He usually divides the nation and he’s about to do it again with his comeback to Radio 2. Thousands of of fed-up listeners will again feel that their complaints about Ross’s behaviour has been ignored by the Beeb; millions of devotees will be chuffed that he’s ‘on-air’ again.

One pensioner who’s not keen on Ross returning yet is Sir Michael Lyons, chairman of the BBC Trust. He thinks it’s a bit early for the Second Coming because the Beeb’s internal inquiry into how and why the fateful Brand Ross Sachs joke was broadcast is not yet complete. To paraphrase - Sir Michael thinks that announcing the date of Jonathan Ross’s return is a ‘bit previous’.

Mills has found himself in trouble with the radio regulator, Ofcom, for broadcasting content that appeared the break the regulator’s editorial code. His drivetime show featured a game called ‘Badly Bleeped TV’ that appeared to contain swear-words.

R1 bosses said the spot was supposed to be a bit like “the saucy seaside postcard tradition of comedy”.

Ahem!!

For more

It’s been a forgettable fortnight for the BBC.
This time it’s a not-nearly-so-important BBC local radio presenter who’s apparently let the side down…after allegations that she made racist comments during a phone-call off-air.
Sam Mason had only had her gig at BBC Radio Bristol for 6 weeks. Then disaster struck.
Spinning a disc on her afternoon show (further evidence of how little work radio presenters do!), Sam found the time to call a local taxi company on behalf of her 14 year old daughter. She apparently asked the taxi operator not send an Asian driver. When the taxi company said it wasn’t prepared to help, she’s supposed to have said “You’ve managed it before.”
The taxi worker was said to be outraged and recorded the conversation. Trouble followed.
One quick question: did Sam Mason know that she was being recorded? If not what is she and/or the BBC going to do about?
Sam Mason’s demise follows closely an incident involving two presenters at BBC Southern Counties Radio who, BBC suits believed, crossed the line of taste….this time on-air. For more click here

Erstwhile radioman, Paul Brown CBE, departs as chairman of the RadioCentre, commercial radio’s hard-pressed trade organisation. And Camelot’s, chief executive, Diane Thompson arrives.

Thompson’s appointment has been rightly hailed by the Observer newspaper as a ‘coup’. Commercial radio badly needs her marketing nouse if it’s to get its revenue share back and if it’s going to exploit the revenue opportunities that the web throws up.

I believe that the commercial radio’s fight with the BBC for audience share has reached a critical point and that there is now a battle that commercial radio must win if it’s to survive. Thompson proved artful operator in the political and commercial battles that accompanied Camelot’s bids to run the National Lottery. Those political skills, combined with her obvious steadfastness under pressure, will hold her in good stead as commercial radio battles the ‘world domination’ strategy of the BBC!

But Thompson should understand that commercial radio also has itself to blame for the mess it’s in. Commercial radio should stop finger-pointing and take a long, hard look at itself - in private! The RadioCentre and its predecessor, the CRCA, have been doing the bidding of big radio groups for years and have ignored the single most important maxim of any kind of commercial radio: that the audience is king, and that advertisers and shareholders follow. Commercial radio’s audience has dwindled to a 43 per cent share and there’s not much sign of a recovery. Listeners are served up large amounts of automated programming, or ‘local’ programmes that come from miles away. News has all but vanished as have high-profile community projects. DAB hasn’t been the hit that was hoped for. Most station websites are pathetic and there’s very little focus on experimenting with other distribution platforms.

Thompson needs to be an effective articulator of the unfairness of BBC funding, of its cross-promotions tactics, and of its distribution unbiquity. But she’s also got to tell the big commercial radio groups to stop cutting costs, to stop prioritising short-term profits and to start long-term investment in popular, ‘live’ radio programming. That does not necessarily mean more speech and less music but it does mean ‘relevant, need-to-listen radio’. If lip service continues to be paid to the ‘content is king’ strategy, Thompson and her chums at the top of commercial radio will be even deeper in the ‘cack’ than they presently find themselves.

