John Russell's Inside Story of BRMB Radio

The Inside Story of BRMB RADIO
By John Russell - BRMB's first Programme Director

I was delighted to receive a very generous email from John Russell, BRMB's first Programme Director offering the inside story of how BRMB was conceived and brought to life on Birmingham's airwaves in February 1974:

Dear Mike,

John Russell - BRMB Radio, Birmingham.

I suppose I know more about the early days both before and after the first transmissions of BRMB Radio than most and have only just discovered your web site which I read with great interest as BRMB Radio was so much a part of my life....I wrote a large part of the original application document when we were applying for the licence, certainly all the Programme Part. When we won the licence this formed the basis of the schedule which was so successful.

I was very lucky to recruit such a brilliant and enthusiastic team.

Annually I still lecture and teach in Hilversum, Holland at the Radio Nederland Training Centre despite being now 70.

The decline of Commercial Radio in UK and my old company BRMB Radio is due to a number of factors on which I have a view

With kind regards

John Russell
Former and First Programme Director of BRMB Radio

Here is John's fascinating story:

EARLY HISTORY OF BIRMINGHAM BROADCASTING LIMITED - BRMB RADIO

When Christopher Chattaway the Minister in the then Conservative Government announced that it was the Government’s intention to open up the radio spectrum to provide competition to the BBC several years after the same thing had happened with television, a number of individuals and groups expressed an interest.

Later a Bill was passed in Parliament and the bill stated that the new commercially funded radio stations would be known as Independent Local Radio – ILR and the Independent Television Authority would be renamed the Independent Broadcasting Authority and would be charged with setting up the system and awarding licenses. London would be unique with two licenses one station speech based which was awarded to LBC and one entertainment which was awarded to Capital Radio. Other early licenses would be awarded in Glasgow (won by Radio Clyde) Birmingham and Manchester (won by Piccadilly Radio)

The announcement of a station for Birmingham brought forth four groups and one of them was the mastermind of the Managing Director of the Birmingham Post and Mail group together with the local head of Associated Television (ATV.)

The Birmingham Post and Mail put up the seed corn money needed to prepare and put in for an application and promised further investment if the application was successful.

It was ATV which suggested the appointment of a Managing Director to prepare the application and suggested David Pinnell, who had worked in the Commercial Sales Department of ATV in London under Lew Grade. David Pinnell had left ATV to take up a post as Managing Director of Rhodesia Broadcasting

David Pinnell resigned from that post with Rhodesia Broadcasting when UDI was declared by Ian Smith. David who had fought with some distinction in the Second World War was fiercely loyal to Great Britain and the Crown and felt that he could not go against his country. He went to LM radio in Lorenzo Marques and also had business interests in South Africa. His commercial radio experience was almost entirely on the advertising side of the business he had little or no experience of the Programme side. He was brought back to Britain and Birmingham and ensconced in a secret office with a secretary on the directors’ floor of the Birmingham Post and Mail

David Pinnell shrewdly recognised his strengths in the commercial field and his weakness in programming. He was looking for someone to fill that gap and to write that vital side of the application in other words the programme content. He also needed someone who could explain and sell the schedule to the Members of the IBA most of whom had little or no experience of radio other than as listeners as they had been dealing with television.

I was working for The Forces Broadcasting Service in Cyprus in the post of Programme Organiser. I had first joined FBS (now renamed BFBS) as a National Service Soldier also in Cyprus where at the age of 19, I was an announcer. This was the time at the height of the EOKA insurrection against British Rule. Cyprus was a very dangerous place. I used to have a pile of records on one side of me and a loaded 38 Revolver on the other side. I managed to escape one assassination attempt and one ambush unscathed.

Prior to being called up into the army I had trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was intending on my return to Civvy Street to become an actor. My stint with forces broadcasting changed all that as I fell in love with radio.

On leaving the army I joined the BBC as a Studio Manager and sound effects man I worked on a number of light entertainment comedy shows as well as radio drama including soap operas. The title was rather grand the pay was abysmal.

I decided to leave the BBC and I rejoined FBS as a civilian announcer and was once again in Cyprus in time to be involved in the broadcast coverage of Independence Day in 1960.

