My first memory of wanting to be involved in Radio came when I was about 12. I had just started secondary school and being not allowed to watch TV in the mornings because we were too slow to get ready, my twin sister and I turned on the radio.
The only station I remember liking to listen to at that time was Key 103 in Manchester. Maybe that’s the only one I can remember because it was the first I was on the air of! During Mike Toolan’s Breakfast Show I phoned in…I can’t even remember why…but I loved it and that’s where it all started.
As time went on I moved over to Radio 1 to listen to the likes of Zoe Ball and Sara Cox and continued to dream of working in Radio. I tried to get many work placements but was always told I was too young. Then aged 16 I got a work placement working at Manchester University’s Student Radio Station - Fuse FM..I was hooked.
I went on to take Media A Level and on to University. During my first year I had to find a 2 week work placement and so trawled the internet to find contact details of station's that would take me. While I was looking, something caught my eye on Key 103’s website: “Were you a Take That Fan? Tell us your story”. Momentarily distracted I scrawled down a story about how as a small child I had written love poems for Gary Barlow. What I didn’t know at the time was that this would be my way in to radio.
I received a call from Key 103 asking if I would come up to their studio’s to take part in a Take That documentary they were making to mark the 10 year anniversary since they had split up. So off I went. While I was there I found out that one of the team making the documentary was in charge of Work Experience.
I got two weeks and worked very very hard to learn as much as I could working on everything from the station's Sony Award entries to putting together shows for digital station, The Hits. I even did some work for Toolan in the Morning the show that had got me on air all those years earlier. It involved cake! The people at Key asked me to stay on but by now I was half way through my first year at University in Birmingham so it was impossible. All was not lost though as the people there promised to help me find more work experience closer to home with Kerrang! Radio.
By this time I realised I needed to do lots of work for free to learn my craft. Nearly everyone I had met at Key had done at least one year working for a station for free. I knew that while I was at university would be the only time I could afford to do it.
I started producing and presenting a new music show on the university radio station Scratch FM and after 18 months of sending CVs and chasing people up I finally started as Kerrang! Radio’s first ever Intern working one day a week. In the same week I landed paid work at Heart FM and Galaxy in their Research department.
As time went on I worked my way up in Kerrang! taking on responsibilities on the award winning Ugly Phil Breakfast show as a Broadcast Assistant which included answering the phones, writing the travel reports and building the shows daily podcast. At the same time I was making my own documentaries for BBC WM and Birmingham City Council one of which won an IBBDA’A Award in Dubai for which I won an internship with the Arab Radio Network. This was even presented to me by HH The Emir Sheikh, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
After that I was given my first paid Producer job at Kerrang! I produced former Blue Peter Presenter Yvette Fielding’s Radio show 'Fright Night'. This included everything from travelling Ouija Boards to magic spells and even what Yvette and Karl called “The scariest seance they have ever done.” Listen to that in the Audio section.
Having returned from Dubai producing the daily current affairs show Dubai Today on Dubai Eye I was working with Birmigham Music Professional John Mostyn on many musical projects including looking after the band Muchuu.
I was hungry to get back in to Producing Radio shows so went knocking on the door of someone I knew from my time at Key 103, at another station I grew up with, Radio City in Liverpool. Even though they couldn't afford to pay me I started traveling every weekend to produce Simon Greening's 'Weekend Wake-up." This was my first taste of working on Breakfast Radio. From here I had plenty more early starts producing Heart Breakfast with Kev and Ros on Heart Cambridgeshire. You can listen online here every weekday from 6-10am.
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I now work as a Broadcast Assistant at BBC Radio Merseyside in Liverpool.
