FEBRUARY 2024 NEWSLETTER

Welcome to the second 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 January with local people, groups, charities and businesses …

Nick Alston, Chair of the Essex Community Foundation came in to talk about the work the organisation is currently doing in the community.

Nicky Body from the Rhys Daniels Trust talked about the good work this Essex charity does all year round.

Peter Livingstone chatted about Remap, a charity which designs and makes or adapts equipment for people with disabilities if not commercially available.

Natasha Radford brought us up to date with news from the Chicken and Frog Bookshop in Crown Street.

Matt Barry from Brentwood designers Blue Serif visited the Arts Programme to talk about subjectivity of design.

Cancer Research fundraisers Chris & Bob Waters from Ingatestone talked about the challenges they face.

Spencer Hawken and Peter Blundell came in to talk about the Romford Film Festival.

Regular visitor Karen Cole from Essex Business Partnerships brought down Wendy Smith of Bulletproof Coaching and – via Zoom – Liz Rotherham of Heads 2 Minds who chatted about the EBP’s Health & Wellbeing Conference taking place on 14 February.

Interior therapy expert Suzanne Roynon came in to chat Siobhan Copland about her work.

January 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 January.

Bob Simpson hosted a great live studio session from The George Harrison Experience.

Nick Field’s long-running Curveballs show chatted to more local artists including 035 Promotions, Hobo, Opensight, Donkerkarnuffel, Concrete Age, Rocket Kings and Shenfield’s Izaak Thomas.

Madeline Christy’s country show The Nightshift is always very busy and this month she chatted with Louise Parker, Nickola Magnolia, Adele & Andy and Katie Rigby.

Andy Gardener features the latest in indie and alternative music and chatted to Parisian band Hoorsees as part of his 200th episode.

Michelle Ward also chatted to local singer/songwriters Blue Scarr & Aimee Britannia.

Jo Bailey reported back on The Spread Eagle in Brentwood as she continues her Open Mic Tour of Essex and East London.

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. January saw performances broadcast from an absolute ton of local performers – Alex Jett, Andreea Viliman, Asher Dooney, Callum Wood, Danni Gevaux, Ellie Brown, Emma Osbourne, Freya Carpenter, Grace Brazier, Gracie Mae, Hettie Gevaux, Jane Oakman, Jessica Ivy, Jo Bailey, Joel aka Grim Dreamurr, Josh Barber, Katie B, Katie Todd, Keila Angel, Lily Dawson, Millie Clarkson, Rebeca Stratulat, Richard Barker, Robbie Bunsell, Sam Dillin, Scott Wood and Shae Barry.

BOOK NEWS

Janet Howson and Lisa Horner from the Basildon Writers’ Group came in to talk about their new book It Happened In Essex 2.

Carley-Ann Osborne came in to chat about her first published novel, What We Can Be.

Author and therapist Charisse Cooke visited to talk about her book The Attachment Solution.

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 Warley Barracks, Thaxted’s Horham Hall, Kelvedon Hall, the incredible Dr Salter of Tolleshunt D’Arcy and Great Myles House in Kelvedon Hatch.

Another regular contributor, Mike Davies from Rayleigh Town Museum, came in to talk about the history of Turnpike Roads.

Sylvia Kent also came in to talk about the history of our wonderful home, The Brentwood Centre.

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.

Steve Linton came into Jo Bailey’s Drive show to talk about Brentwood Town FC and the progress of their current 3G project.

Daren Mootoo’s popular cricket show 98 Not Out – which has been nominated for Best Cricket Podcast at the Sports Podcast Awards – is on every Thursday. This month Daren and cricket writers Rahul Patil, Elizabeth Ammon and Richard “The Grumbler” Clarke.

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 club director Matthew Porter and former players Matt Lockwood and Dean Cox.

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 Martin Series, Director of Global Services at Foxway UK.

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.  This month we spoke to Nikki Schuster from Renew Counselling, Toyin Balogun Okunuga from Roar Through Art and Sidrah Naeem, Secretary of Essex, Mind & Spirit and Chair of Women Together as part of our look at mental health in the community.

We also host QFM – the occasional show made by the children of Quilters Junior School in Billericay.  The latest edition is now online here.

COMING UP IN MARCH

We’ve already got some great guests lined up for the next month, including jazz trumpeter Olivia Cuttill (1 Feb), Warren and Dena from Brentwood travel agents Not Just Travel (1 Feb), country singer/songwriter Claudia Stark (1 Feb), Mark James, Chaplain at The Retreat House, Pleshey (2 Feb), Laura Thurlow from Ingatestone Elim church about her fundraising for UNIVIDA (2 Feb), film expert Spencer Hawken and actress Ayvianna Snow (4 Feb), singer/songwriter Austel (5 Feb), Richie Milton and Bill Farrow who will be playing live in the studio and talking about The Bill N Ricky EP (7 Feb), indie pop/rock singer/songwriter Frankie Bird who will be playing live in the studio (7 Feb), Sally Sykes and Karen Cole from Essex Business Partnerships (13 Feb), Julie Hardy, Benefice of Bentley Common, Kelvedon Hatch and Navestock churches (16 Feb), Canvey Island singer/songwriter Lois Leon who will be playing live in the studio (19 Feb), Jane Granby from Billericay Operatic Society (21 Feb), Canon Ivor Moody, Vice Dean at Chelmsford Cathedral (23 Feb) and local band Reverent Son (28 Feb).

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) and Patrick Sherring (Fri). Weekend breakfast is covered between Antonia Jones (Sat) and Siobhan Copland (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.  January saw the first edition of In Your House, a new presenter from Cameron Hughes playing old school house, funk and soul.  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 & Herts Air Ambulance, Essex Business Partnerships, Essex Community Tree Network, EV Charging Systems, Foxtel, Hallmark Care Homes, Holiday Inn Brentwood, Hutton Spice, JWD Heating & Plumbing, Layalina, The Mortgage Specialists, Not Just Travel, Pinney Talfourd, Players Lounge, Saint Francis Hospice, SEH BAC and Shepherd Neame.

FEEDBACK

Is there anything you would like to see in a future newsletter? Email us straight back!

See you on 98FM and https://www.phoenixfm.com!

Thanks for reading and listening

The Phoenix FM team

Phoenix FM – 210,200 hours on air and counting