I was rapidly promoted and was the Boss of my first radio station in Malta whilst still in my twenties. I subsequently was the Programme Organiser and for a time the Station Controller in Germany the jewel in the BFBS crown and was credited with changing the entire output of that station which had been stuck in a time warp for years. I met the woman who subsequently became my wife in Cologne the headquarters of Forces Broadcasting in Germany, when she came to work for me as my PA.

I was posted back to Cyprus again in 1971 as its Programme Organiser and was not allowed by the then Station Controller to change things as I had in Germany so by this time I felt it was time to move on after thirteen years with Forces Broadcasting..

My opportunity came when I read an article in the Sunday Times about the coming of Commercial Radio to Britain. I wrote to all the names in the article who were expressing interest including Hughie Green of “Opportunity Knocks” fame.

My letters to several consortia involved in bidding for licenses surprisingly brought forth rapid replies all of them wanting to see me. I was actually offered the same job by three groups one in London headed up by Lord Ted Willis (who wrote many TV series including the famous Dixon of Dock Green) his group was unsuccessful losing out to Capital Radio. Manchester headed up by Phillip Birch an ex Pirate radio head offered me the same job and was successful with Piccadilly Radio and finally David Pinnell in Birmingham.

Although David and I had never met he had heard about my experience and I knew of him through mutual contacts between Manx Radio and the then head of BFBS in the Middle East one Leslie Knight who was a friend of Richard Meyer head of Manx radio.

Whereas David Pinnell had excellent commercial broadcasting experience from the advertising side, I had considerable experience as both a Programme Organiser and Station Manager of BFBS, as its youngest Station Manager in BFBS. I knew a great deal about running small radio stations and managing creative broadcasters. I also had BBC experience and a rather better appreciation of engineering needs than David.

David was a character who had a bad habit of forgetting people’s names even members of his staff but he had a strong sense of social and community involvement and we clicked from the first meeting.

As I had also been in charge of BFBS Germany, the jewel in the BFBS Empire and had masterminded all the changes to that organisation I suddenly realised, to my surprise, that I had skills which all these applicant groups wanted. I decided to take the job in Birmingham.

When I resigned to join Birmingham Broadcasting the then head of BFBS world wide based in London told me that “I was selling my soul to the devil of commercialism” he tried to persuade me to stay as I was being “groomed to take over his job”. He believed I was making a grave mistake.

It was huge personal risk for both David Pinnell and I as we only had a six month contract, if we failed in the application bid we were both out of work.

I brought most of my experience from BFBS to Birmingham Broadcasting Ltd in the writing of the initial programme plans for the application. I had been both the Programme Organiser and Station Manager of small radio stations and all of this experience was useful both in setting up the company and later in selecting and training staff and managing a group of volatile presenters. I was appointed to the Board of the Company and am now the only surviving Executive Director of the original company. Many of the non executive directors including the Chairman John Parkinson are also deceased.

Most of the staff at the newspaper had no idea what was going on. We were only known to the Board of the Post and Mail and the editors with whom we had regular lunches. We were clandestine. Every piece of unwanted paper was shredded and nothing was leaked to our rivals. Our application document was only shown in its entirety to the main board just before we went for our interview with the IBA in London. We were paranoid about other groups the BBC or the press getting wind of what we were up to.

The night before our interview the directors had a dinner in the Hyde Park Hotel just round the corner from the IBA at which we decided on tactics. The next morning over breakfast we discovered to our amazement that the rival short listed group was staying in the same hotel! As we went into the IBA Headquarters, opposite Harrods we met the cleaner who said “oh you’ll get it the first ones in always do”

We were awarded the licence with caveats. The IBA did not like two directors from the newspaper on the board as they thought this was too much newspaper involvement. The MD of the Post and Mail had to step down, he was very upset as he had set it all up and backed the bid with a lot of money and paid David Pinnell and my wages but the finance director of the news paper Geoffrey Bateman stayed on. We were also required to take in one director from the losing group. Other Directors reflected the shareholdings by GKN, IMI, ATV, the Birmingham Co-Operative Society and Davenports Brewery all well known Birmingham Companies. Our Chairman was the Chairman of the Co-op and also the principal of Solihull Technical College – John Parkinson; he was very adept at negotiations with the IBA and had strong Socialist and Methodist views. He was an ideal choice.

