Speaker List for the Tuning In conference
Navid Akhtar
Producer/Presenter, Gazelle Media
Navid Akhtar is the Editor of www.muslimcafe.tv, a British based online discussion show produced by his digital content studio, Gazelle Media.
Navid began his career at the BBC in 1995 researching on Video Nation. He went on to work for four years at the BBC's History Unit on series such as Reputations and Decisive Weapons, and has received awards from the Prix Europa and Sanford St Martin Trust for his radio programmes.
Much of Navid's broadcast work has focused on the unique position of British Muslims. Documentaries include Ramadan Diaries (C4, 2001) and The Braderi-Pakistani Tribes(Radio 4, 2003). Recent work includes The Retreat (BBC2, 2007) and documentaries for Radio 4: I am a Muslim Get Me Out of Here and Nusrat was my Elvis.
Kirk Anthony
Head of Music, Choice FM
Kirk Anthony has been Head of Music at Urban Station Choice FM for the past 13 years and strives to keep the station up there with the best.
He has been with Choice FM since its conception back in 1990. Taking care of the night time slow jams on The Quiet Storm, his voice became the most distinct sound on Choice FM's late night radio. After seven years he moved to the daytime Mid Morning Show. With the advent of the DAB world, Kirk ventured into programming, looking after Choice FM's DAB network in the north and analogue in London.
One of his joys is mentoring the future of the industry. Choice FM have an action programme for youngsters that tries to deal with all aspects of everyday life - Peace On the Streets and Sickle Cell Anaemia are just two examples.
Adam Bowie
Head of Strategy and Planning, Absolute Radio
Adam has worked for Absolute Radio (formerly known as Virgin Radio) since 1996, working in a variety of roles within the station. He sits on the RAJAR technical management group representing commercial radio, and looks after the interests of Absolute Radio's digital services, Absolute Radio Classic Rock and Absolute Radio Xtreme.
He looks after Absolute Radio's company blog onegoldensquare.com, and blogs at adambowie.com.
James Cridland
Head of Future Media & Technology for BBC Audio & Music Interactive
James contributes to the development of pan-BBC non-linear/new media strategy and provides strategic focus for new media technology within BBC Audio & Music. He is also a Trustee of the pan-industry body The Radio Academy, and is Chairman of its Radio At The Edge conference.
James has worked in radio since 1989 as a copywriter, presenter and internet advisor. After working at the Metro Radio Group and Emap Radio, he left to concentrate on his own dot-com company, Media UK, for a while before joining Virgin Radio in 2001, where he was Digital Media Director. In 2007 he joined BBC Audio & Music Interactive, the division that looks after new media activities across BBC national radio networks, and music output across the BBC.
James is an award-winning copywriter and radio presenter. In 2005, Virgin Radio's website scooped both judged and people's choice awards in the Webby Awards radio category.
Trevor Dann
Director of the Radio Academy
Trevor Dann is Director of the Radio Academy, the professional body for the UK radio industry. He also works as an independent radio producer and makes podcasts for clients including the Financial Times and Williams F1.
In previous lives he was Head of Music Entertainment for BBC Radio, TV and online, Head of Production at BBC Radio 1, MD of Pop at Emap, executive producer of Top of the Pops, producer of Live Aid and a columnist for the Sunday Telegraph and the Times. His first book, a biography of Nick Drake, was published in 2006. Trevor is a Fellow of both the Radio Academy and the Royal Society of Arts.
Jaqui Devereux
Director, Community Media Association
Jaqui has worked in the voluntary sector for 30 years. She has extensive experience across a range of sectors working on "voices for the voiceless", social cohesion and community engagement.
Much of her current work is at the national and regional strategic levels, working with government and other stakeholders to increase recognition of the community benefits achieved by the fast growing community media sector.
The Community Media Association is the UK membership body for projects using media as a tool to increase community engagement and encourage community voices. Find out more here: Community Media Association
Paul Easton
Consultant
Paul Easton is a radio consultant with 35 years in the industry. His background includes a stint in programming at Capital Radio and he has also worked for a number of other stations including LBC, Ocean Sound, Melody Radio and the former Austrian network, Blue Danube Radio in Vienna.
Paul has provided specialist station monitoring and programming analysis for several successful radio licence applications, and offers other specialist services such as Rajar analysis and Selector training and database troubleshooting. He is also a part-time lecturer at the London College of Communications where he runs the part-time radio courses.
Neil Fairbrother
UK Podcasters Association and CEO of pod3.tv
Neil owns and runs pod3.tv, a web TV company that produces original TV-style shows on a variety of topics and distributes them as commercially sponsored video podcasts that can be watched on Macs, PCs, video iPods, iPhones and AppleTV.
Neil was recently ranked as one of the top 10 most innovative business people in the UK in the Sunday Observer's Courvoisier Future 500 report. Previously Neil created Liquid Bandwidth(tm) as a sub-brand of startup telecoms company Neos and as Marketing Director steered the brand to exit, garnering several awards along the way.
