So I have gotten really lucky today! One of my friends, Pete Allison, has been nice enough to let me interview him for this blog! Studying Media production at Nottingham University, he quickly became involved with radio work as a hobby. A few years later and he has just won 'Best Male Presenter' at the National Student Radio Awards 2011, the same award which launched the career of Scott Mills, Alex Zayne and Kevin Greening to name just a few; and with offers lining up for specials on Radio one and a weekly presenter on 'The Hits' and 'Q radio', things are definitely looking up for him!
I interviewed him today (18/1/12) to talk about what innovation he has witnessed first hand since starting his career, hope everyone enjoys!
So how long have you been doing radio presenting?
"Well, not that long. You get a lot of people in radio who have always known they want to be on air - studios in their bedrooms etc, etc, but that's not what it's been like for me. I got into it when i came to uni through student radio, realised i love it and i've gone all out to be involved in it since then"
And you've just won an award, what is the exact name of it?
"I was Best Male Presenter at the National Student Radio Awards 2011"
Which radio company do you currently work for?
"I work for Bauer Media, who own stations across the UK, but i have shows on both The Hits Radio and Q Radio"
Through Baurer Media you also work for a number of small radio stations, with the same broadcoast being transmitted to 10 different radio stations, tell me more about that
"They own the second biggest network of stations in the uk behind Global Radio (that's Capital and Heart), I've been on air on the Bauer network which is 10 stations"
Is this a relatively new concept then? Being able to broadcast to a number of different radio stations at the same time?
"It's a sign of the times really. Go back ten years and you'll have had local programming through most of the day, but now more and more radio stations are scaling back, putting more networking programming on air. Galaxy is a good example - just over a year ago there were galaxy stations all over the country doing their own local programming for most of the day. Then the capital merger came in, galaxy became capital and now you only local breakfast and drive shows, the rest is networked from London. The same's happened to Heart and the same will probably happen to other networks in the future, it's a shame that radio's lost a big chunk of its locality, but its just how the industry's had to change with the times"
So do you think that this is a sign of creative-destruction? That the radio industry may not be around for much longer?
"No, radio's not in threat of disappearing at all. Listening figures are still massive, advertising revenue is still massive and radio's actually a huge part of people's lives. It's in their cars, it's in their kitchens and it's still going to be for years and years to come. All that's changing is the way that people consume radio - it's all about iphone apps, digital listening and online content now and radio's proved itself to be hugely capable to move with the times. If you look at radio 1 for example, it's got just as big a presence online as it has on air in terms of videos, interviews etc, etc. there's nothing to suggest radio's disappearing, it's just changing, but that's the same for every industry when you look at retail and things like that."
So to keep up with the times, you're saying that it's having to evolve how it goes about broadcasting it's programmes?
"Well from a programming perspective, there's a logic in cutting back daytime local programming. It's different for breakfast and drivetime shows, because you want that locality - you want to wake up and go home with someone who can tell you what's going on where you live. Capital now have from 10am to 4pm networked from London, but most people listening at that time are at work and they're only listening passively. They just want the music to keep them going through the day, they don't need locality as much. It's just a big shame that some brilliantly talented presenters are falling foul of cutbacks, but yes, radio has to evolve and that's the price to pay i suppose. It's a sign of the times sadly."
How much do things differ then from presenting on your local student radio station and presenting for Baurer Media?
"Oh massively. Typical student radio would be when you rock up with a hangover, dive head first into what's likely to be an unplanned show and just go with it. But the great thing about student radio is that that's where you can try things, develop ideas and find out what style suits you best. over the past few years it's been the training ground for some of the biggest broadcasters in the uk, so student radio let's people develop so they're ready to take on the big wide world of professional radio - like Baurer, like Global and like the BBC."
Presumeable with access to more funds, your radio presenting jobs have access to much more advanced equiptment?
"Oh yeah definitely, this is the Capital studio in London:
In professional radio, it's got to be workable and there can't be a risk that it's going to cut out (like it did often for us on student radio). Plus there's a whole lot more equipment involved in that you're going out on FM and digital radio, rather than just streaming online like we did on my student radio station (Fly)."
So what you're saying is that through the advancement of digital radio, the radio itself has had to become much more innovative with the equiptment it does have?
"Hmm, not necessarily. The development of digital radio has seen more of a change for the consumer and the audience than it has for the stations themselves. The studios are much the same, but rather than listening on a clapped out fm radio, people are listening on an iPhone, or a digital radio that's of a better quality. There's not much difference for the stations apart from the odd bit of equipment in the studio and a different transmitter"
So you've not really seen that much change in forms of the equiptment used? More so change in the way your program is listened?
"Yes, but i've only ever really been involved in radio in the digital radio age. I'm sure if you stuck someone who was broadcasting in the 80s in a modern studio they'd notice a huge difference, it's just developed over the years"
You've been lucky enough then to be at the pinical of radio presenting? Nothing really has changed in the past 3 years?
"Well, things will change. there's huge debate already over whether the future of the uk radio industry lies in DAB radio and there are other formats and platforms in use all over world that could potentially be better. you can't underestimate how much people use smart phones now too - they're a big part of radio's future. Basically, you have fm, which is old school radio, tuning in in your car, etc etc. or now you have DAB, which is one type of digital radio but it's what a lot of people mean when they refer to digital radio in this country. But there are more forms of 'digital radio', like on your phone, on the internet etc, etc"
So do you think that the future lies with digital radio (DAB) or an alternate form?
"Well that is THE BIG QUESTION. But it's likely to be DAB here in the UK - a huge part of radio listening is done in cars. The government want us all to switch over to DAB in 2015 - like they've done with tv and we now all need freeview etc, etc. 2015 is probably a little ambitious, but a lot of car manufacturers have started fitting DAB radios in new cars as standard - Audi now do it as standard and i think Ford are about to do the same - so that's a very very big step towards us all going digital.
But there's a very big on going debate about this going on in the industry because a lot of people say DAB's not the best format and it's not really a step forward. There's something called DAB+ in use in some parts of Europe which is supposedly better quality (and doesn't cut out completely like DAB does sometimes when you lose signal). But once car manufacturers all jump on board with DAB, then that'll probably pave the way for that to be the way we consume radio for the foreseeable future."
SO THERE WE HAVE IT! Hope everyone had a great time reading this; Pete was a great sport and has given me some great things to talk about, i'll analyse his answers in my next blog.
Anyone who wants to hear him in action, click here!
A huge thank you to Pete Allison for all his help with this, all the best in the future!
Reference lists
Image from- http://www.apogeecorp.com/imgs/content/large-team-apogee-cheque-presentation.jpg
Student radio awards [online], found at: http://www.studentradioawards.co.uk/winners/jsqhdz accessed 18/1/12
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