Meet...

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A fireman because they were just cool and I liked trucks and blue flashing lights!

How did you get into the media?

I was doing my Duke of Edinburgh and I needed to find a community project.  My parents saw an advert for hospital radio and I was already studying sound at school so at 14, I started working Friday nights for hospital radio.  A couple of the people there also worked in local radio in Aylesbury so I then started working on Saturday afternoons there.  I was running – making tea, answering the phone etc.  For hospital radio, I was presenting, taking patients requests and playing (actual!) records.  Although you would often be playing the same record over and over again, it was great coz you were playing the records for the patients and not for you.  It was really rewarding because we were helping to put a smile on their face while they were in hospital – you become their friend and you might be the only person they’ve seen in a week. 

At that stage, I twigged that this would be the direction I would take which was great as it meant I could pitch my A Levels accordingly.  I had a fairly clear idea of what I wanted to do at about 14/15.

Then I did Broadcast Engineering at Liverpool and was involved in BBC Radio Merseyside and the student radio station. My fist job was actually in TV and I quickly moved over from BBC Parliament to Sky which is where I still am now, working as a Technical Director.

What do you do when you’re not working?

I’m an ambulance technician with St John’s Ambulance.  It mainly involves sitting on the touchline of Brentford Football Club but we work very closely with the London Ambulance Service so sometimes take their calls for them. 

How often do you do that?

Generally around 15/20 hours a month but it depends on shifts - they’re pretty flexible with me.

Anything else?

I used to sing with the London Philomonic but I had to give that up as I couldn’t get to all of the rehearsals. 

Every other week I do production stuff for my church (HTB) – I help out with sound, visuals etc.  Again, they don’t put too much pressure on their volunteers so I can usually work things around my shifts. 

What’s been a memorable moment at work?

My first solo shift was when the concord crashed and I was called in during 9/11.   I will always remember those. They were at least 32 hour shifts but you want to be at work when something like that happens.

How do you find being a Christian at work?

I really struggle not knowing who is a Christian – not knowing who I can turn to when things get bad at work/ if I’ve had a shocker, not knowing who I should call.  I know 3 or 4 other Christians at Sky now which is great.  

 How can theMediaNet help?

We really need to tell people about theMediaNet – get the message out there!  And be linking up other Christians in the media - there must be more than 3 Christians at Sky! It would be great to have media-wide regional meet-ups.  Working shifts often makes you feel like you’re in a bubble/ like you can no longer remember how to socialize! It would be great to meet someone else who knows how I feel!

If you could be stuck in a taxi with one person who would it be?

Boris Johnston – he think he’s an absolute hoot.  I’ve met him a few times and he’s lovely.  He’s a right character!

Any advice for someone starting out in media?

Don’t! It takes over your life! Haha! I would try and figure out what you want to do – camera, lighting, producer etc.  You need to have focus, know the genre you want to work with, know roughly what department you want to work in.  Once you know what it is you’d like to do, then try and get lots of experience in that area.

Tell us a joke

(I stole this off Jimmy Carr) The world’s shortest joke: Venison’s deer isn’t it?

And anything from Tim Vine …