Julie Hadwin
Media Consultant
Julie is a media consultant with over 25 years' experience in the media and communications industry. She began her career as a broadcast journalist - working as a current affairs producer and programme editor for the BBC. She also helped to establish and run an independent production company and communications consultancy.
For the last ten years she has focused on learning and development. She ran the BBC's Journalism Training unit then worked with the BBC's Nations & Regions division as an internal organisational development consultant and coach. She is now an independent media consultant specialising in learning and development.
Julie has been closely involved in Skillset's recent work with the radio industry which has given her a unique perspective on the industry's view of its current and future skills needs.
Bob Hoad
Community Relations Director, Global Radio
Bob Hoad has spent 25 years in commercial radio. He is best known for his time as MD at Southern FM in Brighton but he has also managed Invicta FM, Red Dragon and Fox FM.
He has coached and mentored dozens of programming, marketing and sales staff. A strong advocate for skills development, he has introduced innovative ways of encouraging those who wish to pursue a career in radio. His current role with Global Radio is to manage the corporate social responsibility community programmes, where he has been involved in the award winning Lights Out London and Green Month.
Most recently he has been the Project Co-ordinator for Skillset's Route Into Radio working with over 30 interns across the pilot scheme in the South of England. He also works with the charity v (www.wearev.com) where in the last two years over 6,000 volunteering opportunities have been created for young people through Global Radio's stations.
Xenia Huntley
Route into Radio intern
Xenia has been passionate about radio since she can remember. She started out in the industry doing promotional work for Cable radio, where she was soon noticed and given her own show.
This gave Xenia's career in radio its foundations and following this she helped set up one of Brighton's first online radio stations; Radio Reverb. After dabbling in commercial radio over the years and participating in Skillset's Route into Radio, where she was placed at Southern FM and Xfm, Xenia now works for the BBC in Bristol and continues with personal freelance projects in her spare time.
David Jensen
Presenter, Capital Gold Radio Network
Broadcaster and five times Sony Award winning DJ, David ‘Kid' Jensen, has given 40 years' service to the radio industry. Since leaving Canada in 1968 to join Radio Luxembourg, he has gone on to carve out an important part in radio and pop music history. Jensen became the youngest DJ in Europe at just eighteen years old and was nicknamed ‘the Kid' by his Radio Luxembourg peers.
After Radio Luxembourg, he made the leap in 1975 to Radio Trent in Nottingham briefly before moving to BBC Radio 1. David was then poached by London's biggest radio station, Capital Radio, in 1984 where he also hosted the Nescafe Network Chart Show for 10 years to the entire UK Independent Radio Network. In 1998 he accepted an offer to go to London based Heart 106.2, before moving back to Capital Radio in 2002, this time for the Capital Gold Radio Network where he currently presents weekday mornings and the Saturday lunchtime Celebrity Show.
Charity work has also been important to David over the years. He launched The Prince's Trust in 1977 on Radio One, was appointed the charity's first official Ambassador and is still one 31 years on. He has also been actively involved in the work of Macmillan Nurses and Marie Curie, Croydon Colorectal Cancer Campaign, the NSPCC, Great Ormond Street Hospital, Variety Club and HALC.
Diane Kemp
Course Director, Birmingham School of Media, Birmingham City University
Diane Kemp started work in broadcasting in 1981, moving from local commercial radio to being a producer in the BBC in 1985. Several years later she stepped into television as reporter/presenter on ‘BBC Midlands Today'. Diane worked on the current affairs nightly programme for 5 years, also making half hour documentaries and freelancing for BBC Radio 4's ‘Woman's Hour'.
She moved to teaching at Birmingham City University where she runs several MA programmes in Broadcast Journalism. Diane is also a council member of the UK's Broadcast Journalism Training Council.
Hanna Lambert
Route into Radio intern
Hanna has been interested in radio all her life, but it wasn't until she went to university that she got her first practical experience on the university radio station.
Here, she did various things from voice acting in a radio soap to co-presenting a Sunday evening show. During that period she undertook a work experience placement at BBC Radio Drama in Manchester where she helped broadcast assistants in their work, but also got to spend time in the studio watching the full process of rehearsing and producing a script.
Since early 2008 she had been volunteering at a local community radio station, producing and presenting a show. She wanted to move to the next level so applied for Route into Radio to learn from the professionals within the industry.
Barbara Manackjee
Route into Radio intern
Barbara has always had a passion for radio and so when she stopped commuting to London in 2003 she decided to join Hospital Radio Tunbridge Wells. She had been a presenter there for about five years when the opportunity arose to apply for Route into Radio.
Barbara's placement was with BBC Radio Kent where she was able to explore the production and preparation aspects of radio and learn more technical skills. She observed how teams prepare their shows and respond to the unexpected, such as breaking news.
Barbara has met some fantastic people during her work placement, many of whom have helped her enormously during the learning process. She now has a short-term casual contract as Producer/Broadcast Assistant on the Roger Day Evening Show.
Paul Marcus
Managing Director, 96.4 Eagle
Passionate about music and radio, Paul landed his dream job in October 06, when he was invited to take on the MD role at his local radio station having spent the previous five years working as a commercial radio manager in Portsmouth.
