Paul Chantler
Encyclopedia
Paul Chantler is a radio
programming consultant based in the United Kingdom
. He has been involved in the radio industry for 25 years as a journalist
, presenter
, producer
and programmer.
He is currently senior partner at United Radio in London
and works with clients including GMG Radio
, Absolute Radio, Emap Radio
, UTV Radio
, Premier Christian Radio
and the RadioCentre in the UK, Communicorp
in Ireland
and Europe
, and Radio City
in India
. He has also worked for Macquarie in Australia
and Emmis
in the USA. His most recent major assignments have included working for GMG Radio on their Smooth Radio brand as well as work on projects with radio groups in India.
Paul is co-author with Peter Stewart of the textbook Essential Radio Journalism published in June 2009 by A&C Black. The Foreword is written by Jon Snow
of Channel 4 News
who started his career in radio. Essential Radio Journalism started life in 1992 as a book called Local Radio Journalism, co-authored by Sim Harris. Its successor Basic Radio Journalism, was published by Focal Press (a division of Elsevier
) in 2002. It became a best-seller and was translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian.
Paul's latest book, Hang The DJ - A radio presenter's guide to the law, co-written with Paul Hollins, was published in 2011.
(Kent and Sussex Courier
, Kent Messenger
, Kent Evening Post) before joining Invicta Radio as a journalist and news presenter in 1984. During his four years at Invicta, he also became the presenter of the station’s lunchtime show and regularly broadcast roadshows from around the Kent coast resorts.
After leaving Invicta, he joined Southern FM in Brighton
as news editor and helped launch the new East Sussex
service from Eastbourne
.
He was then recruited to the BBC
working as breakfast show presenter for the new station in Swindon
, BBC Wiltshire Sound, where he was the first voice on air at the station’s launch in 1989.
Paul then went into radio management, firstly as head of news at the Chiltern Radio Group. He became group programme director in 1991, just as the group expanded into owning 11 stations. During his time at Chiltern, Paul helped launch one of the UK’s first regional stations, Galaxy Radio, covering Bristol
and South Wales
where he became managing director. Galaxy's format was groundbreaking in the UK mixing mainstream old and new dance music, playing Motown next to contemporary dance hits. In its first year, the station achieved a weekly reach of 13%, at the time the highest ever launch audience figure for a regional radio station. Paul was also a founder and managing director of Network News, a small-scale rival to IRN
.
During his time at Chiltern, Paul ran a management company called Pop Vox which represented a number of TV presenters including Stuart Miles from BBC TV's Blue Peter, Mark Franklin of Top Of The Pops and Chris Jarvis of Children's BBC.
He left Chiltern in 1996 and became group programme director of the Essex Radio Group. During his four years at Essex, he was responsible for the audience success of flagship station Essex FM, the highly-praised anti-drugs roadshow for schools called 2 Smart 4 Drugs, and the launch of the East of England regional dance station Vibe FM
.
In 1997, he was named UK Commercial Radio Programmer of the Year and in 1999 won the UK Commercial Radio Social Action Award.
Former editor of The Sun
newspaper Kelvin MacKenzie
headhunted Paul to become group programme director of The Wireless Group in 2000. Apart from running the group’s 18 local stations, Paul was also programme director of national speech station talkSPORT
.
Two years later he started his own radio programming consultancy business. During this time, he undertook interim management assignments for Hallam FM
in Sheffield
, Metro Radio
in Newcastle upon Tyne
and Century FM
in North West England
as well as numerous projects for radio groups in the UK, Europe and Asia.
In 2005, Paul joined international programming consultancy United Radio as Senior Partner and a director, where he worked on various projects both in the UK and worldwide including Radio City in India, Radio Flash in Poland and Zip FM in Lithuania.
He was a shareholder and non-executive director of Planet Broadcasting Co Ltd, the company which owns and operates KCFM, the radio station for Hull
which started broadcasting on 1 August 2007. KCFM was acquired by the Lincs FM Group
on 17 June 2009.
Paul worked on an exclusive nine-month assignment with GMG Radio
as full-time Programme Consultant to Smooth Radio
London in 2008. The following year, he was appointed Acting Programme Director of Smooth Radio East Midlands in Nottingham on an interim basis.
He was invited to give the keynote speech at the inaugural conference of the Association of Radio Operators of India in New Delhi in November 2009 and has written a number of articles for the Indian media about the importance of training and the benefits of news and talk programming.