REPORT OF THE BJTC ACCREDITATION PANEL

National Broadcasting School, Brighton

NBS Diploma

Wednesday July 18th 2007

COURSE STRUCTURE

The structure is relatively simple – an intense 11 week, purely vocational course which concentrates on radio journalism skills alone and is run in parallel with a complimentary course in radio presentation – as the course develops, students from each pathway work together to deliver a full service local radio station, Red FM. Some of the teaching is delivered jointly, which ensures that the presentation students, as well as the journalists, leave with a very good grasp of media law. There is a longer term aspiration, and indeed possibility, that if the depth and quality of the PA and Law elements of the presentation course were stepped up to the same level as the BJ, this course could also be considered for accreditation.

The students work a full five and a half day week, and there are arrangements with Southern FM, as well as the independent Brighton station Juice FM and others , for students to help with news, sport and other programmes.

At the end of the 11 weeks, the students leave for a three week work placement, before entering full time employment. The NBS are thus able to run three full courses a year, starting in January, April and September.

COURSE CATEGORY

For the purposes of accreditation this course will be categorised as Single Media (Radio)

COURSE FEES

The standard fee is £3,510, plus VAT.

STAFFING

The main broadcast journalism teaching is delivered by Rory McLeod who is an experienced broadcast journalist and radio executive, having been managing director of the local ILR station Southern FM for many years and later of Southern Radio plc, the quoted group created by the merger of Ocean Sound, Southern FM and Invicta. He was also managing director of LBC. He worked as a journalist in several stations. He also works as a freelance for BBC Radio network news. His wife Barbara, who has nearly 30 years experience in BBC broadcast journalism, also provides some additional teaching support, and is potentially there to provide back up and support in the event of illness or indisposition.

The NBS has its own voice coach, Judith Phillips, who also teaches at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Matt Silver is a senior BBC network radio producer who teaches software and production skills.

NEWS WRITING

As with our visits last year, the quality of the core writing that we listened to and read was again of an accomplished standard, and to a standard which would make the students immediately employable at any radio station. And by way of proof one of the students had produced and presented the afternoon news and the ten minute main news summary on the Hastings station, Arrow FM the previous week – eventually handling the afternoon and evening shift on her own.

RADIO JOURNALISM

During the course of the last three visits we have heard a range of very good radio journalism pieces in the form of bulletins, voicers, interviews and longer form features and programme pieces. The current policy of concentrating unremittingly on core radio journalism standards has paid dividends and should be maintained.

VOICE TRAINING

The voice trainer is Judith Phillips, who teaches at a number of London drama colleges. She has high grade skills.

The students have an hour and a half of voice training each week, and this is a mixture of group and individual work. This is obviously far in excess of the basic BJTC requirement, but it is likely to show substantial dividends – and the quality of the news reading we heard, was again very accomplished, if a little hurried in one case.

FEEDBACK

There is very good immediate and more considered long term feedback from the course team. The students confirmed that feedback was of a very high standard, and given the small numbers the quantity and the detail of the feedback is very good.

TECHNICAL PROVISION

There have been no major changes in this area, nor or any planned when the studios and the newsroom move next door.

LAW AND BROADCAST REGULATION

The students are tested each week after each tutorial. They are also now required to take two flash tests, which are delivered sight unseen at short notice. The first test is built around 20 news scripts each of which has a deliberate legal error. The second test is a more conventional examination questionnaire which tests everything they have learned over the course.

Regulation is also taught as a specific unit in the law module. Under the current structure regulation is dealt with in a single, but full day. However, in future, it will be delivered over a series of lectures. It is fair to say that the BJTC is concerned that knowledge of regulation is still not as thorough across all accredited courses as it should be, and following a number of recent cases – the Queen’s phoney walk out on RDF, being only the most high profile – it is likely that, in future, the BJTC Accreditation will require some form structured testing of regulation. That said, the students here seemed very confident in their own knowledge of the subject – and we suspect that in terms of quantity, many other accredited courses do not specifically devote so much time to this vital subject.

