InterviewOne on One

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22 2nd - 8th December 2010 - Issue 971

Neil Henderson canbe contacted:

neil@theradiomagazine.co.uk

Q. JJoonnnnyy,, SSppoorrttssmmeeddiiaa hhaass bbeeeenn iinnooppeerraattiioonn ffoorr oovveerr 2200 yyeeaarrss.. YYoouurrssppoorrttss bbuulllleettiinnss aarree eexxppaannddiinngg ttoommoorree ssttaattiioonnss.. YYoouu sseeeemm ttoo bbeebbeenneeffiittiinngg ffrroomm aa sslliimmmmeedd ddoowwnnrraaddiioo iinndduussttrryy??A. Radio’s gone through manychanges since Sportsmedia begandelivering bulletins, by market forcesor through regulatory change. Butquality content which distinguisheseach station’s point of difference tothe listener, will always be in demand.While stations may have similarmusic playlists, they need todemonstrate their commitment tothe communities they serve - all thetime.What better way than localsport to do that? Ofcom’s decisionto allow radio groups to broadcastfrom outside the towns they’rebroadcasting to, certainly helps in theshort term as the recession bites –but stations should always rememberthat market forces govern a station’ssuccess and the more local a stationseems, the more it can beat off itsregional and nationally driven rivals.Q. WWhhaatt hhaavvee bbeeeenn yyoouurr ppeerrssoonnaallhhiigghhlliigghhttss aatt SSppoorrttssmmeeddiiaa iinn tthhaattttiimmee??A. Breaking through the 100 stationbarrier in 2007 with the Classic GoldNetwork was affirmation of ourbusiness model.That relationship hasbeen built on by Global Radio sincethey took it over. Now our sportsand finance bulletins are a dailyfeature of Gold Radio across thecountry. Richard Park, Ashley Taborand the team at Global are greatpartners and we’re delighted to havebrought a new form of sponsorshipand PR to the industry’s mostimportant group.

Being live on-site at major sportsevents is another biggie. Sportsmediaserved talkSPORT, LBC, BBC localstations and of course our network,

led by Gold Radio and Jazz FM fromthe SPAR European Championshipsin Barcelona during the summer.

Going right back to the start; Iknew I was on to something whenSave & Prosper becameSportsmedia’s first client back in1992. It wasn’t any old sports event:it was South Africa’s first ever Rugbyinternational since apartheid waslifted as they faced England atTwickenham.

Long-term friendships we’ve madethroughout the radio industrythrough the years will always be ahighlight for me. Our relationshipshave a habit of lasting many years –and by definition of the work thatgoes into them, they always seem tostay fresh.Q. YYoouu wweerree kknnoowwnn oorriiggiinnaallllyy ffoorrssttaaffffiinngg mmaajjoorr ssppoorrttiinngg eevveennttss aannddrreeppoorrttiinngg ffoorr mmaajjoorr ssttaattiioonnss.. HHoowwhhaavvee yyoouu hhaadd ttoo cchhaannggee tthhee wwaayy yyoouuwwoorrkk iinn tthhee ddiiggiittaall aaggee??A. The digital age led to theemergence of more national andregional networks. Our services onDAB and AM are effectively acrossthe whole country, so the need tobroadcast from a centralisednewsroom has become even moreimportant.When we welcome newFM stations to our network as we’vedone recently with Total Star andTouch FM, it means we’rebroadcasting to a critical mass ofaudience in most of those areas ofthe country.

