Paul Golder writes for the Brentwood Gazette

We’ve been fortunate enough to have been getting more and more opportunities to interviewer bigger artists over the last year or so – and this month we’ve bagged a couple of Scottish superstars.

In the last week I’ve managed to chat to both Sharleen Spiteri from Texas and Del Amitri – two acts who emerged in the late 80s/early 90s but are still selling thousands of records and gig tickets today.

There’s something very satisfying about being part of a community radio station and talking to artists who are usually doing a much “bigger” round of interviews – the One Show, ITV, Radio 2 and so on.

It’s also really useful for me as the person who trains our presenters – since I don’t actually harbour any particular DJ dreams I want to show the rest of the Phoenix FM team that if I can do, they can definitely do it!

Texas have had three number one albums in the UK and Del Amitri have also enjoyed a number one single and album – in Scotland, rather than the whole of the UK. I really enjoyed talking to both of them – and the interviews can be heard again at phoenixfm.com.

Of course we’re usually even happier promoting local artists – something we do many times a week. I’ve enjoyed chatting to a lot of great local acts on air recently, including BAXTR, Hybrid Kid, Distorted Model, Ali MacQueen and the evergreen Doozer McDooze. There’s so much good much out there – and it’s worth taking the time to find it.