Going ga-ga over radio

My first ever radio gig - presenting the hospital bingo show 

on Radio Mount Vernon Going aged 13-and three-quarters!

I LOVE radio. In fact, had I not carved out a career in newspaper journalism I would have loved to have been a radio presenter or a reporter.

Compared to newspapers it is a different media totally, where less really is more, when you have to possess an ability to be concise and precise with the spoken word - and for a motormouth like me, that isn't always easy.

But it is an interesting discipline. This morning I was talking to college students in Eastbourne about journalism and the disciplines of writing. I talked about how stories always had to carry the "so what" factor, about looking to squeeze the seed out of the marrow for any story so that you covered every possible angle, and also about the 20 second snapshot - how as a newspaper journalist you have 20 seconds or three paragraphs to nail the basics of a story to avoid your reader from being turned off.

The same principle applies to other forms of media too, and with radio in particular, where there is no room for waffle or spurious intros.

Throughout my career I've enjoyed numerous stints on radio; from presenting football match reports and offering analysis on news and sports issues of the day for a host of BBC and independent local radio stations, as well as for BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio 4, to regular morning slots on BBC Radio Solent and BBC Swindon during the breakfast shows.

Prior to that, I spent 10 very happy years working in hospital broadcasting and working for the match day team at Watford Football Club on Radio Hornet. There's just something about the creativity and discipline of radio which fascinates me.

With the Leveson report published on Thursday into standards in journalism, I've been asked to appear on a couple of radio programmes this week to talk about the report and its impact on the media. I'm always thrilled to be asked to go on air. I've got another gig next week on BBC Wiltshire to appear on an hour-long show which will review the impact of Leveson and the way forward with a panel of experts.

Even though I've never had any direct training for radio, I'm experienced enough to know that I have to listen, answer the question succinctly and to entertain so that the listener believes what I have to say is worth hearing. I always try to be a little off-beam and unpredicable, to link to the presenter so that the interview becomes a conversation.

I don't profess to be particularly good, but I know that for a year at BBC Radio Swindon, with a regular 10-minute slot with breakfast show presenter Chris Warburton, I really had to be on my toes.

Chris, who now regularly presents on BBC Radio 5 Live, knows his stuff - and he will surely go onto even bigger and better things with the prestigious drive time slot one day. Chris has such supreme knowledge of current affairs and trivia that he is always ahead of you in any discussion. Chris would question and re-question, sometimes throw in a left-field fact and you had to respond. Preparation was absolutely essential, you couldn't wing it in a studio with Chris. There could be no dead air, so you were always trying to think on your feet, coming up with something pithy, worthwhile and occasionally witty to say.

After that, for the next 18 months it was Graham Mack who took over the breakfast show in Swindon. We got on famously like a little double act and had to be told a couple of times by producers to rein back the humour which was going over the top. Graham was dangerous on air, not afraid of lighting the blue touch paper and retiring. I was a little more restrained, but once Graham opened the door, I would stay on the edge too.

Ironically, I became better known in Swindon for those 10 minutes on the radio each day than for my time as editor of the daily newspaper - a stranger once greeted me because of the sound of my voice, and when signing on at a local doctor's surgery, the receptionist recognised who I was because she religiously tuned in every morning especially for that part of the show.

I always get very nervous before going on-air. I've got some lines in my head, facts set out in my mind and I know what I need to do if I want to lean the interview in a certain direction. Always, always, always I tell myself how less is more, but afterwards I end up feeling that I waffled too much so the message got lost.

When talking to the students this morning I told them how there was no secret recipe or ingenious science to journalism, it was simply down to an ability to communicate easily and effectively. Twenty seconds, that's all we get in life to present an idea or snapshot, 20 seconds to inspire, enthuse, humour or inform. Simples!