MEDIA AUDIENCES AND MARKETS

Students are introduced to the work of the CRCA, RAB as well as understanding the operation of RAJAR and other audience measurement techniques and their relationship to programming strategies. We note that the course also receives regular news briefings from the RadioCentre, which encourages the students to keep in touch with broader industry developments. We also found both the current students very media aware and inquisitive, which is a major asset.

EXAMINATIONS AND ASSESSMENT

The students are tested every week on their law. The pass mark is 70%. We only wish this was a national standard we could apply through the BJTC Accreditation Guidelines.

EXTERNAL EXAMINERS

Keith Belcher has now acts as the external for the written and examined elements.

STUDENT SELECTION

The school’s policy is to accept only graduates, though in exceptional circumstances non graduates may be considered if they can demonstrate substantial experience in other forms of journalism.

All applicants are invited to the school and are interviewed individually and are also given an opportunity to speak to existing students, as well as getting to know the equipment.

STUDENT FEEDBACK

We met two of the three students on the current course – they were both very confident and outgoing and showed considerable personal skills. Both were exceptionally positive about the course – we noted on one of the feedback form that every lecturer had received a 10 out of 10 rating. In addition there are glowing testimonials and recommendations from many previous students on the NBS website.

We also note with approval, that for both the students, the BJTC accreditation was an important determining factor in their decision to come to the NBS – though the most significant was the intimacy and the compact nature of the course.

PLACEMENTS/INDUSTRY FEEDBACK

This summer’s students have very good work placements with Capital and IRN in London, as well as doing shifts as other smaller local radio stations. Feedback from employers remains very positive.

Though these placements are for only two weeks, we noted that the students were keenly pursuing other potential work placement opportunities, including sounding out members of the panel for future opportunities, as well as working occasional shifts with local station – again full marks for their charming commitment.

The course has also introduced a new student and employer feedback form, which is also operating effectively.

CAREER/VOCATIONAL OUTCOMES

The outcomes continue to be impressive. Rory McLeod estimates that up to 80% of the graduates are finding a job in radio and journalism, which by the present BJTC standards accredited courses that is a very high rate.

Of recent graduates, one is working for the BBC Radio national newsdesk, one is working for Radio 4, another for BBC News Online, another was one of two picked from 3,000 applicants for a full year’s traineeship at the BBC. Others are in BBC local radio. On the commercial side, one is working at Southern FM, Rachel Tregenza who was on the course which ended in December 2006, is working as a reporter and newsreader with Original FM in Southampton.

CLOSING COMMENTS

The course is delivering tangibly, and indeed audibly good results. It’s worth adding that the panel felt that each time it has come to Brighton there has been at least one student, and sometimes two, who most of the main stream post graduate courses would die for. To achieve that with cohorts of no more than four students is remarkable. We trust that as the reputation of the course grows there will be even more.

We are also delighted to see this compact and intensive model of delivery now working so well – and yes, 11 weeks was just a bit too short and we are delighted that Rory has accepted this and bumped it out to 13 weeks from January 2008 – and that may well be a model for other courses elsewhere. With the ever rising cost of higher education, we are convinced that more potential students will be looking for a course which delivers in roughly half the time of a conventional course, and at a cost which is at the lower end of the scale for a post graduate qualification.

In some other respects, the course is now setting standards and benchmarks which other accredited courses would do well to follow, particularly in the quality and the quantity of voice training and in the new commitment to regulation. Furthermore, there does seem to be a far greater awareness of the radio industry and the way it operates than is the case with some other courses, but that is almost taken as read, given Rory’s background.

At the end of this visit the panel could find little that it was not very satisfied with.

We therefore have no hesitation in recommending a first full three year period of accreditation, without conditions or qualifications.

PANEL RECOMMENDATION

The panel will recommend to the council of the BJTC, at its next meeting in October that the course should be accredited for period of three years from June 1st 2007 through to May 31st 2010.

For Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole, Danni Minogue and Louis Walsh, last night’s X-Factor may have been just another show. But for NBS Presentation grad, Catherine Whale, it was the biggest gig of her short career. Catherine joined the ITV Continuity team last week and was instantly shoved off the deep end to introduce Britain’s biggest show. Never phased by a challenge, it all went beautifully on her big night.
Catherine’s a natural for TV: good brain, a good voice, okay face, and a calm disposition!

A great champion of British radio lost her job last night. BBC Radio 2 boss, Lesley Douglas, fell on her sword in the aftermath of the Wossy, Brand and Sachs fiasco. To some, she did the honourable thing; to others it was needless. I fall into the first group although I concede that the Beeb has lost a very good man.

Lesley Douglas was a radio boss who was talented, honourable and fun. She was admired professionally because she made Radio 2 one of the world’s most successful music stations. She built its audience to more than 13 million listeners in the UK each week and, in doing so, she earned the respect of radio folk all over.

But exactly how much of a blow to Radio 2 will Lesley’s departure be? How hard is it going to be to manage Radio 2 successfully?

The new Radio 2 boss (we’ll call him John, shall we? - a good man from the commercial radio sector!) will inherit 13 million listeners who love the station. He’ll have a presenter line-up of household names who’ve been on the station for a generation there’ll be scores of bright creatives, producers and admin staff beavering to keep Radio 2 top of the pile……and, good news, he’ll have the money to pay them.

Money - always scarce in commercial radio - is no longer a problem for John: there’ll always be enough to pay big salaries and to fund the station’s impressive programme of landmark documentaries and music specials.

Marketing? John will be at the helm of one of Britain’s best-known, best-loved brands. Listenership is huge; brand awareness in the UK is almost total. He’ll have an advertising budget bigger by far than anything in commercial radio and, more valuable still, he’ll be able to dream up cross-promotions on the Beeb’s other radio networks, TV channels, websites, publications and on and on we go! It’s a marketing advantage that any other organisation, whatever its business, would kill for. And in the back-ground a big, well-connected, well-oiled PR team.

Transmission technology? Another easy one for John who’ll continue to put Radio 2 on every distribution platform that’s even semi-viable. Radio 2 bosses know their station should be heard the world over and whilst the money’s there to pay for it all, who cares? Pssst… there may be a couple of Brits who can only listen to R2 on Sirius….. better be on that too then!

Lets run through the pluses of Lesley’s job. Listeners - squillions; awareness? - almost 100%; talent - the best; marketing? - everywhere; money? - don’t be silly.

Nice one, John.

BBC bosses have taken the plunge and have suspended Jonathan Ross and Russell Brand for their Andrew Sachs stunt. The world and his wife seems to have joined the condemnation of poor old Wossy and Brand, both of whom are so rich that a few days of enforced leave from the Beeb is neither here nor there.

Radio folk know that it’s always the bosses who have to clean up the mess left by the talent! As I write, Radio 2 managers, like many commercial radio programme bosses before them, are leafing through their contacts books searching for week-end cover at short notice!

So how can we help Lesley Douglas, Radio 2’s boss, and her mates? Who to hire?

Here’s what the NBS programmers say: - Lesley, don’t panic. Don’t make any risky, intemperate decisions that you’ll live to regret. Stick with Ross and Brand. Paul and Jo, that is!

Huge consultancy fee please.

Russ Williams has been a top radio broadcaster in the UK for a quarter of a century. His current slot is mornings on the new national music station, Absolute. He was previously a long-term fixture at Virgin Radio. Russ Williams trained at the National Broadcasting School where he won the “Outstanding Talent” award. His first gig was with Southern FM in Sussex. He then moved to Metro FM in Newcastle and then to Capital Radio in London where he fronted the week-end breakfast show and sat in for Chris Tarrant. He moved to Virgin after three years. With Virgin he won two gold Sony Radio Awards and a gold New York Radio award. He’s a devoted Spurs fan and has written two books on football. He hosts a football show on TalkSport and he has been a member of the ITV Sport team since 1999. Here Russ Williams talks to new NBS student, Scott Doutre. It was Scott’s first radio interview:

 

