John began his radio career in the UK over 30 years ago as a presenter and is now one of the leading experts in regional programming.
He launched the hugely successful Century brand of stations, delivered a record 2.8 million listeners as PD of Talk Radio in 1997 and then moved onto London’s LBC and BBC Radio 2.
He joined GMG Radio in 2000 where he was instrumental in the success of Real & Smooth Radio brands.
He has concluded two terms as a trustee of the Radio Academy, chaired the Radio Festival Committee and served on the Sony Radio Academy Awards Committee.
In 2004, he won the Gold Sony Programmer of the Year award and he was honoured with a Fellowship of the Radio Academy in 2006.
We speak to John about his journey in the radio industry.
1.Maybe start by giving a short synopsis about your background.
I started in radio in the late 70’s on a small Community Radio Station and eventually got a gig as a freelance jock on my local commercial station Radio Tees. I worked as a Presenter into the mid 90’s when I moved into management as PD of Century Radio in the North East having spent seven years at BBC Radio Nottingham previous to that. From being PD at Century (as well as presenting 6 shows a week) I moved to Talk Radio UK as PD then LBC and BBC Radio 2. In 2000 I became Group PD of GMG Radio and stepped down at the end of last year after the takeover by Global Radio.
2.How do you ‘do’ radio consultancy? And how has the need for consultancy changed over the years?
I have a very hands-on approach and like to work “One to One” with Presenters and PDs to help them achieve the best results for them and their station. I’ve always believed in Personality Presentation so you’ll usually find me working on Breakfast Shows or with Phone In hosts and driving their creativity to the limit to achieve improved ratings whilst having fun On Air and Off Air. I’m a big believer in the principle of laughter in the corridors leads to laughter on the air. Radio is a fun business and we should always remember that. Consultancy has become much more competitive over the past few years and even though I’ve always done a little consultancy work whilst I was a Group PD I haven’t done it full time since the late 90’s. My priority is to work with people I like, doing stuff that I enjoy. It works for me and I think my clients find it works for them too.
3.Which market(s) in Asia excite(s) you the most?
India is fascinating with so many stations in exciting markets and even more stations coming along, which is bound to lead to an expansion of formats. I had the opportunity to do some training with young Presenters and Producers in Kerala a couple of years ago and they were all so keen to learn and passionate about radio that it was a true joy to work with them. I think the UAE is interesting too although the English speaking stations are quite well established they are very competitive, as is Oman and Abu Dhabi.
4.To what extent do Western programming formats and rules work in Asian markets? How do you answer question ‘But we’re different?’ or ‘That won’t work here?’
You can’t dismiss the fact that local knowledge and culture does make a difference and means we do have to adapt to these nuances compared to how we operate and programme in the UK. However, the basic principles of producing compelling content that is relevant to the target audience still holds true. The trick is adapting it to the different environment you find yourself working in. We never stop learning in radio which is why we love the business so much and I’m sure that new formats will come out of more fragmentation in the Asian markets which may have an influence in Europe and the U.S. too.
5.Which station are you most proud of turning around and which station in Asia would you most like to get your hands on?
When GMG bought Scot FM in Scotland in the early Noughties a lot of people had tried to make a success of it and failed and thought it was a poisoned chalice. We moved the station from Edinburgh to Glasgow rebranded it as Real Radio Scotland and put a great team together which resulted in the station increasing from 16% reach to 31% and from worst to first in 18 months. It was an absolute blast and the most gratifying part was that none of the competitors saw it coming until it was too late! The station in Asia that would attract me would be the station that has a management team who want to win and believe in content and creativity. I don’t want to identify a specific station but I’m sure there’s a few that fall into the above category.