No longer just a face for radio
30th January 2025
It’s an old line - and still usually gets a laugh when I say it - that I’ve got ‘the perfect face for radio’. But, over the last few months, that’s begun to change - not the laugh, but the idea that I’m someone who’s ill-suited to appearing on screen. I’m grey-haired and middle aged. I’ve worn glasses since my teens and have had a beard since my early twenties when I went Interrailing round Europe with a huge backpack. I don’t have what might be described as classic TV good looks (certainly in terms of how that was perceived when I began my broadcasting career in the late eighties).
Last year I spent a stimulating term teaching radio - assessing practical news days - on the BA Honours Journalism course at the University of Leeds (https://courses.leeds.ac.uk/j925/journalism-ba). In the warren of buildings next door is the School of Design, which offers - alongside much else - short courses for Continuing Personal Development. A friend, a wonderful fashion expert and inspiring teacher called Claire Watson, has worked there for many years. The School’s launched a fascinating new concept, the Professional Academy for Creative Enterprise. As it says on their website, PACE is “ … a pioneering initiative aimed at strengthening the relationship between industry and academia”. It has courses, online and in person, in subjects including textiles and fashion (the links to the Yorkshire textile industry date back to the 1870s), visual communication, design and colour (https://www.pacenterprise.co.uk/).
Anyone who’s known me a while may now be sniggering at the idea that I might contribute anything to the world of fashion. Yes, I can look presentable in a suit, tie and shirt combo, but clothes have never been a passion. However last summer I received an invitation from PACE’s charismatic director, Dr Maria Lonsdale. She was interested in my presenting experience rather than innate sense of style!
We talked about this new idea, then still in development, involving voice overs for promotional videos and on camera delivery for new executive education courses. She talked passionately about a high end, beautifully produced product. In other words, this was going to be a world away from watching your boss struggling with hosting a Zoom meeting during that first, bright spring of the coronavirus pandemic.
Now, I’m not saying I’m either premium or sophisticated, but there’s a wonderful team of experts (including brilliantly creative video and filming producers Agy and Duncan) to help make me sound and, more particularly, look as though I know what I’m doing. Working in a bright, light studio or the purpose built sound booth, I’ve been pushed way out of my comfort zone. Reading, on autocue, a script containing lots of technical phrases or voicing a promo for a course is very different from my experience of 30 plus years presenting live radio shows. But I’m REALLY enjoying the challenge.
Apart from anything else, I’ve never before turned up for work with a selection of shirts to make sure at least one will fit in well with the surrounding decor! The work is a fascinating combination of the two worlds I know best: broadcasting and university teaching (which I began to do, alongside my radio work, in 1999 - working with the radio journalists of the future).
Every word has to count, the learning message has - crucially - to get through, so the way language is used and the pace of delivery are really important. The design and colours are, needless to say, very carefully considered. It’s fascinating for me and, I hope, for the students, the target audience at whom this is all aimed.
I can’t (unless you’re on one of the courses) let you see me in action on camera, but the picture accompanying this piece shows me during a recording session. And here’s the promotional film for ‘Introduction to Colour: From Theory to Practice’: https://vimeo.com/1033901566
I started with an old line, about having the ‘perfect face for radio’. I’ll end with another one, that a change is a good as a rest. I’m loving this new challenge, even though - as a keen photographer - I’ve always preferred being on the other side of the lens. Who knows, in my late fifties, this face for radio may yet have a face for TV too?
Whether it’s reading your autocue(!!), hosting a live event, university teaching, training, recording a voiceover, giving a talk about dementia or chatting on your podcast (or something entirely different), do please get in touch. https://www.theandrewedwards.com/contact