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John Myers was a great radio innovator in the UK: he brought the highly successful Century, Real Radio and Smooth formats to the British listening public. On the first of his podcasts with the National Broadcasting School, he was asked when he was going to retire. “Sooner than you think”, he replied. He announced his retirement the following day!! Commercial radio in the UK has lost one of its stars: John Myers is a radio man who really understands the medium’s relationship with listeners. In this excerpt from his interview with the Director of the National Broadcasting School, Rory McLeod, he talks about the birth of his new, speech-rich formats:

 

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GMG Radio brands include Real Radio, Century, Smooth and Rock Radio. John Myers, who runs the division, is a huge, ebullient character and a natural, passionate communicator. He is credited with bringing creativity back to UK commercial radio with new radio formats that have been astonishingly successful. Here, in the first clip of a lengthy radio interview, he talks to the Director of the National Broadcasting School, Rory McLeod, about radio’s appeal and about his priorities - content or technology.

 

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The National Broadcasting School is adding the new autobiography of the veteran Daily Mail columnist, Ann Leslie, to its Suggested Reading list.

Ann Leslie is widely regarded as one of our finest newspapers reporters and columnists. Born in India during the Raj, she was despatched home to boarding school in dark and chilly England. She won a place at Oxford University and on completing her degree, she tumbled accidentally into newspapers.

“Her career has been an extraordinary adventure. She’s one of the great reporters of her time. Set aside her self-deprecation, she’s made it her business to fight cant, hypocrisy, cruelty, bigotry and tyranny wherever she can,” said NBS director, Rory McLeod. “We have aspiring young radio journalists on our news courses who want to be inspired. This book, more than almost any other of its type, will do just that”.

Leslie’s extraordinary experiences and encounters range from drug-fuelled parties with the Beatles to being flashed by Salvador Dali, from dangerous encounters with drugs runners to conversations with inmates on Death Row, from Mohammed Ali to President Mugabe. This is a book that, if you have any interest in newspapers or the world around you, will take your breath away.

There’s an excellent review of “Killing My Own Snakes” by Johann Hari in the Independent.

Rory McLeod added: “ Dame Ann is now in her 80’s. I want her to be admired and respected by our students at the NBS. What a woman!”

With its announcement that it’s investing a million quid in new programme content, GMG Radio – owners of the Smooth, Real, and Century stations - has demonstrated once again that it is the radio company with the creativity and commitment to lead commercial radio’s fight-back against the Beeb. Whilst Global, the UK’s biggest commercial radio operator, cuts swathes of local programming and slashes creative investment, GMG is attempting to strengthen its stations’ bonds with listeners by investing in new content.

“What a breath of fresh air it is to hear of a radio group trying to build station content, and not reduce it”, commented Rory McLeod, Director of the National Broadcast School. GMG is set to commission its next wave of independent productions as part of a one million pounds programming initiative across Smooth, Real, Century and Rock Radio.

Mr McLeod went on to say that Global’s moves to centralise and homogenise the output of its local stations was high-risk. “Global has a taken a calculated risk that revenues from its new faux-network will impact strongly on the short term bottom-line. But look out for signs of a slow decline in listening to Global stations.”

Before deciding to make its investment, GMG did its homework. Bosses say research into listeners’ views and opinions on the special programmes were extremely positive. The company is now inviting independent production companies to pitch new ideas for broadcast on its network of 13 stations. The new commissions will be broadcast from January 2009.

GMG Radio’s £1 million programming initiative has been led by GMG Radio chief executive John Myers and funded by Guardian Media Group’s owner, the Scott Trust.

GMG Radio group programme director, John Simons, said: “The response from listeners to the wide array of programmes we have brought to the commercial airwaves has been overwhelmingly positive, and demonstrates that our audiences enjoy new and unexpected content. So I am delighted to announce that we will be investing further in new documentaries, commissioning more programmes for broadcast early next year.”

