I’m ‘properly’ middle aged. I turned 50 back in April. Therefore, I’m well out of range of any number of young brands. The models in the Boden catalogue that wear the shirts I love to buy are lucky if they’re … Continue reading →

Coop (courtesy Your Radio) Sometimes my radio heroes are market leading megastars – sometimes they’re people who influenced me along the way. But other times I’m simply blown away by their creativity and their willingness to go the extra mile. … Continue reading →

I produced programmes for the original incarnation of BBC Radio 5. A grab-bag of programmes from all over the place stuffed onto 693 & 909 under a completely lovely controller who seemed totally out of her depth marrying the disparate … Continue reading →

There’s a lot of grumbling about ‘news hubbing’ in Scotland, with the moves at Bauer to rationalize their news operation. Individual stations will have bulletins presented from Glasgow after 10am, but will retain locally presented bulletins at breakfast – albeit … Continue reading →

The thing I really don’t understand in education is the artificial divide between so-called ‘academic’ and ‘vocational’ post school education. As I understand it (remember, I work in education) academics are reflective thinkers. People who gather and assess evidence and … Continue reading →

There are a couple of station programmers who do a thing I like a lot. It’s not that they’re talking to me (though I admit it’s always good to catch up). I like it because they call for a chat … Continue reading →

For my money, one suite of skills sets the commercial presenter in Scotland apart from the BBC one. It’s the set of abilities that drives home the station and it’s brand promise. It extends to a well developed ability to … Continue reading →

This old Bush valve radio still works – it has a ‘lovely tone’. It was a gift from John Cavanagh who presented ‘Earshot’ on BBC Radio Five/ Scotland (while I produced) over 20 years ago. Two things caught my eye … Continue reading →

Many years ago Radio Clyde cut their afternoon drive show in half. There had been a lot of footering with that part of the schedule and every new iteration was more wrong than the first, so I had no love … Continue reading →

So many of the radio people I bump into just now are looking at their stations’ digital operations and asking lots of questions. Over the years I’ve seen and heard some excellent practice and some that has failed to hit … Continue reading →