In the last few years, Paul has worked as a programming consultant for a number of radio stations and groups including 4FM, Ireland's multi-city station; Fire Radio in Bournemouth; Planet Rock
, the UK's classic rock station; and the Indian radio group of 17 stations, My-FM. He has become an expert on media law and has conducted legal seminars for presenters and journalists at a number of UK radio stations and groups including Absolute Radio, Real Radio
, Smooth Radio, Jack FM
and BFBS.
Other ventures include a successful iPhone app featuring show prep for radio presenters and producers called Radio Talk Topics and a company called Radio Ideas Bank - an online database of creative ideas for radio contests and promotions.
. The programme featured his often fractious working relationship with Essex FM breakfast DJ Martin Day. Lakesiders was scheduled after EastEnders
and was watched by a regular audience of up to 10 million viewers. A new series, called Return To Lakesiders featuring Paul and Martin, was shown on BBC Two
on 18th, 19 and 22 August 2008.
Paul appeared in a similar role, featuring very similar arguments and relationships with the presenters, in the version of the show centered around the MetroCentre called Trouble in Store which aired on BBC1 in 2005.
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
programming consultant based in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. He has been involved in the radio industry for 25 years as a journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
, presenter
Presenter
A presenter, or host , is a person or organization responsible for running an event. A museum or university, for example, may be the presenter or host of an exhibit. Likewise, a master of ceremonies is a person that hosts or presents a show...
, producer
Radio producer
A radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...
and programmer.
He is currently senior partner at United Radio in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
and works with clients including GMG Radio
GMG Radio
GMG Radio is the radio division of the Guardian Media Group. The group is based in Laser House, Salford Quays in Greater Manchester. The advertising division is in Old Trafford, Manchester. John Myers was the Chief Executive Officer, his deputy replaced him in April 2009...
, Absolute Radio, Emap Radio
EMAP Radio
Bauer Radio is a UK-based division of Bauer Media Group.The Bauer network is divisible into two main groups, the Bauer Place and Bauer Passion units, with Place consisting of locally-focused services primarily broadcast on FM/AM and local digital platforms, and Passion consisting of national and...
, UTV Radio
UTV Radio
UTV Radio is a UK media company, and owner of several radio stations in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. It is a growing branch of UTV Media....
, Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio
Premier Christian Radio is a British Christian radio station wholly owned by the charity Premier Christian Media Trust.Premier Christian Radio broadcasts Christian programming including news, debate, teachings and Christian music to London and the surrounding areas.It operates on three frequencies...
and the RadioCentre in the UK, Communicorp
Communicorp
Communicorp is an Irish media holding company, wholly owned by Denis O'Brien.-Background:Communicorp Group Ltd was formed by Denis O'Brien in 1989. The Group’s radio operations launched in Ireland in the same year and followed with stations in the Czech Republic in 1992...
in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, and Radio City
Radio City (India radio station)
Radio City is a FM radio station in India. It broadcasts on 91.1 megahertz from Mumbai , Bangalore , Lucknow and New Delhi. It plays Hindi songs, English and regional songs. It was launched in Hyderabad in March, 2006 , in Chennai on July 7th 2006 and in Vishakapatnam October 2007...
in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He has also worked for Macquarie in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Emmis
Emmis Communications
Emmis Communications is a media conglomerate based in Indianapolis, Indiana. The company owns radio stations and magazines in the United States, Hungary, Slovakia and Bulgaria.-History:...
in the USA. His most recent major assignments have included working for GMG Radio on their Smooth Radio brand as well as work on projects with radio groups in India.
Paul is co-author with Peter Stewart of the textbook Essential Radio Journalism published in June 2009 by A&C Black. The Foreword is written by Jon Snow
Jon Snow
Jon Snow is an English journalist and presenter, currently employed by ITN. He is best known for presenting Channel 4 News.He was Chancellor of Oxford Brookes University from 2001 to 2008.-Early life:...
of Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News
Channel 4 News is the news division of British television broadcaster Channel 4. It is produced by ITN, and has been in operation since the broadcaster's launch in 1982.-Channel 4 News:...
who started his career in radio. Essential Radio Journalism started life in 1992 as a book called Local Radio Journalism, co-authored by Sim Harris. Its successor Basic Radio Journalism, was published by Focal Press (a division of Elsevier
Elsevier
Elsevier is a publishing company which publishes medical and scientific literature. It is a part of the Reed Elsevier group. Based in Amsterdam, the company has operations in the United Kingdom, USA and elsewhere....
