I started my journalistic career at Marcher Sound/MFM in North Wales after being told by my college tutor that I should read radio news bulletins as my shorthand was far too abysmal to be a newspaper reporter.  But he reckoned my redeeming feature was my voice and ability to write short factual stories – in short I can type and speak!

I joined Marcher Sound/MFM straight out of college in the late 1980s and was lucky enough to be given the opportunity to cover stories such as the kidnapping and subsequent murder of 15 year old Anna Humphries in Penley along with the use of forensic science to catch her murderer David Evans who had fled to France.  

By 1989 I wanted the challenge of a more newsworthy patch to cover so moved to Signal in Stoke on Trent.  There I covered the attempted murder of the former Governor of Gibraltar Sir Peter Terry in Stafford and the death of racing legend Red Rum at his stables in South Cheshire.  I was also able to interview Denise Morse, who made national headlines in 1988. Having fought leukaemia for 18 months, she knew she could die any day, but decided to spend the remainder of her life fund-raising for the British Bone Marrow Donor Appeal - a decision that nearly destroyed her family as they lived in the relentless glare of publicity. Denise died in February 1989.

In 1993 the legendary John Myers fulfilled a dream of mine by employing me to set up the news operation at his first radio station launch, CFM in Carlisle.  I spent eight happy years in Cumbria while John went on to become one of the leading lights in the radio industry today.  I, meanwhile, learned to live happily alongside the sheep.  In a platonic sense you understand.  I also wore a lot of woolly jumpers.

2001 saw me move south to Oldham where I gave up many a night’s sleep to cover the riots in the town.  96.2 The Revolution’s highly acclaimed coverage of the violence led to me being invited to address a Radio Academy debate entitled “After Oldham”  at the then G-Mex Centre -  a discussion of the effects the riots had on the town, its people and its economy. A proportion of The Revolutions audio was requested and used by Channel Five for a documentary on the riots.. 

96.2 The Revolution also provided me with the opportunity to cover the Shipman Inquiry – the investigation into the Hyde based GP who managed to kill more than 200 of his elderly patients before being finally brought to justice. Personally I was also delighted to get the opportunity to interview one of my heroes John Paul Jones, the bass player from Led Zeppelin,

Following 96.2 The Revolution I  took a break form the freelance world and spent eighteen months heading up the news output at a community station Tameside Radio in Ashton-under-Lyne.  There I’ve had the pleasure of indulging in my fondness for in-depth features as well as sourcing, reading and producing local news bulletins. I've Also had the pleasure of interviewing Terry Waite and Dr Chris Steele.

The last twenty five years of my life have been spent working as a trainee, radio journalist and News Editor at some of the best independent radio stations of their time.

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Lets see what the the next 25 years bring.