Six years ago this week I broadcast my first show on LBC. Five years ago today I started my first daily show. It’s the most wonderful privilege and the best job I have ever had, in part due to the the people I work with but mainly due to the people who take the time to call in and have a bit of a chat with me. Some make me laugh, some teach me things, some make me angry, some make me cry. There is literally never a dull moment.
Thanks to Jonathan Richards and Richard Park for giving me the opportunity in the first place and seeing the potential in me that no one else had. Thanks to James Rea for sticking with me and promoting me first to the Sunday morning show and then to Drive, and then giving me the opportunity to present some fantastic OBs and one off specials. James has taken LBC to a place I suspect few thought possible a few years ago. We’ve gone national, have 1.5 million listeners and are now heading for two million.
But it’s the people behind the glass who have made me what I am, especially Matt Harris, who was my first ever producer and then was reunited with me when I moved to Drive. He’s a rare talent and I am so lucky to work with him. He has a first rate political brain and if I ask an incisive question in an interview which skewers a politician, the odds are that he whispered it in my ear. He more than anyone has moulded me into the broadcaster I am today. Yes, it’s his fault.
Jagruti Dave and Axel Kacoutié form the rest of our current Drive team, and it really is that – a team. They are two very special people. Laura Marshall is someone I still miss, and was with me in the final year of the evening show and the first year on Drive and she knew exactly what made me tick. We had quite a few tears together on the evening show, but in a good way! The incomparable Louise Birt and Carl McQueen were the driving forces behind the Sunday show, and Carl also produced the evening show in the early days. We had a lot of fun. Louise taught me a huge amount about using my voice and I still remember her behind the glass screaming at me just as I was about to go on air; “Remember, BIG BOLLOCKS”! It always worked. Rebekah Walker and Caroline Allen were also with me on the evening show for all too short a time in each case and they were a pleasure to work with.
Then there are others behind the scenes that few know about. Chris Lowrie did my first audition and has always taken a real interest in developing me as a broadcaster and been a massive support. He’s leaving LBC after 27 years in October. Everyone will miss him, as he’s such an enthusiast for all that we do, and makes great imaging!
We’re now far more than just a radio station nowadays and many of our shows are made into TV shows now that we have an all singing and all dancing multimedia studio. Adrian Sherling and Neil Brennan have transformed our online offerings and they are brilliant at ‘marketing’ my show’s wares on social media, assuming I give them the ammunition in the first place!
The other great thing about working at somewhere like LBC is that you meet and get to work with a lot of rising talent. It doesn’t get much better than having a reporting team with people like Tom Swarbrick (who has lost count of the awards he has won!) our political editor Theo Usherwood and Drivetime reporter Simon Conway, who tomorrow starts a new role on the new Radio X.
I know this is becoming a bit of roll call, but when I think about it, there are so many important parts to what we do. The Global radio newsroom team, led by the lovely Vicky Etchells, and our regional teams led by John Cushing provide an excellent service, and for many of our listeners the most important person on the station is Jay-Louise Grover (Knight) or Christopher Golds. And they wouldn’t be wrong!
I say all this because most people don’t understand what goes into making three hours of radio every day. All they hear is the voice behind the microphone and they judge everything on that. It’s the person behind that voice who gets all the plaudits or wins the awards yet it’s the people behind the scenes who often cop the flak if something goes wrong.
So, six years and counting. I’ve got a long way to catch up with James O’Brien and Nick Ferrarri, but if I am still on air on LBC in another six years’ time, I shall be absolutely delighted!
