On a Scottish high, across the airwaves

Dubai92 FM DJ Ben Whyte and producer Andy Hosie did an entire show from Scotland for listeners in the UAE. They also pushed Glasgow as a tourist destination

Broadcasting a radio show live from Glasgow, Scotland, for listeners in Dubai was difficult enough.

And then there were people who refused to believe that Dubai 92FM DJ Ben Whyte and producer Andy Hosie were in the land that gave us golf, Rob Roy and Franz Ferdinand.

"A lot of people didn't even believe we were there," Hosie said.

"While we were doing the promo for the show before we left, some guy called up the station and complained about my fake Scottish accent. And I'm Scottish!" exclaimed Hosie, who is from Aberdeen, Scotland.

"They were going, 'Well, why would you go there'," he added.

Whyte and Hosie had a very good and credible reason for going - to push Glasgow as a tourist destination to UAE residents.

Working with the Greater Glasgow and Clyde Valley Tourism Board, and Emirates airlines, Whyte and Hosie ran a website contest offering a five days/four nights holiday package to Glasgow for five lucky winners.

They would announce one winner daily for five consecutive days live from Glasgow.

UAE residents had a few weeks before March 23 to throw their hat in the ring by answering a simple question related to Glasgow on the website.

"We got quite a good response from the people. The number of entries we received was close to the thousand mark when we left for Glasgow," Hosie said.

"It was 600 to 700 even before we aired."

The winners came from a varied backgounds - UAE nationals and expatriates alike.

Maybe the disbelief over their trip to Scotland was due to the fact that they were doing a whole live show from Glasgow for listeners in the UAE, which required a great deal of effort and coordination.

Though they had broadcast a show from Edinburgh and Miami before, the work put into broadcasting a show complete with music and interviews, and no backup, was mind-boggling.

"This was the first time we did a whole show with everything, our own music, everything," Hosie said, emphatically.

"Previously, we had a presenter in the studio in Dubai linking things up."

Since they had to do this three hours for five consecutive days, the duo was understandably stressed.

"There was pressure for me to sound good though it was nice to be the first (to do this)," Whyte admitted.

"But at the end of the day, it was something we've done before, but just in a different city."

And even though Glasgow was new to Whyte, the city's tourism authorities made the transition seamless for Whyte and Hosie.

"They gave us a fact file with a CD and a Parker pen," Whyte said. "They really took care of everything."

Broadcasting was pretty much smooth-sailing too, despite some problems initially.

They broadcast the show from Cava Studios, in a renovated church steeped in history - music-wise and ghost-wise considering that this was Scotland.

"Apparently, it's haunted," Hosie said, grinning.

They had trouble the first day. The duo could not broadcast their show on March 19 due to a glitch in the communications link between Glasgow and Dubai. (No ghost has come forward to claim responsibility so far!)

"We checked and found it wasn't Dubai, it was on our side, which was a bit of a shock ... and a relief," Hosie adds, laughing.

But they were soon broadcasting directly to Dubai 92FM listeners in UAE and around the globe.

Young professionals, who make up the bulk of Dubai 92FM's listeners, were treated to a earful of what made Glasgow "the" city to visit.

Which was exactly the reason Face to Face Public Relations managing partner Jonathan Walsh, tasked with drawing young professionals to Glasgow, approached Whyte and Hosie.

"We picked Dubai 92FM and requested Ben specifically because we were trying to draw his listeners - the young professional people," he said.

The fact that Whyte and Hosie both enjoyed their stint there, didn't hurt Walsh's cause. Both talked excitedly about the places they visited and the people they met.

"It's Manhattan with a Scottish accent," Whyte quipped.

Glasgow, he added, has a vibrant "young feel to it and a music buzz going" that will appeal to young professionals from the UAE.

Other than the "music buzz," there was also the lure of history, evinced in the number of old buildings peppering the city.

"They have some amazing architecture. In Dubai, you don't necessarily get to see much history because everything is so new," Whyte added.

Despite these attractions, Glasgow has been largely ignored by the typical tourist, which was a shame, according to Hosie.

"Most of them just stayed in Glasgow for a night or two before going to the highlands," he said. "If not, they would just go to Edinburgh."

Being Scottish, Hosie has been to Glasgow many times, though it was a first for Whyte.

A native of Surrey, a suburb outside London, he found Glasgow a pleasant surprise.

"The misconception is that it is a very dark, gritty place with factories. But it's not like that at all," he said. "It's a beautiful place."

Another thing that surprised Whyte about Glasgow was the Glaswegians' manners.

"I don't know if they were just raised well, they were so polite, so friendly" he said.

"In some places, you feel you don't even dare make eye contact, like in the tube (London Underground) but not in Glasgow. It's a very personable place, which is very rare now."

Given a choice, they would love to return to Glasgow, even if it meant spending seven hours on board an airplane, describing it as a "painless experience".

"I don't really like flying, but I dribbled all the way there," Whyte said, laughing.

Och, we dinna need to know that, laddie.