From BBC Three Counties (see early career) I moved to BBC Radio 5 Live in November 1994. I started on a six month attachment to the BBC's 24 hour news and sport station as a News Presenter.
I mainly presented the news bulletins on the station, as well as the longer news programmes such as Morning Reports (5am) and News Extra (7pm). At 5 Live you don't just read the bulletins (like for example BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4) you also write. All of 5 Live's news presenters are also journalists - they have to be in case of breaking news! As the picture shows we read a number of the bulletins from the desk in the main radio newsroom at Broadcasting House.
In my early years at 5 Live I tended to work overnights. This led to my also reading news bulletins on Newsbeat for BBC Radio 1. It was amazing how many comments friend would make if I had a report in the Chris Evans Breakfast Show (which was on Radio 1 at the time). It was a highlight of my career to sit opposite John Peel and to read the news into his programme.
In May 1997 I went on other attachment. This time I went back to my roots in the South West not to radio, but to television and the regional news programme Spotlight. During my six months there I did a wide range of things including producing/reporting and presenting. I really enjoyed my time back in Plymouth - Spotlight is a great programme to work on and has a highly committed team.
When I returned to London I carried on reading the news on 5 Live, but also helped in the big move of BBC Radio News into the new News Centre within theTelevision Centre at White City. I then did six months as a Senior Broadcast Journalist on 5 Live's Midday News programme.
BBC NEWS 24
In January 1999 I started another attachment to BBC News 24 - the BBC's 24 hour television news channel (which can also be seen on BBC1 overnight). Again I was working on the overnight output editing bulletins that were seen on News 24, BBC World (including some public service stations in America) and BBC One. This was fun, although it can be stressful as it's overnight and also the technology we use is not always reliable. At BBC News 24 journalists do much of the work which in other television news environments is done by someone else. We cut a lot of our own pictures on special desktop computers, and the gallery is fully automated and digital.
On one occasion I presented an overnight set of bulletins on BBC News 24, BBC World and BBC One- our normal presenter phoned in sick at the last minute. On another occasion I presented a bulletin with less than one minutes notice when our normal presenter fell asleep elsewhere in the building.
I have also presented some of the UK Today bulletins which I really enjoyed and would like to do more of.
Torwards the end of 1999 News 24 underwent a re-brand to make it look more like the national news bulletins on BBC1. It has since had another new look in December 2003.
What started out as a 3 month attachment to News 24 ended up being one that last 2 and a half years.
BBC THREE
I am currently involved in producing the
60seconds bulletins on BBC Three.
We aim to update the audience with short bulletins during the evening.
which are aimed at bringing news to 25-34
year olds.
BBC NEWS ON TOUR
/ BBC LIVE EVENTS
During the summer of 2003
BBC News decided to go around the country and let members of the public have
a go at using the equipment BBC News has and letting people have a go at reading
the news. I was part of the team.
This
is the stage area we used for reading the TV news
This was the team photo
in Manchester. I'm atthe back.
I was also the MC at the Regent Street Festival where BBC Live Events had a
stage.
Me on stage in Regents Street
I interviewed Doodles the
dog from the Tweenies & Colin Jackson