The winds of change by Darryl Morris
The blog took an unexpected break last week due to work commitments. Mainly thanks to XFM’s Drivetime presenter and former Inspiral Carpet Clint Boon bringing a new little baby into the world. Congratulations to Clint and Charlie and welcome little Cassius Rudy Boon.
The two weeks of Easter that included my first substantial outing on an actual radio station, community RSL Roots FM and my visit to BBC Radio Manchester passed in a flash. It was not only a taster of how the BBC worked, it was also a great chance to see how community radio happens. It was only two weeks but the spirit was fantastic, everything that gets a person into radio in the first place was on show.
I mentioned in the last blog that Roots FM was, unbeknown me to at the time, a warm up for something bigger. A full time community radio licence was up for grabs in Bolton the following year and for the first time in 10 years it started to look like something more substantial could be achieved. 10 years previous a group of people came together and bid for a licence to run a radio station on a full time basis. This bid was lost to a different group of people who ultimately sold it to a bigger company, resulting in Bolton’s commercial radio station Tower FM. At the heart of that group were Dorothy and Alan Martland who went on to set up DBBC Bolton Market Radio; training radio broadcasting skills and ultimately keeping the dream alive. Frank While was also involved. Frank spent time as an MP and local councillor and is now at the heart of the new generation of radio in Bolton. Ten years after one crushing defeat they where determined not to see it happen again.
DBBC ran various RSL’s over the years all of which proving this groups ability to run a station. With a hand picked board of directors in place, each bringing an area of knowledge from business to social gain, the bid was ready to be written. The plan was to run a community radio station that serviced the town in ways others didn’t. Not run by a big corporate company, not based outside of the town, not having Bolton as a small part of a bigger remit but something that was true, honest and 100% Bolton.
Fine business brains where in place to ensure commercial viability. If the station can’t keep the money flowing it simply won’t work. Committed community workers to keep an eye on the social gain, ensuring it fulfilled its promise of service to those un-served. Dorothy, Alan and Frank at the heart of the project driving a passion that’s been burning within them for 10 years or more into real fruition. A dream team and a dream idea. If this was to come off, it would be huge. With endless cut backs and many stations appearing as bland soundboards, Bolton FM would stand out and achieve what everybody believed radio should achieve. Oh, by the way, that was the decided name: Bolton FM. What else? The bid was written and rewritten. The deadline approached. Dorothy boarded a train to London and hand delivered the document to Ofcom.
I wasn’t actively involved in this process. I was merrily doing my thing with BBC Radio Manchester. I helped on outside broadcasts as a runner. All unpaid. Showing my worth and developing skills. Most of this work was at the weekends and with this in mind, I decided to step back from Bolton Market Radio. A hand full of new faces had emerged from the success of Roots FM and I felt it was a good time to step things up a gear while giving those a chance to get in the studio. So with an emotional play of James Blunt’s “Goodbye my lover” and a final handover to Andy Haslam, my year on BMR came to a close. It was emotional. I won’t lie. I knew that I wouldn’t be away too long, Bolton FM was an exiting prospect on the horizon, but I had other things to do first.
It was a producer at BBC Radio Manchester called Rebecca Kelly who I worked with most. She produced Alan Beswick’s show at the weekend, Tony Wilson’s Saturday show ‘Talk of the Town’, ‘Flashback’ with Andy Craine and occasionally Andy’s Sunday show from the Lowry. One of my first shifts as a runner was on legendary broadcaster Tony Wilson’s ‘Talk of the Town’. A chat show with a few guests live from Manchester’s iconic Corner Café. The show started at 9am so it was a 6am start that morning. I caught the 10 o’clock news before going to bed, but what I saw kept me awake a little longer. Tony had been unwell with cancer and had died that Friday morning. I couldn’t get hold of Rebecca but knew she’d be in early. I sent her an email first thing asking what the plan was. She emailed back and said that days show was to be hosted by Martin Kelner and that I was still welcome to come. I wanted to, of course, but what a strange first outing that was going to be. The mood was actually quite upbeat; a celebration of his life. I did well and proved I could handle the environment. I also think Rebecca was glad of the help, in whatever form it came. More shifts followed and I was eventually offered a small role researching for Andy Craine’s ‘Flashback’. This was a show that took a look at two years in history with music and extracts from the news; a nice simple idea that worked quite well. The latter part was my job.
I had to go to Central Library in Manchester once a week and collect interesting stories from the Manchester Evening News for Andy to read and in most cases laugh about. It was actually quite an unpleasant job but I was keen to show I could be an asset and most importantly it was something regular with the BBC.
Meanwhile, the date was approaching for confirmation of the community licence and who was going to get it. Before a decision came through a director of training was appointed and a station manager put in place. The office next door to DBBC was acquired as studio space and a physical presence was developed to back the dream with some substance. This was bound to help with the bid but it was a tense time in waiting. Anything other than a victory was, at the time, unimaginable. The passion, love, desire, work and effort couldn’t be wasted, could it…?
To be continued…