) in 2002. It became a best-seller and was translated into Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and Russian.
Paul's latest book, Hang The DJ - A radio presenter's guide to the law, co-written with Paul Hollins, was published in 2011.
Career
Paul started his career in local newspapers in KentKent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
(Kent and Sussex Courier
Kent and Sussex Courier
The Kent and Sussex Courier is an English regional newspaper, published in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.The paper was the result of an amalgamation of a number of Kent and East Sussex local newspapers, and hence has always been published in at least two editions, one of which covered the western parts of...
, Kent Messenger
Kent Messenger
This article is about the weekly paper for the Maidstone region. For the Kent Messenger Group, see KM Group.The Kent Messenger is a weekly newspaper serving the mid-Kent area. It is published in three editions - Maidstone, Malling, and the Weald...
, Kent Evening Post) before joining Invicta Radio as a journalist and news presenter in 1984. During his four years at Invicta, he also became the presenter of the station’s lunchtime show and regularly broadcast roadshows from around the Kent coast resorts.
After leaving Invicta, he joined Southern FM in Brighton
Brighton
Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...
as news editor and helped launch the new East Sussex
East Sussex
East Sussex is a county in South East England. It is bordered by the counties of Kent, Surrey and West Sussex, and to the south by the English Channel.-History:...
service from Eastbourne
Eastbourne
Eastbourne is a large town and borough in East Sussex, on the south coast of England between Brighton and Hastings. The town is situated at the eastern end of the chalk South Downs alongside the high cliff at Beachy Head...
.
He was then recruited to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
working as breakfast show presenter for the new station in Swindon
Swindon
Swindon is a large town within the borough of Swindon and ceremonial county of Wiltshire, in South West England. It is midway between Bristol, west and Reading, east. London is east...
, BBC Wiltshire Sound, where he was the first voice on air at the station’s launch in 1989.
Paul then went into radio management, firstly as head of news at the Chiltern Radio Group. He became group programme director in 1991, just as the group expanded into owning 11 stations. During his time at Chiltern, Paul helped launch one of the UK’s first regional stations, Galaxy Radio, covering Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
and South Wales
South Wales
South Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
where he became managing director. Galaxy's format was groundbreaking in the UK mixing mainstream old and new dance music, playing Motown next to contemporary dance hits. In its first year, the station achieved a weekly reach of 13%, at the time the highest ever launch audience figure for a regional radio station. Paul was also a founder and managing director of Network News, a small-scale rival to IRN
Independent Radio News
Independent Radio News provides a service of news bulletins, audio and copy to commercial radio stations in the UK and beyond.The managing director of IRN is Tim Molloy, who succeeded long-term MD John Perkins in November 2009...
.
During his time at Chiltern, Paul ran a management company called Pop Vox which represented a number of TV presenters including Stuart Miles from BBC TV's Blue Peter, Mark Franklin of Top Of The Pops and Chris Jarvis of Children's BBC.
He left Chiltern in 1996 and became group programme director of the Essex Radio Group. During his four years at Essex, he was responsible for the audience success of flagship station Essex FM, the highly-praised anti-drugs roadshow for schools called 2 Smart 4 Drugs, and the launch of the East of England regional dance station Vibe FM
Kiss 105-108
Kiss 105-108 is the East of England's regional radio station broadcast from Reflection House, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, broadcasting dance music and R'n'B across Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and North Essex....
.
In 1997, he was named UK Commercial Radio Programmer of the Year and in 1999 won the UK Commercial Radio Social Action Award.
Former editor of The Sun
The Sun (newspaper)
The Sun is a daily national tabloid newspaper published in the United Kingdom and owned by News Corporation. Sister editions are published in Glasgow and Dublin...
newspaper Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin MacKenzie
Kelvin Calder MacKenzie is an English media executive and former newspaper editor. He is best known for being editor of The Sun newspaper between 1981 and 1994, an era in which the paper was established as Britain's best selling newspaper.- Biography :MacKenzie was educated at Alleyn's School...
headhunted Paul to become group programme director of The Wireless Group in 2000. Apart from running the group’s 18 local stations, Paul was also programme director of national speech station talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....
.