Educated locally and currently living in Camberley, Paul is married to Kate, with 2 children (Holly & Rebecca). He spends many Saturday afternoons at the recreation ground watching Aldershot FC and autograph-hunting with his daughter, Rebecca.
Tanya Masterman
Interim Head of Learning and Development, Bauer Media
Currently working with Bauer Media as Interim Head of Learning and Development, Tanya has 25 years' experience in media, specialising for the past eight years in Learning and Development. Previously Tanya operated at senior executive level within commercial radio, in a range of roles from Regional Commercial Director through to Managing Director.
Tanya has experience of working across the major national and regional radio brands for GCap Media following the merger of GWR and Capital radio. She is a qualified business coach and development professional. She was responsible for identifying, coaching and leading a group of talented individuals, enabling them to leverage their intellectual capital through the creation of an internal training team, resulting in a prestigious National Training Award in 2008.
Rose Murphy
Route into Radio intern
Rose has been working as a self employed Voiceover Artist and on Hospital Radio Reading for about three years. She has also worked at BBC Radio Berkshire, starting as a volunteer and making headway into news, bringing stories that aired both on radio and on BBC South Today.
During Route into Radio, Rose was placed at Eagle Radio, Guildford, and was mentored by the MD, Paul Marcus. Her job was to research, produce, write and narrate a five day series of documentaries for sister station, County Sound Radio, which aired five times a day over a week.
Rose was invited to stay on at Eagle and was given a placement in the News Team. As a Journalist she interviewed various people, including the Energy Minister, and then compiled news reports on her return. After her placement, Rose was invited back as a paid freelancer for a week and assisted in various other projects at the station.
Denis Nowlan
Network Manager, BBC Radio 4
Denis Nowlan is Network Manager, BBC Radio 4. After working in print journalism and theatre he joined the BBC in 1989 and has made documentaries, debates and outside broadcasts on politics, art, poetry, music and religion for Radios 2, 3 and 4.
For five years he was an Executive Producer for BBC Religion and Ethics, leading projects on radio, TV and online and responsible for major live events. In 2002 he joined the Radio 4 management team where he is responsible for co-ordinating all aspects of the station and is deputy to the Controller. He represents BBC Audio & Music on the BBC Diversity Centre working group and is Chair of the Radio Industry Diversity Group.
Jennifer Ogole
CEO, Bang Entertainment
Jennifer Ogole came to the UK as a refugee and asylum seeker in 1980. She got involved in a youth group at the age of 15, became a single mother at 20, and started BANG Edutainment at the age of 25, from her living room. Jennifer is now the CEO of Bang Edutainment Ltd, a social enterprise based in the London Borough of Brent that aims to address youth social exclusion through the provision of training, development & broadcast. BANG Radio (formerly Life FM) provides opportunities for young people to gain skills through volunteering and work experience; and a platform to express views and showcase talent. BANG Radio has enabled over 800 volunteers to have a go in media broadcasting since it started in 2002. In November 2008 BANG Radio was awarded The Nations & Regions Award (London Branch) for Best Local Radio Station 2008, and was nominated for the Sony Radio Academy Awards Station of the Year.
Nick Piggott
Head of Creative Technology, Global Radio
Nick is Head of Creative Technology at Global Radio, the UK's largest commercial radio operator. He launched the UK's first commercial DAB Digital Radio stations (Planet Rock and Core) in 1999, pioneered SMS interactivity and music downloads from the radio, and spent a year working as a radio programmer in Austria.
Nick is responsible for creating and implementing innovative digital media ideas across all Global's digital platforms. Nick's team develops technology in such diverse areas as social networking, visualising radio, tagging, music downloading, microblogging and more. Nick also contributes to the WorldDMB Technical and Marketing Committees, and speaks German.
Will Roffey
Assistant Editor, BBC Radio Kent
Will joined the BBC in the mid 1990s, initially as a news producer, before moving into bulletin editing and reporting at BBC Radio Kent.
He established the first of a handful of new district offices covering sub-local patches and reported for radio (and occasionally television) from Dover for three years. After a brief spell at BBC Newsroom South East TV, he returned to BBC Radio Kent, taking up a series of management posts including News Editor and Weekend Editor.
He helped co-ordinate the station's move from analogue to digital production in 2002 when the station was moved 30 miles to the newly created BBC South East HQ in Tunbridge Wells. In his present role as Assistant Editor, Will takes on a wide range of roles including coaching and mentoring, reviewing programme material, and overseeing the BBC Kent website.
John Ryan
Managing Editor, BBC Radio Manchester
Before becoming Managing Editor at BBC Radio Manchester, John ran BBC Radios Leeds and Northampton. He was launch Managing Director at CTFM Radio in Kent, and has been a producer/presenter in BBC and commercial stations around the country.
John specialises in developing radio talent. He has been a BBC training instructor and ran the BBC Radio Manchester community radio bootcamp - bringing 80 local volunteer programme makers into the BBC. He is also a board member of Gaydio and a trustee of Manchester Pride.