When we moved office and studios

Jonny Gould

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The Radio Magazine 23

One on One

in 2006, it was an opportunity tocreate a new digital distributionsystem. Using FTP, MP3 and email aswell as live ISDN, means we can getmore content out faster, further andto a much, much bigger audiencethan we used to.Q. HHooww ddoo yyoouu ddoo bbeessppookkee ssppoorrttssbbuulllleettiinnss ffoorr ssoo mmaannyy ssttaattiioonnss tthheesseeddaayyss??A. With the continuing commitmentof my dedicated staff. Every bulletinhas to serve the audience locally – ordemographically.The style of deliveryon Jazz FM is subtly different to thatof Gold Radio. Editorially, we’reabsolutely committed to localisingfootball lines to The Eagle – just asmuch as we are to lead bulletins onJazz with cricket and rugby, instead offootball.We have reporters writinglocal and nationals from 5am everymorning at Sportsmedia.Q. RRaaddiioo hhaass bbeeeenn yyoouurr ffiirrsstt lloovvee ffoorrmmaannyy yyeeaarrss.. DDoo yyoouu mmiissss tthhee cchhaanncceettoo hhaavvee aa ddaaiillyy sshhooww??A. Desperately! I’m the supersub attalkSPORT, wearing the number 12shirt in an eleven-a-side team! Butwhen I get the chance to present, it’sgreat to be a part of it. I admire theway UTV have built talkSPORT into afantastic sponsor-driven business.They’ve shown there’s more thanone way to skin a cat in UK radio. I’vestood in for Ian Collins, Danny Kellyand Andy Goldstein this year and I’drelish the challenge of a daily show ifit ever came along.Q. YYoouu wweerree oonnee ooff tthhee ppiioonneeeerrss ooffppllaacciinngg ssppoonnssoorrss mmeessssaaggeess iinnttoo ssppoorrttssbbuulllleettiinnss aanndd rreeppoorrttss.. DDoo yyoouu tthhiinnkktthhiiss iiss ggooiinngg ttoo bbeeccoommeeccoommmmoonnppllaaccee wwiitthh tthhee rreellaaxxaattiioonn ooffpprroodduucctt ppllaacceemmeenntt rruulleess bbyy OOffccoomm??A. Yes. Ofcom have been right tocarefully relax the rules while keepingone eye on serving the listener too.But they need to ease up as the

recession threatens the viability of somuch of the industry. Some mightthink I’d be the arch advocator of atotal free for all on-air – but thatwould be to misunderstand whatsponsor-funded content should beabout. Sportsmedia’s always beenabout the opportunity to bringquality content to the appropriatelistener, which wouldn’t be possiblewithout the support of a sponsor.When you strike the right balancebetween the needs of the listenerand a sponsor is when you have atriffic service. Besides the hand ofregulation establishes a value to yourservice.Q. YYoouu''rree aallssoo ddooiinngg bbuussiinneessssbbuulllleettiinnss ffoorr rraaddiioo ssttaattiioonnss.. HHaavveetthheessee bbeeccoommee mmoorree ssiiggnniiffiiccaanntt ssiinncceetthhee rreecceessssiioonn??A. Yeah, we launched Business in2007, when the markets startedgetting hairy and spiralling Americanhouse prices signalled the emergenceof the credit crunch. Economic newssuddenly led main news bulletins, so itwas a great moment to get involved.Our Finance News bulletins are nowan established part of our newsroomand we’re committed long-term togrowing it.Q. WWhhoo wwoouulldd bbee iinn yyoouurr rraaddiiooddrreeaamm tteeaamm lliivviinngg oorr ddeeaadd??A. Fearne Cotton,Tony Blackburn,David Prever, Peter Young and SteveWright at the height of his afternoonRadio 1 powers would be on. Unsurehow Tony Butler would be included ina station beyond the West Midlands,but he was too groundbreaking toignore. He’d be in too.

Ed Adoo would keep it real with aSaturday night dance show. JezWelham would make the cut.

10pm to 1am weekdays would be aphone show and there’s only oneman to do that. Kelvin McKenzie.We’d get complaints.That’s

affirmation that we’d be getting itright! There’d have to be someRobbie Vincent action too. He coulddo midday through 2pm phones. LesDawson would have made a greatradio presenter. “Knickers, knackers,knockers with Les” would have beenideal Sunday morning fayre

My football show would haveCapital Gold’s Jonathan Pearceleading a commentary team of PeterJones, Bryon Butler and Steve Wilson.Studio presenters would be MarkSaggers, Hawksbee and Jacobs andyours truly!

Mike Costello is the best boxingreporter I’ve ever worked with. Sowe’d have boxing!

Pete Wagstaff would be programmedirector. His principles of serving alocal audience and his simple rulesgoverning EVERYTHING fromtimechecks, not saying thank you to acolleague on-air – and even the orderthat you reported roads in the trafficnews were brilliant (localWolverhampton roads first,WestMids routes from there andMotorways if there was time becausethose guys were only passing throughthe area and of least importance). Hewas my PC at Beacon in the 80’s.Outstanding. Pete pick that scheduleup!

My newsreading team would beHoward Hughes, Jon Davies andSandy Warr. Nick Wheeler would bemy news editor.

We’d return a year one profit ofover a million pounds on a turnoverof 5million! Reading this back, I knowmy station’s a bit ecletic and you’dneed 28 hours a day to schedule it.So may I suggest it’s a public service,to be known as BBC Radio 8 Mate!And not forgetting my chief editorJonny Hart!

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