Paul joined Mercia sound in 1984 and left in 1988, hosting
Good Morning
Mercia the weekday breakfast show throughout that time initially
6 till 9
and later from 7 till 10 am. He took over from John Warwick.
At that time the line up was Paul on breakfast, Dave on thru
till 12 then
Jim Lee 12 till 3, followed by Stuart Linnell until 5 pm and
then Steve
Williams and Jeff Harris with Annie Othen on late nights at
10 pm
Paul joined Mercia Sound from Radio Tees (now TFM) where he
was from
1980 hosting everything from the TOP 40 to classical from rock
to arts
programming. He presented the drive show weekday afternoons
and
then for two years prior to joining Mercia the Morning Call
show,
weekdays 9 am to 12 noon.
At Mercia for two years Paul also presented the Saturday lunchtime
show WHEELS which mixed motoring and other transport editorial
with
music and where he introduced correspondents Les Clayton and
Peter
Cahill who soon became regular contributors to the programme.
During his time at Mercia Sound Paul presided over some of
the largest
breakfast audiences in the stations history, he started a column
with
Coventry Newspapers in early 1985 called Paul on Pop which
supported
local Coventry and Warwickshire bands, as well as reviewing
new music,
it appeared weekly without ever missing a week for eight and
a half
years.
Paul was also resident DJ at the Bug and Black Bat in Coventry
City
Centre, at which he was awarded their prize of Citizen of the
Year for
his charity work in Coventry. While presenting Good Morning
Mercia
Paul was a news presenter on Coventry Cable TV as well as devising
and producing Showbiz, a monthly music programme which was
shown
on Coventry Cable and syndicated to cable TV customers across
the
UK.
Paul left Mercia Sound to join Chiltern Radio as Programme
Director
where he was responsible for three stations. He was part of
the team
that won the Milton Keynes licence from the Radio Authority.
Launched
SuperGold, acquired Severn Sound and created Galaxy Radio in
Bristol.
Next Paul went to BBC Radio 1 where as Managing Editor he was
responsible for all the networks programming and marketing
and
star
DJs including Simon Bates, Steve Wright. Alan Freeman, Nicky
Campbell
and Mark Goodier. He was then promoted to be Head of Strategy
for
BBC Radio 1, 2, 3 4 and 5 Live and then became Managing Director
of
Talk Radio UK at which he built the audience to 2.8 million,
a figure yet
to be beaten.
Paul then joined the Walt Disney Company as Managing Director
of the
UK before being promoted to Senior Vice President of its Children's
TV
programming on a global basis, with an office in Los Angeles
and London.
Paul now works for Liberty Media Corporation the US based broadcaster
which controls assets including the Discovery Channel and QVC.
Kevin.Sykes@kps.org.uk 
Page updated
Saturday, February 14, 2009
