Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette
Despite the snow chaos last week it was pretty much business as usual at our Brentwood studio!
We had our usual crop of interesting guests in last week including Tony Tiyou and Girard Newkirk . Tony is a renewable energy specialist who runs local company O&TT Smart, and has also recently published a book on The Wind Energy Outlook in Africa.
Gerard is the CEO of KWHCoin, a new cryptocurrency which backed by units of clean, renewable energy. It’s the most unique subject we’ve had on air in a long time but it’s also a fascinating listen, hearing how two concepts which have a big future – clean energy and virtual currencies – can come together to help businesses prosper. The interview can be heard again on phoenixfm.com.
I had the smart idea of getting them to pose in the snow instead of the warmth of our studio, just to prove that they’d managed to brave the elements too.
Our daytime team of Mike Porter, Michelle Ward and Charlie Davy kept the airwaves live by getting in each day either on foot or by car, as did many of our evening presenters too.
One of the great things about community radio is the service it can provide when the weather goes haywire. We spend a lot of our time with updates about school closures, travel news and bulletins from the emergency services. Not everyone has the internet and a lot of local people rely on what they can tune in to over the airwaves. It’s just not as much fun recording it – the joy is in doing it all live!
* Guests coming up on Phoenix FM this week include local solicitor Brian Hughes from Rainer Hughes talking about legal matters, local singer Lydia Lucy who will be chatting to Vicki Michelle about her appearance on The Voice, and West Ham United co-owner David Gold.
* We’ve also got live music in the studio from Spencer Carter, The Mighty Fallen and Stray Feathers.