Two years later he started his own radio programming consultancy business. During this time, he undertook interim management assignments for Hallam FM
Hallam FM
Hallam FM is an independent local radio station serving South Yorkshire and the North Midlands from studios in Sheffield. The station is owned and operated by Bauer Radio and forms part of Bauer's Place Network of stations.-History:...
in Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
, Metro Radio
Metro Radio
Metro Radio is an independent local radio station based in Newcastle upon Tyne and broadcasting to Tyne and Wear, County Durham and Northumberland. The station's output is principally contemporary pop and dance music...
in Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
and Century FM
Century FM
Century Radio was the brand name of a group of independent local radio stations in England. The brand was developed with the launch of 100-102 Century Radio in North East England in 1994, with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director...
in North West England
North West England
North West England, informally known as The North West, is one of the nine official regions of England.North West England had a 2006 estimated population of 6,853,201 the third most populated region after London and the South East...
as well as numerous projects for radio groups in the UK, Europe and Asia.
In 2005, Paul joined international programming consultancy United Radio as Senior Partner and a director, where he worked on various projects both in the UK and worldwide including Radio City in India, Radio Flash in Poland and Zip FM in Lithuania.
He was a shareholder and non-executive director of Planet Broadcasting Co Ltd, the company which owns and operates KCFM, the radio station for Hull
Kingston upon Hull
Kingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
which started broadcasting on 1 August 2007. KCFM was acquired by the Lincs FM Group
Lincs FM Group
The Lincs FM Group based in Lincolnshire, in the UK is the parent company of several Independent Local Radio stations.-History:The Lincs FM group started with just Lincs FM in Lincolnshire, UK but has won and acquired licences to operate other local radio stations across the UK's Midlands and...
on 17 June 2009.
Paul worked on an exclusive nine-month assignment with GMG Radio
GMG Radio
GMG Radio is the radio division of the Guardian Media Group. The group is based in Laser House, Salford Quays in Greater Manchester. The advertising division is in Old Trafford, Manchester. John Myers was the Chief Executive Officer, his deputy replaced him in April 2009...
as full-time Programme Consultant to Smooth Radio
102.2 Smooth Radio
102.2 Smooth Radio was an Independent Local Radio station for the Greater London area, which replaced 102.2 Smooth FM on 26 March 2007, launched by Gavin McCoy with Barbra Streisand's "A Star Is Born"...
London in 2008. The following year, he was appointed Acting Programme Director of Smooth Radio East Midlands in Nottingham on an interim basis.
He was invited to give the keynote speech at the inaugural conference of the Association of Radio Operators of India in New Delhi in November 2009 and has written a number of articles for the Indian media about the importance of training and the benefits of news and talk programming.
In the last few years, Paul has worked as a programming consultant for a number of radio stations and groups including 4FM, Ireland's multi-city station; Fire Radio in Bournemouth; Planet Rock
Planet Rock
Planet Rock may refer to:* "Planet Rock" , a 1982 song by Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force* Planet Rock: The Album, a 1986 album containing the song...
, the UK's classic rock station; and the Indian radio group of 17 stations, My-FM. He has become an expert on media law and has conducted legal seminars for presenters and journalists at a number of UK radio stations and groups including Absolute Radio, Real Radio
Real Radio
Real Radio is a network of adult contemporary independent local radio stations in England, Scotland and Wales and is operated by . Each station broadcasts local breakfast through to drive time shows and network programming in the evening and through the night...
, Smooth Radio, Jack FM
Jack FM
JACK FM is the alternative name and on-air brand of 60 radio stations in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Russia. Jack stations play a mix of 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s hits with some current hot adult contemporary singles. Jack's slogan "playing what we want" can also be...
and BFBS.
Other ventures include a successful iPhone app featuring show prep for radio presenters and producers called Radio Talk Topics and a company called Radio Ideas Bank - an online database of creative ideas for radio contests and promotions.
Lakesiders
In 1997, Paul was one of the characters featured in the TV docu-soap Lakesiders, shown on BBC OneBBC One
BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...
. The programme featured his often fractious working relationship with Essex FM breakfast DJ Martin Day. Lakesiders was scheduled after EastEnders
EastEnders
EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...
and was watched by a regular audience of up to 10 million viewers. A new series, called Return To Lakesiders featuring Paul and Martin, was shown on BBC Two
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
on 18th, 19 and 22 August 2008.
Paul appeared in a similar role, featuring very similar arguments and relationships with the presenters, in the version of the show centered around the MetroCentre called Trouble in Store which aired on BBC1 in 2005.