It was a valiant attempt to become the latest star of regional radio but when it came to the crunch I was RowAn Bad, rather than JoAnne Good.

My attempt to take over JoAnne's morning radio slot, waking Brighton and Hove with a breezy breakfast of chit-chat and repartee, flopped as I talked too much during my three-minute audition.

You see, timing is all-important on the radio.

I was one of 100 people who entered the "So you think you can be a radio star?" challenge to take over from JoAnne.

Having spent six years listening to her Breakfast Live spot on BBC Southern Counties Radio (SCR) I thought I might even be able to mildly improve the formula set by the 47-year-old former Crossroads actress.

JoAnne has built up a loyal following with her friendly banter about pigeons, cats and dogging - and I along with many others would laugh, and sometimes cringe, at her comments and style.

But Miss Good was a success and easily topped The Argus poll as to who readers should like to see on The Walk of Fame at Brighton Marina.

Most people would agree that her promotion to BBC Radio London for a night-time slot was well deserved.

That leaves the job of presenting her Monday to Friday job up for grabs. She still presents a show from the Brighton studio on Saturday mornings.

The gauntlet was thrown down and I made my bid for glory.

With almost 30 years' experience on local, national and Sunday newspapers and a smattering of radio work I thought I might be in with a chance.

After phoning the number and hearing JoAnne purr: "So you think you can do better than me?", I put on my best BBC voice and spoke down the phone for a minute.

Three days later, to the surprise of some of my newsroom colleagues, I got a call inviting me to the SCR studio on Saturday morning.

With the words "best of luck" from editor of The Argus Simon Bradshaw ringing in my ears on Friday, I gave up the usual round of pubs in Rottingdean for an early night.

I arrived bright and early for my audition in Queens Road, Brighton.

BBC producer and presenter David Miller explained I was one of just six of the 100 who attempted the one-minute audition whom they thought might make a good presenter.

Most of the wannabe male and female Ms Goods had been discounted because they had overrun their time.

This included one innovative audition from a girl who started with the words: "I am working as a waitress in a cocktail bar" - presumably concluding: "Don't you want me baby?"

But Mr Miller said he thought I had "radio potential".

Then for the difficult bit. Given three pieces of A4 with weather and news reports and the brief outline of an interview, I was given 15 minutes to prepare a three-minute piece.

I felt relaxed as I spoke into the white sticks which are the new microphones at the Beeb but as I comprehensively added the state of the Channel and went on to give a full description of the atmospheric and wind conditions, I looked up to see a concerned Mr Miller.

I was supposed to interview him about his record collection but had become rather lost at sea.

As I said "And now here's David ... " he got up and said: "There's not enough time, your three minutes are up."

"Timing is everything in radio, so it's back to The Argus," he consoled me.

Not quite.

The friendly JoAnne called me into her studio apparently to ask me on-air why I wanted her job.

Well, that's what I thought. Only there was a slightly different theme to her Saturday show.

"Where were you conceived, Rowan?" she asked.

Taken aback by her highly personal question on air, I blurted out something about South Africa before explaining how my father was conceived at the end of Baggy Point, North Devon.

In a demonstration of the professionalism I had so patently lacked she almost fell off her chair laughing, but kept the show going smoothly nonetheless.

"Well done," said a member of the BBC as I emerged from the studio. "Hope to see you soon."

Well, I may see the BBC team again while reporting on events in and around Brighton but I rather doubt if it will be as a presenter for the breakfast show.

The five others on the shortlist are Greg Moor, a music lecturer at the University of Sussex; Jo Dillon, a freelance journalist; Kim Streador, a singer and entertainer; Rosemary Turner, a charity administrator and Jackie Collins, a freelance journalist and mature student.