After we won the licence I went off on an extensive tour of the USA and Australian radio stations. Several ideas which I learnt from that visit and from being attached to the Macquarie Group Group in Australia were subsequently incorporated in our programme schedule with which we went to air.

I think that David Pinnell brought a little radio knowledge from Manx Radio but in the main his extensive commercial experience came from ATV sales department and Rhodesia Broadcasting where he was the Managing Director. He had the commercial and business experience and knowledge which I lacked. My experience had been with “Public Service” radio and I had to acquire rapidly a commercial knowledge. David was highly respected in the industry and was a great personal guide and friend to me I valued him highly as my boss.

As part of our application document we commissioned two major researches, which I seem to recall were carried out by Gallup Pollsters.. This research was into a stratified sample of the population of Birmingham, what they listened to, what they wanted from Local radio and how they felt about the arrival of commercial radio i.e. advertising. We also found out why they did not like the local BBC radio station (BBC Radio Birmingham)

The second research was conducted with focus groups and I ran this and this went into types of music most liked etc. I had groups of people of different ages and different back grounds and played music to them and asked them to evaluate it. On the basis of these group I formulated our music policy

In addition I personally contacted almost every public service and voluntary organisation in Birmingham and discussed with these organisations and their staff how they could be involved and what they could contribute to a new radio station – these interviews we also reflected in the application document.

After winning the licence I revisited the organisations again with a view to using their talents, skills and knowledge. This involvement contributed to the rapid support which the station enjoyed from the decision makers in the community. These organisations were a valuable source of “experts” who from time to time took part in programmes. The Automobile Association supplied our Car Expert; Birmingham Parks Department supplied our Gardening Expert etc etc.

I appointed Sue Barker to reflect the needs of the community which she did with considerable success through an ever growing number of contacts. She introduced some of our campaigns such as one on lack of literacy in adults. The campaign was highly successful at attracting those who could not read or write to come forward for training. Sue Barker was both forceful and highly committed.

From the outset I was determined to reach out to the ethnic minorities and I introduced to our schedules “Geet Mala” the first Asian programme to be broadcast on Commercial radio. It attracted a wide audience amongst the Asian community ill served by radio. We also made money from Asian advertisers. I did not understand a word of it as it was broadcast in Hindi. I used to send recordings to other Asian communities outside our area to check up on what was being said!

Our black music programme on a Saturday night anchored by the late Erskine Thompson (known as Erskine T) was a huge success with the black audience as Erskine was widely known and respected in Birmingham - he also had an encyclopedic knowledge of all kinds of music and a huge personal record collection

As a company, we held monthly Director’s Lunches to which we invited disparate groups, politicians from opposing views, trade unionists and business men and women to a private buffet lunch with no waiters present so they could air their views openly. These lunches were a huge success and were a continuing part of winning the hearts and minds of the decision makers. They in turn supported us against criticism and also backed our licence renewal when the time came. It was all part of putting our roots down firmly into the Birmingham community.

Certainly the outstanding factor in our rapid success was the major contribution from the News Room. Due to the professionalism of the BRMB News team we established very close links with the Police, Fire and Ambulance services plus the local leaders of the council, trade unionists and leaders of business. In those days British Leyland was rarely out of the news it employed thousands and most of the employees and their families were our listeners. Colin Palmer with his distinctive voice was rarely away from the gates reporting on strikes and disputes. MPs and Local Councillors beat a path to our door. The NEC opened not long after we started broadcasting; we covered the opening and were involved in covering the many events there such as the Motor Show.

The BRMB news room and its style of broadcasting a mixture of local, national and international news on the hour every hour was the brain child of one Keith Hayes who had had extensive radio news experience in Canada although he was British. We gave him a seat on the Board of Directors.