National Broadcasting School Director, Rory McLeod said: “GMG is to be congratulated for investing big-time in new content. It’s heartening to see a major radio company led by creative programme-makers. After all, it is supposed to be a creative medium, isn’t it? ”

He only dropped in for a few minutes before NBS radio news student, Ashleigh Carroll, inveigled him into being the subject of her very first radio interview. Sean graduated from the NBS in London in the early 1980’s. A youngster with huge creative talent, he immediately started a successful career that has taken him from a music show on a local radio station to national talk radio. He is now leading the development of a big new internet project. Ashleigh Carroll is a graduate of Cardiff University. She’d like a career in the BBC and her aim is to be a special correspondent. This was her first radio interview. No no coaching, no practice. Click to hear it.

 

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Broadcasting is in his blood, but Dominic Norton left school with a promising career as a professional cricketer ahead of him: he was a junior on the Hampshire CCC ground staff. Then came an unlucky break - literally. A tear-away quick bowler, he smashed the wrist on his bowling arm. It ended his cricket career. He turned his attention to a career in broadcasting and studied radio journalism at the National Broadcasting School.

Dominic’s now an assistant producer at Sky Sports, his dream job.

Sean Bolger has worked at an elevated level in the UK radio biz for almost 30 years. He trained at the National Broadcasting School in London before starting his career at Southern FM in Sussex. He recently paid a visit to the NBS and told the students this story.

Imagine….you’re a music radio presenter on a London station. You’re busy doing your job – a song here, an ad there, a prize here, a caller there. A frazzled producer pops her head around your studio door and asks “You want to talk to Michael Jackson? He’s coming up the stairs.” You have about two seconds to decide but you don’t need them. It’s an instant “YES!” You wonder why Michael Jackson should be visiting but then it all becomes clear. Through the door walks Mohammed Fayed – Harrods owner and your station’s owner – followed by Michael, the biggest pop star the planet has ever seen.

That’s what happened to my friend Sean Bolger. And that, he told me, is why being a radio presenter is the best job on the planet.

He described the next few minutes. They flew by with the Harrods owner smiling beatifically as the interview progressed. One false move, thought Sean, and he would be toast! So the questions were bland and non-intrusive. Michael was meticulously polite and pathologically shy. He came to life, said Sean, only when talking about music or music technology and he was at his best when a song was being played and he was off-mic.

He disappeared as quickly as he had arrived. Next stop were the opening of the Harrods Sale and a cameo performance at Craven Cottage where thousands of Fulham fans were just as astonished to see him as Sean had been.

You’ll find an audio interview with Sean elsewhere on this site.

Not much time to settle in. On the first day of his work attachment at Original in Bristol, recently graduated journo, Bryan Rutherford, found himself reporting ‘live’ from the scene of the enormous fire on the famous old pier. When the story broke, Bryan was ordered to take off down to the scene in the radio car from which he reported all day.

Ironically, one of Paul’s assignments during the course was to produce a 3-minute feature on one of his heroes, the former radio reporter and now Channel 4 news presenter, Jon Snow whose name is on the cup that Paul won.
Paul Organe got a BA at Sussex University where he ran URF, the campus radio station. He’s been a studio manager with the BBC World Service for five years. He’s hoping to puruse his career at the BBC, albeit in news and current affairs.

Do breakfast show listeners in Oxforshire realise that their morning news-man - Tom Fletcher - knows more than anyone on the planet about Elton John? And do you think they know that, as well as fronting Fox FM’s morning news bulletins, he also leads one of the UK’s most successful tribute bands -Elton Tom.
Tom left the NBS in April 2008, did a work attachment at Original in Bristol and then joined Fox FM. Simple really. Don’t suppose the fact that he sounds great had anything to do with it! Well done, Tom.

Adam Lindsay is going back home to Darlington after several years in Brighton where he got his English degree. Adam, who won the Jon Snow Prize at the end of the Winter 2008 course, has just won his first big break in radio news by securing a job with Century North East. “I’m really chuffed”, said Adam. “And what’s great is that I can live with my Mum until I get myself settled. Brilliant.” Another top NBS news graduate, Georgie Frost, is already at Century.