My Big Annoucement

Well, for the past six weeks or so I have had an incredible time heading up Bauer Radio's news services in the north east of England where I'm based.

I've been backed by a great management team including an MD and Programme Directors who understand the value of news and who're giving me the freedom to create new content.

I've been working alongside a collection of hard working and talented young journalists who proved themselves to me within hours of my joining Bauer in their response to the Raoul Moat story. I'm already very proud of them.

Together I believe we all have the potential to create a unique news product for commercial radio in UK. Already I feel we've made some progress in achieving this.

So, with all these positives in mind, I'm delighted to say that I have agreed to take on the role full time.

It of course ends some relationships with clients of my business. I want to take this opportunity to sincerely and wholeheartedly thank the radio and other organisations that have hired me. It's been an incredible 18 months travelling the UK and Europe meeting so many different people but such a rich role close to home is hard to turn down.

I will continue to tweet as my adventure in north east England continues.

Inside Metro Radio - Episode 3

Inside Metro Radio News - Episode 2

What a Week

What a week to start at a local radio station as 'Britain's most wanted man' is being hunted in your area.

For those of you out of the UK, this is the story of Raoul Moat who's wanted on suspicion of a triple shooting. Yesterday it forced police to effectively lock down a small rural village.

I've just started three months overseeing the news team at Metro Radio in Newcastle.

The journalists have risen to the challenge of covering this story amazingly well. They're putting in hard work and extra hours to produce some outstanding coverage. But more than anything, they've shown they really care about doing the best job.

Its one of those situations local radio simply has to deliver on and I think we're doing that.

A couple of the team have even appeared on Sky News. Here are their appearances.





So, a big congratulations to the entire team at Metro. Keep it going guys!

I am currently hiring new journalists to join the team: a Regional Head of News (great job) and two Broadcast Journalists. Details here. Email me if you'd like more details or a chat.

Theatre of the Mind

As regular readers will know I'm a big Twitter fan.

Yesterday while I was writing a radio news workshop, I wondered about the origins of the expression: 'The Theatre of the Mind' (TOTM).

I couldn't immediately find the answer on the net, and so I threw it out to the Twitterverse...



I'm delighted to say @simonontheradio from Wave 105 on the south coast came up with the answer - I think.

American Stan Freberg is a real multi-media worker. Wikipedia describes him as a writer, recording artist, cartoon voiceover, comedian, radio star, puppeteer, and advertising creative director!

He's still working today at the age of 83.

Known for his creativity and inventiveness, he presented a satircal show on CBS Radio taking over from the famous Jack Benny in 1957.

What followed you might say was an early attempt at radio podcasting. He released a version of his programme on an album which he called 'pay radio'.

Here's how Wikipedia describes part of this show:

"...through the magic of sound effects, Freberg drained Lake Michigan and refilled it with hot chocolate and a mountain of whipped cream while a giant maraschino cherry was dropped like a bomb by the Royal Canadian Air Force to the cheers of 25,000 extras viewing from the shoreline. That bit became a commercial for advertising on radio."

You can hear it here.

Freberg referred to this way of using radio to visualise something,'Theater (corr) of the Mind'.

If you want to hear more, click here and thanks to Simon Clarke on this one!

@BexLindsay suggested Orson Wells might be the man to credit for TOTM. You know what happened of course - when the martian invasion drama War of the Worlds was broadcast in 1938, presented as news bulletins, listener assumed it was for real.

I can't find a reference to Wells referring to Theatre of the Mind but I stand to be corrected on this. Its certainly a great example of TOTM in action!!

Inside Metro Radio News - Episode 1

So, starting next week I begin 3 months as Acting News Editor at Bauer Media's radio stations in north east England.

I'm setting out with the team to bring a new, distinctive sound to radio news here and you'll be able to check our progress on You Tube.

The journalists and I will be recording our experiences on a channel called Inside Metro Radio News. Its a way of sharing knowledge and learning and it's in the spirit of today's open media.

Episode 1 has just been published. Have a look and stay tuned!

Summertime at Metro Radio

I'm very excited about a summer assignment which will involve me working for Bauer Radio for the first time ever.

As you can read here I've been hired to interim manage and develop news at CFM (Cumbria), Metro Radio (Newcastle) and TFM (Teesside).

I can't wait and I've got some new ideas which I'll be sharing with you on this blog in the weeks ahead.