He brought with him a former side kick from Canada as his deputy. He never fitted in to the Birmingham or British way of life and famously used to read the news turning all the money items into Dollars instead of Pounds. He also became immortal before he returned to Canada in suggesting that the Cub Reporter Sue Todd (my wife) “should go down to the law courts and chat up a judge as they like a bit of skirt”. She had great difficulty in persuading him that such a suggestion was illegal in UK

Keith Hayes hand picked and appointed a very talented News Team with one exception Rob Goulding who was a friend of mine and a longer friend of my wife who had known him since his days as a journalist with the Kent Messenger

One of the undoubted stars of BRMB news was Mike Henfield; his daily comment sometimes pithy, often humorous was a part of the Breakfast Programming which pulled in the huge audience. Like the racing tip for the day and the local weather, public service announcements etc this comment made the station different and relevant to our audience.

The Birmingham Pub Bombings put BRMB news into the forefront both locally and nationally as much of the News Coverage was broadcast over other radio stations both in the UK and abroad. During this period the station broadcast 24 hours per day and led eventually to constant twenty four hour coverage.

Other major news events such as the Leslie Whittle Murder, the disappearance of the MP and former Minister John Stonehouse, all established the station as a first place to tune for local, national and international news and our audience figures soared and reflected this. Our advertising revenue grew rapidly and our initial investment was recouped we moved from the red into the black and started paying dividends to our shareholders and bonuses to our staff.

More interestingly we received constant tip offs from members of the public – on one occasion we were tipped off about a councillor being admitted to hospital very drunk – our contact was the receptionist at the hospital. On one occasion a reporter arrived at the scene of a murder after a tip off from a listener, and on finding the body on the floor he beat a hasty retreat to wait for the arrival of the police.

I was “invited” to have lunch with the Deputy Chief Constable after a BRMB reporter arrived at a Bank Raid before the first police car. I was accused of allowing the company to monitor Police Radio frequencies – also illegal. A substantial contribution to the Birmingham, Police Benevolent fund brought no further action and we kept monitoring the frequencies.

However despite his contribution in setting up the News Room and its team, Keith Hayes was sacked as News Editor and Director of the company after appearing on the stage at a rally with members of the National Front. Brian Sheppard was appointed News Editor, but was not given a seat on the board of directors, neither were my successors when I left.

We built up a large fan club – these listeners would arrive at all BRMB events in force wearing our T shirts etc. I paid a group of students to have their Austin minis re-sprayed at our expense white with BRMB logos on the sides so it appeared that we as a company were everywhere. I paid the students a tank of petrol a month and gave them free tee shirts.

Our outside events were always attended with large crowds and we sponsored the City Of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. After some persuasion I persuaded them to put on concerts for the elderly, for children and Christmas concerts in the Birmingham Shopping Centre.

We sponsored the Lord Mayor’s procession and through an old army contact I arranged for, and the station paid for the procession to be led by the Band of The Household Cavalry. I knew the Musical Director, who asked me whether he wanted his band mounted or uncounted we settled on uncounted except for the giant horse in front with the Kettle drums.

Other highly successful promotions included the Larks in the Park (Cannon Hill Park Concerts), The Young Musician contest, The BRMB Bubble in the Shopping Centre, the Illiteracy campaign and the contest to find a new Rock Band - we were eventually beaten by Capitol radio.

At Christmas time the BRMB Radio Toy Bus collected toys from listeners for subsequent re-distribution to disadvantaged families. Personal appearances by our presenters often involved in live transmissions from a variety of locations meant that we were constantly on view.

Our Pancake Race down New Street against contestants from ATV, the news papers and the BBC with Tony Butler doing the commentary was a great crowd puller. After another convivial lunch with the Assistant Chief Constable and a further contribution to Police Funds I managed to persuade the Police to shut the road for half an hour. It caused chaos but we made the papers and all the TV news magazine programmes. Our team led by Nicky Steele won.

It appeared to the public that BRMB Radio was everywhere.

Local organisations approached us for coverage, interviews and announcements – we had to make choices due to time constraints and the need to link together the whole output with the music of the day.

I had always believed that Radio had to be seen as well as heard and I spent much of my time in the USA and Australia talking to those responsible for promoting successful radio stations visually. We became a household word in Birmingham and the Midlands. We appeared to be involved in everything.

