news desk and we have until 7.03pm for this, then we’ll come out of the news with the hospital radio jingle, then go straight into a 1950’s track. We have a bank of around 25,000 tracks altogether ranging from Classical to Heavy Metal and everything in between. We usually come out of every news with the 50’s track but it can be any that the presenter chooses. Would you like to pick one?”
“Erm....have you got....Blue Suede Shoes by Elvis Presley?”
“Sure, here goes.” Jack pressed a button, pulled what Ianto learnt were faders, pushed another button and clicked the mouse over the track and it played. Ianto had to admit he was amazed.
“Ok whilst this is playing let me explain what a few of these buttons are on the console.”
“Don’t we have to watch the timing on the track that’s playing?”
“Yeah, but it will go straight into another jingle and a publicity track for the station. We’ve got....” Jack checked the timings “....about two minutes before we need to do anything else.”
Ianto watched as Jack set up the next track, noticing it was one from the 1960’s. As he was setting the track he began explaining about the playout system. Tosh, he said had designed this version. They’d had a simpler version until she’d got her hands on it, now all the hospital radio stations were head hunting her to write theirs.
“Is she going to do it?”
“Yeah, but she’s said she’ll only do it if they offer her the right incentive. She’s got a good business head on her shoulders and will go far one day.”
“Can I ask you something Jack?”
“Sure.”
“You’ve just played the 50’s track and I see you’ve got a 60’s one to play next, is there a specific order you have to play the songs in or do you just pick random ones?”
“They’re random to an extent in as such you have the decade chosen for you, but you can pick whatever track from that decade you want. If you notice I’ve just selected the Drifters and Save the last Dance For Me.”
“Yeah, I saw it was 60’s, do you go up through the decades so the next would be the 1970’s?”
“No, if we did that it would be too clinical and people would get bored and switch off. We try to think about the average age group and play to them. Ok sometimes we get it wrong with what we chose to play.”
“What do you mean?”
“Take a couple of weeks ago, I was doing the nine o’clock show and played John Farnham’s You’re the Voice.”
“Oh yeah, I know that one, it’s quite loud if my memory serves me correctly.”
“Yeah, well, I played it about ten minutes to ten and woke some people up with the loud beats at the beginning and the bag pipes in the middle. Well we got a complaint saying it was too loud and noisy, it should never be played again. We can’t do that, so we’ve consigned it to the 7 o’clock hour. We never refuse to play any song, unlike some stations I know of.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s one station, which shall remain nameless, they’ve banned their presenters from playing Terry Jacks’ Seasons In The Sun and Frank Sinatra’s My Way” Jack smiled and shook his head.
“What’s wrong with them cariad?”
“If you listen to closely to the words you’ll hear that they are about dying, and the hospital of this particular station says it would upset the patients and cause great distress. They can’t even play them if they are requested.”
“That’s madness. What if someone wants to hear it? Ok, how many people know what the songs are really about? I’ve listened to many a song, not thinking about the words, just listening because I think the tune is good. There are some I’ve really listened to the words to but never thought anything like that.”
“It’s the same as Queen’s I Want To Break Free or Englebert Humperdink’s Release Me. Would you believe some hospital radio’s won’t play those either. They think if they do the patients will keep asking to go home.” Jack grinned as Ianto rolled his eyes. “Ok Yan, I’m going to come out of this with a link, are you ready?”
Ianto nodded he didn’t want to say anything as he saw the Red Mic Live light come on.
“Good evening, you’re listening to Jack Harkness at the Royals Hospital Radio and for the next hour I want you to relax and listen to the great music we have on offer for you tonight. You’ll see our intrepid request collectors making their way around, so if you want your favourite song playing, let them know and we’ll play it for you. After all, the Royals got the patients so we’ve got the patience!”
Jack brought the fader down and the red light went off. Ianto didn’t realise, but he’d been holding his breath. “Wow Jack, how do you know what to say? I would have been lost for words.”
“You’ll get used to it. It took me a while but it’s like everything, gets better the more you practice.” He leant across and kissed Ianto “including that, my love.”
Ianto watched as Jack set up the rest of the playlist for the remainder of the hour, noticing the diverse tracks that he chose to play. He was fascinated at how quickly the music and the jingles for the hour came together. “How many times do you have to say anything?”
“It only needs to be every couple of songs. You’ve got to remember that there is a huge age range of people in the hospital at any one time and some will know the songs, so for those who don’t it’s a good idea to let them know what’s being played. Plus unfortunately you can’t please everyone all the time.”
Ianto noticed that the song was coming to an end and Jack had his finger on the mic fader. “You’re listening to the Royals Hospital Radio and you’ve got the dulcet tones of Captain Jack tonight playing all your favourites. Coming up at eight we have Gwen Cooper with the request programme, but in the meantime here’s Blake Shelton and Austin.”
Ianto smiled at the Captain term he used. He thought it was only the staff at the radio that called him that. “You said Captain, how come?”
“Oh it’s a joke with all of us and when I go collecting requests I always wear the coat. It seems to make people smile and that’s what we’re here for. And besides you agreed I look sexy in it didn’t you?”
Ianto blushed remembering his answer when Jack had put him on the spot asking what he thought to the coat. “You do look sexy in it cariad, but I think I now prefer you with nothing on at all.”
“Mmmm hold that thought my love and we’ll remedy the situation when we get home.”
Ianto noticed Gwen and Rhys were back in reception and sorting out the music for the request show. He looked at his watch, five minutes to the end of Jack’s show. He couldn’t believe how quickly that hour had gone. He heard Jack saying it was the end of the show and then going into the news at eight.
Gwen entered once the mic light had gone off. Jack rose and “the chair’s all yours Miss Cooper. Erm, Yan’s feeling tired after the physio today, so I hope you don’t mind, I’m going to take him home and put him to bed!”
Ianto blushed.
“Too much information for my delicate ears” laughed Gwen “but go, have fun, you deserve it. We’ll see you another night.”
Jack thanked the pair of them as he and Ianto headed out the studio door hand in hand.
tbc
Chapter 25 http://iantosdreamer46.livejournal.com/28439.html