JANUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER
Happy New Year and welcome to the first Phoenix FM newsletter! This is a brand new monthly newsletter which looks back on our programmes and interviews over the last month and forward to what’s coming up on the airwaves.
INTERVIEWS
You may have missed some great interviews in December with local people, groups, charities and businesses …-
Andy Furneaux and Charlotte Winder from Saint Francis Hospice came in to tell us about their Christmas tree recycling programme.
John Brandler from Brandler Galleries came in to talk about how he plans to help Brentwood charities.
Ella, Anna and Ben came in from Brentwood School to talk about their production of West Side Story.
Local resident Daphne Norris came in to talk about what Christmases were like in Billericay, Shenfield and Mountnessing since the 1930s – Bob Simpson has combined her stories into an hour-long special.
Warren Jessop spoke about his Brentwood travel agency Not Just Travel with details of a great competition.
Amy O’Shaughnessy talked to us about George’s Rockstars, a charity helping to bring music therapy to children in hospital.
Katherine Loveday from local charity Kids Inspire came in to talk about their work and current appeal.
Gareth Barton, the founder of local gallery Spread Creative talked about his current work and inspirations.
We were in a Christmas spirit throughout the month with visits from Father Mark North from St Thomas’s Church, Rev Tim Goodbody, the Diocesan Director of Ordinands for the Diocese of Chelmsford and Ian Adams, Tim Lee and Ian and Sue from Brentwood Schools Christian Worker Trust who all took part in Patrick Sherring’s live Boxing Day show What Christmas Means To Me.
And of course we had a visit from Father Christmas himself, who sounded suspiciously like our former Drive presenter Keith Rogers.
Regular visitor Karen Cole from Essex Business Partnerships brought down Kieron Peaty of Studio 40 to speak about their new construction networking group.
December also saw regular weekly chats with film expert Mark Searby and health and wellbeing guru Michelle Spencer.
MUSIC
We also interviewed some great singers and bands in December.
Nick Field’s long-running Curveballs show chatted to more local artists including Simon Drake, Lavender & The Roses and Lady Grey & The Earls.
Madeline Christy’s country show The Nightshift is always very busy and this month she chatted with Morgan Wallen, David Unlayao, Briggs & Stark, Florence Sommerville and SilverSpark.
Indie and alternative music is well covered by Gareth Williams, who chatted to Louis Elliot about the return of 90s band Rialto and James McGregor from The Clockworks.
Michelle Ward also chatted to local singer/songwriters George Bone and Cormac Thompson.
Kev Piggott runs Phoenix FM’s weekly Open Mic Night at The Essex Arms in Brentwood every Monday from 8pm, and plays out the best of the performances from local unsigned artists on his Sunday Sessions show. December saw performances broadcast from Ed Hobson, Emma Osbourne, Freya Carpenter, Grace Brazier, Gracie Mae, Hannah-Mae Duggan, Jane Oakman, John Pierce, Josh Barber, Joshua Lord, Katie Todd, Richard Barker, Robbie Bunsell, Scott Wood and Shae Barry.
BOOK NEWS
Michael Shearer came in to talk about his fascinating experiences walking the 500-mile Camino de Santiago.
Carol Moore came in to talk about her Ongar creative writing group and her new book, Martha’s Secret.
LOCAL HISTORY
Margaret Mills is a regular visitor to Scott Ross’s lunchtime show and in the last month came on air to talk about more Essex stories such as 19th century Essex cricketer Hugh Glendwr Palmer Owen, Maldon’s Old Moot Hall and Dagenham’s Valence House.
Sylvia Kent also came in to talk about Lord Byron’s connections with Brentwood.
SPORT
John Chubb is the host of our regular Saturday Sport show and returns midweek to look at the latest local non-league action in the Non League Hour.
Daren Mootoo’s popular cricket show 98 Not Out is on every Thursday featuring some big name interviews including former test players Roland Butcher and Ian Bishop, Acid Jazz founder Eddie Pillar, and cricket writers Huw Turbervill, Debbie Knight and Dan Haggar.