Our distinctive jingles, loathed by the majority of the presenters but sung by most of the listeners I met, were composed on the kitchen table by Johnny Patrick and his wife Brenda with some input from me. Johnny Patrick was the Musical Director of ASTV and also the Chairman of the Musicians Union an organisation I needed on my side. Johnny Patrick arranged and led the recording session and I had no problems with the MU!

I have been asked whether our arrival on the Birmingham radio scene made the BBC Local station change its programme policy. I do not recall whether or not they changed their programming. It was not important to us – my challenge was in the main to draw the audience away from BBC National Radio. At the time BBC local radio only had a very small audience. If I had only captured that local audience we would have been sunk financially as it would not have been large enough to attract the advertisers locally and nationally.

I did upset the BBC though by leading all the BRMB cars into the front entrance of Pebble Mill just as Pebble Mill At One was being transmitted on National TV. The Programme was broad cast from the foyer of the BBC Midlands HQ.

The Commissionaires made the mistake of locking the gates behind so the viewers kept seeing our BRMB logo in the background for the entire programme. I was summoned to the Chairman of the IBA in London for a telling off for playing “childish pranks”. The Chairman of the BBC had complained. After the ritual telling off Lord Aylestone Chairman of the IBA winked and said he thought” it was a jolly good wheeze!”

Although our coverage area was much wider than Birmingham we tried to reach out to the whole target area and beyond partly through the news coverage. I am not sure that we always achieved this, but we were the only game in town commercially and we had rapidly overtaken BBC Radio Birmingham both in audience figures and loyalty. Our audience figures grew to the point where we exceeded those of BBC National radio. We were brash, commercial, Birmingham based and very popular.

I was determined to produce an overall distinctive station sound? Indeed, there were some very outspoken personalities on BRMB radio and there was a specific aim to let them develop their own style of presentation within that “sound”

I believe I hired presenters with not only engaging personalities but above all with brains so they did not sound like “I speak your weight machines”. Many of them were deeply rooted, born and brought up in Birmingham and those that did not have that background were encouraged to become part of the community and the area.

Kevin Morrison, Les Ross, Ed Doolan, David Jamieson, Nicky Steele, Robin Valk Brendan Kearney to name only a few had knowledge of the area, wit and above all the pulse of the Midlands. Tony Butler with his acerbic and controversial style was a huge success.

As mentioned previously, Mike Henfield with his daily comments were required listening, the racing tipster the rest of the sports team were all steeped in their subjects and relevance to Birmingham and the Midlands.

I controlled the style of all presentation and the overall sound but the presenters, sports team and the news room were encouraged within those boundaries to develop their own style which was a major factor in the success of the station and the way it and they connected with the audience.

In my view the path of over formatted sound often produced centrally for a group of radio stations presented by anodyne presenters was and is a grave mistake and has contributed to the decline of commercial radio today.

Of course in the light of experience, I made changes it was part of the evolution of the output although it is also true that we did go through a difficult financial patch in our first year and redundancies had to be made. The afternoon Phone In with Alan Leighton who billed himself as Britain only Male Agony Column Aunt was dropped on cost grounds. However due to remarks he made on air his programme was taken off the air at very short notice prior to the end of his contractual period. My decision was controversial as he had many loyal followers. They paraded daily outside the studios with banners. We had a lot of coverage about this departure in the local press who subsequently also dropped him as a columnist.

The personal problem phone in on a Sunday Night was anchored by a Priest I had got the idea from my visit to Australia was dropped as I felt it had run its course. The fortune teller I also dropped and she was very angry. Someone remarked “if she had been that good she should have seen it coming!”

I used to have deal with a vast mail bag to all presenters and letters to the programme department - some of them critical, some praiseworthy and many about Tony Butler and his style – the audience loved him or hated him but they kept listening
We were deluged with constant phone calls to the news room with tip offs. Our reporters noted that when interviewing members of the public on the phone all too often they had to ask the listener to turn off the radio momentarily as it was tuned to BRMB and would result in “howl round”.

