My first proper radio experience came in 2001 on Hospital Radio, this was before the days of Community Radio stations in every other town, If you wanted experience back then you tried your luck trying to get lucky and get work experience at a local commercial radio station or you went and did some hospital radio, and that’s what I did.

Starting out in Manchester in 2001 at ‘MHR – Manchester Hospital Radio’ from St Mary’s Hospital,  It was an eye opening experience for me, I’d joined at a time when the station was on it’s last legs, struggling for volunteers and no income the place seemed to be crumbling around me, But as I didn’t know any better at the time, I got the bus down there every Saturday afternoon to host the sports show, which comprised of me reading results as they came in from actual teletext (ask your parents) and some cool music.

MHR Clip

2002 – 2006

A satisfying switch over to Birch Radio came in early 2002, It was based in Rochdale at the old Birch Hill Hospital, The station was much further away and a lot harder to get to given the added 2 buses I had to get each week, It was a fairly large team with a great atmosphere, quite well funded compared to the previous one and in 2003 I got my first taste of FM Radio as Birch Radio conducted a 30-day RSL.  I had the big responsibility of the 12-2pm slot, It was a big deal for 17 year-old me back then.  We all had loads of fun, went out on roadshows, doing live events and it certainly gave me a solid knowledge of how to work well in a small radio station team, motivating everyone and keeping standards professionally high.