I was bowled over when BBC Oxford invited me to launch their new evening schedules with a weekly 2-hour Wednesday programme:

Then even moreso that this became a 3-hour Friday programme covering arts, entertainment and culture across Oxfordshire:

It was amazing to meet so many people living in the county, and to interview such a range of incredible artists, actors, musicians and comedians across the 70 or so programmes I made from 9th May 2018 to 27th Sept 2019. This also led to many lasting relationships with PR agencies + arts and culture organisations across Oxfordshire.

There are too many highlights to count, but standouts include:

  • Getting Tony Blackburn to take part in my ‘Robo Showdown’ quiz, where a robot quizmaster tried to defeat humanity each week via 5 questions (this time on the launch of BBC Radio 1).
  • Interviewing award-winning journalist Jon Ronson, famed illustrator & authors Chris Ridell and Mark Haddon, Game of Thrones & Harry Potter actress Natalia Tena, YouTube superstars Gavin Free and Cristina Bianco, and outspoken comedians and writers Jessica Fostekew and Kate Smurthwaite.
  • Presenting live Japanese dessert-making, taiko drumming, Chinese calligraphy, Victorian magic, cocktail making and folk jamming on the air.
  • Hearing local entrepreneur Hannah talk through the path to creating and opening Oxfordshire’s first flotation tank centre – and recording my experiences during my first ever float.
  • Laughing a lot thanks to listener interaction with my original games & features: Robo Showdown, Song Soapbox, Limelight Soundbite, Spiffing or Riffing, Fowl Play & The New Media Show.
  • Doing a 3-way interview between LA, Oxford and Vancouver Island with musicians Valntn & Naliya.

By September 2019 I was keen to get my Friday evenings back and pitched several new show concepts to BBC Oxford, resulting in commissions for The New Media Show & Live @ BBC Oxford, both 1-hour pre-recorded programmes.

This suited my freelance workflow better, but I very much missed the wide variety of guests and content Time Out brought to the airwaves.

Look back over the 70 or so programmes I presented & produced via BBC Sounds:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p066j035/episodes/guide