After a year I knew we were a success and had captured the hearts and minds of the Birmingham public when I took a taxi to or from New Street Station; the cabbie was always tuned in to BRMB.

The Programme Department took over the responsibility for features as I wanted a different style and I wanted the News room to concentrate on news and News Specials such as the Leslie Whittle Murder, The Birmingham Pub Bombings etc. Inevitably there were overlaps and sometimes disagreements between the News Editor Brian Sheppard and myself as the Programme Director – but in the end I was responsible and I sat on the Board. I had the last word on all matters concerning output except for the News Content which was the responsibility of the News Editor.

If the programming schedule failed we would have no advertisers and we would fail as a company. My duty was to provide a successful platform to attract the advertisers and the profits. I believe I achieved that with the style, the schedule and above all the talented staff.

As the Programme Director I was responsible to the Board for all matters concerning the output, including the music policy. The music policy was as a result of our pre application research. Martyn Sutton was employed to carry out that policy something which he did with considerable ability. The Evening Programming mainly rock was selected and introduced by Robin Valk as was the Black Music by Erskine Thompson and the Asian Music by Taj Hasnain. The concepts again were mine.

Although initially we used to close down at midnight we eventually ran round the clock. We had always said we would go 24 hours as I believed that radio should be like water from a tap always available. Our only problem was waiting for the revenue to catch up so we could afford the extra staff necessary. The Birmingham Pub Bombings and our twenty four hour coverage at that time was a major factor in bringing the decision to go for round the clock transmission earlier than we had intended. Twenty four hour coverage added to our popularity if not our revenue as we reached all the night shift workers. Those working in hospitals the police and fire and ambulance gave our overnight news staff even more tip offs.

Les Ross was and is one of the radio stars of Birmingham. I was aware of his talent when I first arrived in the city.

Les Ross approached me before the launch of the station, but whilst I recognised his prodigious talent and knowledge of Birmingham he was too much associated with BBC Radio Birmingham. I wanted to launch with a complete different approach and presenter for the Breakfast Show. I told him to go away and get some Commercial Radio experience outside the Midlands and one day I would call him back. He went to Radio Tees and I did call him back. I offered him a job over Sunday lunch at my home. I never regretted that.

His later recall to the BBC is another example of how Commercial Radio in general and BRMB in particular have lost its way in recent years. Les Ross I rate as one of the great talents of BRMB radio. Along with Ed Doolan and Tony Butler they are all a major gain for BBC Midlands and a huge loss to BRMB radio and part of the reason for the station’s decline.

I left the company in 1980 to join a group applying for the licence in Bristol. Had we won I would have been the Managing Director, we did not win and I was out of a job until it was suggested that I should take over as MD of Radio Victory in Portsmouth. I succeeded in turning that ailing radio station round but was frankly bored and started to be interested in Cable TV and I parted company with Radio Victory.

Subsequently I formed my own consultancy company and only wound that up when I left UK to settle in Cyprus. I still lecture and teach in Holland to broadcasters and journalists from Developing Countries, this has enabled me to keep up to date with new technology whilst giving back something to a profession which has given me so much throughout my life time.

During my time and for some years afterwards BRMB Radio was as much a part of the community as Aston Villa and the Bull Ring. The IBA could not possibly have removed the licence when it came up for renewal. It was taken over by the Capital radio Group later GCap and started to lose its unique identity. Sadly the station is now in decline not just due to increasing competition but due to losing that identity set by the local involvement and in particular the news room. It is the same story around the UK with other commercial radio stations..

Another major factor in the decline of all commercial radio now is due to MP3s, I-Pods and the Internet. In my view this decline will continue. Today’s audience has so many other sources of news and music entertainment including delivery to their Mobile Phones. There were no MP3s. I Pods, mobile phones, PCs in the home, Satellite and Cable TV when BRMB launched.

I controlled the sound and dictated the schedule of BRMB Radio. Today’s listener is his own Programme Director obtaining his music, entertainment news at will from a myriad of sources. All media is hunting for audiences and revenue and in many cases failing as the communication revolution rolls on.