Andy Gilson hosts our weekly Orient Hour with a rotating panel of fans running through the latest Leyton Orient news, matches and rumours, and special guests including the club’s Director of Football Martin Ling.
Our regular sports correspondent Jack Patmore is also writing and appearing regularly with news from our local non-league clubs including Brentwood Town, Billericay Town and Southend United.
PODCASTS
There are only so many hours in the day – but that doesn’t mean we can’t cram in more programmes! We also have podcasts which are produced regularly:
Made In Essex is a regular business podcast celebrating Essex entrepreneurship, presented by Jill Willis, co-founder at Attract & Engage, author and communications strategist. This month Jill chats with Graham Higgins, Managing Director of ACS Aviation Industries.
Rising Stars is a regular weekly(ish) podcast highlighting unsigned artists from around the world across every genre possible.
Mental Health Matters is coming back to Phoenix FM in 2024 – our regular monthly look at Mental Health issues locally, nationally and globally, in partnership with the Essex Community Tree
COMING UP IN JANUARY
We’ve already got some great guests lined up for the next month, including ukulele pop band Rocket Kings (10 Jan), Suzanne Roynon from Interiors Therapy (11 Jan), Chris and Bob Waters about their fundraising for Cancer Research UK (12 Jan), Richie Milton and Bill Farrow who will be playing live in the studio and talking about The Bill N Ricky EP (17 Jan), therapist Charisse Cooke (18 Jan), an interview and live session from The George Harrison Project (24 Jan) and Essex musician Izaak Thomas (24 Jan).
SO WHAT’S ON AIR?
On daytimes you can hear Mike Porter, Michelle Ward and Jo Bailey five days a week with local news, information, features and great music – lunchtimes are shared between Scott Ross (Mon/Tue), Bob Simpson (Wed), Siobhan Copland (Thu) and Patrick Sherring (Fri). Weekend breakfast is covered between Antonia Jones (Sat) and Sophia Marie (Sun).
Evenings and weekends are also the home of our many specialist music shows including Synth City with Rob Harvey, Under The Radar with Andy Gardener, Resurrection with Paul Golder, Turn It Up with Vic Damhar, The Show That Goes Like This with Ben Simmons, Reggae Revival with Daren Mootoo, Curveballs with Nick Field, The Golden Years with Andy Gilson, The Bliss Disciples with Daniel Gregory,The Weekend Wind-Up with Spencer Carter, Geezers Pleasers and Cheesers with Mandy Cullen, Boogie Nights with Andy Furneaux, Classic Phoenix with Steve Robertson, The Sunday Sessions with Kev Piggott, Sunday Lunch with Tony Smith, Vicki Michelle’s Music Mix, The Arts Programme with Claire Gevaux and Natalie Bays, Stepping Out with Nigel Fitzmaurice, GR80s with Xanthe Bearman and George Hanlon’s eclectic music hour. You can see our full schedule here.
None of the shows on Phoenix FM are “syndicated” – every single hour is created and produced exclusively for Phoenix FM by local people passionate about music and their community.
IN THE PAPERS
Phoenix FM has had a regular page in the Brentwood Gazette since 2013 – you can see our recent columns here.
A BIG THANK YOU TO …
Phoenix FM is a not-for-profit organisation aiming to maintain a full-featured community radio station for Brentwood, Billericay and surrounding areas. Any money we raise goes straight back in the pot to broadcast more programmes on FM and online. So we’d like to say a big thank you to our supporters and partners:
Attract & Engage, Beresfords, Brentwood Golf Club, Brentwood Town FC, Essex Business Partnerships, Essex Community Tree Network, EV Charging Systems, Foxtel, Hallmark Care Homes, Hutton Spice, JWD Heating & Plumbing, Layalina, The Mortgage Specialists, Not Just Travel, Pinney Talfourd, Players Lounge, Saint Francis Hospice, SEH BAC, Shepherd Neame
FEEDBACK
After having an email account since August 1996, this is our first monthly newsletter. Anything you would like to see in it? Email us straight back!
See you on 98FM and https://www.phoenixfm.com!
Thanks for reading and listening
Paul Golder
Phoenix FM – 209,500 hours on air and counting