IN CONCLUSION

I was enormously proud to be in at the beginning not only of BRMB Radio but also a founder of Commercial Radio in the UK. After a previous career mainly abroad, I felt that I had come home to create something in my own country which was new and challenged the established order. I liked the fact that I was taking on my early employer the BBC.

At one stage the Head of Radio BBC even tried to woo me back to the Corporation from BRMB to run BBC Radio Nottingham. I recall that the interview seemed to be dominated by the Chairman of their Advisory Committee who was also the local head of the Women’s Institute – she did not take kindly to my suggestion that one hour per day devoted to WI affairs was somewhat excessive and opening and closing the programme with a rendition of “Jerusalem” by their choir was a turn off.

Clearly the radio climate today and all forms of communication have changed radically. Audience needs have changed and the method of delivery of news and entertainment has altered dramatically. In some ways it is a pity that most of this change has been brought about not by the Programme Directors, programme makers, the presenters and the performers but by the technical advances and changes in means of delivery and reception of media. The changes are technology led.

Local Commercial Radio today is hardly local any more; it is dominated by large companies led by accountants with syndication driving down and dumming down of local output and in my view driving away audiences. Until recently I was a shareholder of GCap Radio which took over BRMB Radio and which itself has now been taken over. GCap Radio’s annual reports made depressing reading. They had lost audiences, revenue and their way.

I started my career some fifty years ago when I came into broadcasting as a radio announcer in Army Uniform followed by a spell with the BBC as a sound effects man. As I enjoy my seventieth year, I feel I am no longer part of broadcasting but part of the greater challenge of communications in all its new and emerging forms.

I am very proud to have been in at the start of BRMB Radio, to have contributed to its success and to have found, engaged and encouraged so many talented, committed and intelligent presenters. From my village in Cyprus I look back on those days with huge amount of affection and a little pride and thankfully with still a reasonable memory of those unique times.

The future of radio and television broadcasting, new media, the internet, broadband and all the other forms of communication is a fascinating challenge but alas it is for others much younger to take up. I am part of yesterday’s challenges and decision making whilst being merely a recipient of todays.

* * *

One of the things I learned during my career was that all the presenters wanted my job and thought that they could do the job far better than I could! Maybe they could have done, but they did not hold down the role.

I think they thought it was about more money, a company car, long lunches, secretaries etc etc most of which was true. The down side was the responsibility round the clock seven days a week, you could never get away from the station and its output except by going abroad. You took all the complaints from the other departments, from listeners, the Board of Directors, the IBA. You were a father confessor, a benevolent dictator, a confident, a marriage guidance counsellor, an arbiter of taste, a trainer, an innovator and a brake all rolled into one. It was rather like constantly walking on egg shells.

It was both a delight as a job and a killer with the hours and responsibility. All the presentation staff looked to me for praise and hated criticism and came to me with their personal problems. It was a lonely role as the Programme Director has virtually no one to turn to for his guidance. I was lucky to have a Managing Director who trusted me and a wife who understood and encouraged me.

John Russell
November 2008

Above photographs: John Russell.
BRMB Radio, Birmingham.
(Courtesy Keith Brown)

	John Russell 1938 to 2009 I was extremely saddened to learn that we lost John Russell on 6th October 2009. Brian Sheppard sent me this note: Hi, I have heard from an old BRMB colleague that John has died at his home in Cyprus. Read his account of BRMB's early days - a time when I was News Editor after the departure of Keith Hayes. Regards Brian Sheppard News Editor BRMB 1974 - 1990 Our thoughts are with John's family.

	From The Birmingham Post and Mail newspaper: BRMB pioneer dies in Cyprus aged 71 Oct 9 2009 by Graham Young, Birmingham Post BRMB’s first programme director who helped shape the careers of Les Ross, Tony Butler, Robin Valk, Brian Savin and the late Nicky Steele, has died, it was announced yesterday. John Russell, a pioneer of radio phone-ins in the UK, died of cancer in Cyprus, aged 71. Other DJs signed by Mr Russell included Ed Doolan, who was brought over from Germany for BRMB’s first day on air – February 19, 1974. Like Les Ross, Doolan went on to be made an MBE and to become one of the first 40 broadcasters to be inducted into the Radio Academy’s Hall of Fame. Currently hosting the BBC WM lunchtime show, Ed Doolan said: “I owe everything to John Russell – he took a chance on me and, believe me, it was a chance. “He was a very tough manager. You only realise later that he was also fair.” Mike Owen, who became programme controller after being given his first job by Mr Russell, added: “It was John’s inspiration that created the first agony phone-ins on UK radio. “Innovation was the order of those early years and so many of us have a lot to thank John for.” Mr Russell helped BRMB to win the licence in 1973, when the Birmingham Post & Mail was a major shareholder. He retired to Cyprus with his wife, Sue Todd, who kept her maiden name and will be remembered in Birmingham for her PR and marketing work with Graham Rote and Associates. Declaring in a 1979 interview with the Birmingham Post that she objected to being called Mrs Russell, Sue said of her RADA-trained husband: “He is really a frustrated actor. When he reads a ghost story late at night for BRMB, I must confess he’s good enough to make me feel jumpy when the floorboards creak.” After leaving RADA for National Service, Mr Russell fell in love with radio as a 19-year-old announcer with British Forces Broadcasting in Cyprus. He was on the roof of Government House for the island’s independence in August, 1960. After leaving BRMB in 1980, Mr Russell became managing director of Radio Victory in Portsmouth and was the first head of programming for the National Broadcasting School. More recently he had been working in Holland with the Radio Netherland Training Centre. Mr Russell is survived by Sue and their son, Benjamin, as well as children Cherry-Anne and Damon by his first marriage. His funeral will be held tomorrow in Ayios Therapon, Cyprus. On the website www.mds975.co.uk there’s an email from Mr Russell called The Inside Story of BRMB, posted by the site’s radio enthusiast, Mike Smith. Writing late last year, Mr Russell reflected: “I was enormously proud to be in at the beginning not only of BRMB, but also a founder of commercial radio in the UK.” But he added: “Local commercial radio today is hardly local any more. It is dominated by large companies led by accountants with syndication driving down and dumbing down local output. “In my view, the path of over-formatted sound, often produced centrally for a group of radio stations was and is a grave mistake.” http://www.birminghampost.net http://www.birminghampost.net/news/west-midlands-news/2009/10/09/brmb-pioneer-dies-in-cyprus-aged-71-65233-24888258/

	From Jonathan Marks: Tribute to John V. Russell - BFBS & BRMB I was very saddened to hear that pioneer broadcaster and friend John Russell had passed away suddenly at his home in Cyprus on 6th October 2009. I met him several times when he came to Hilversum to run courses for the Radio Netherlands Training Centre. A few years back I visited his home on the island to meet him and his wife Sue. We started chatting about his great radio career and I decided this was material that we should share with others - so out came the camera. What I have posted here (in two parts) are sections of the interview recorded that afternoon, where John shared a lot of wisdom about what works and doesn't work in radio. Through the training work he did in later years, many students owe their careers to John. His wit, wisdom and authenticity was a great gift and I hope this video will inspire others as much as it inspired me. John was truly one of the Masters of the Media. John V. Russell Tribute Part 1 from Jonathan Marks on Vimeo. John V. Russell Tribute Part 2 from Jonathan Marks on Vimeo. http://criticaldistance.blogspot.com/2009/10/trubute-to-john-v-russell-bfbs-brmb.html

	From Radio Today with RCS: BRMB's original director dies John Russell, BRMB’s first programme director and a pioneer of radio phone-ins in the UK has died aged 71. Russell helped kickstart the careers of broadcasters like Ed Doolan and Nicky Steele. Talking to the Birmingham Mail, Doolan said: ““I owe everything to John Russell – he took a chance on me and, believe me, it was a chance.” Russell helped BRMB to win their first licence in 1973. After leaving BRMB in 1980, Mr Russell became managing director of Radio Victory in Portsmouth and was the first head of programming for the National Broadcasting School. Writing late last year, Mr Russell reflected: “I was enormously proud to be in at the beginning not only of BRMB, but also a founder of commercial radio in the UK.” http://radiotoday.co.uk