Radio Futurologist
James is a radio futurologist, and is Managing Director of Media UK, the UK’s free media resource.
James has worked in radio since 1989 as an award-winning copywriter, presenter, and internet advisor. In 2001 he joined the original Virgin Radio in London, where he was Digital Media Director: launching the world’s first radio smartphone app in March 2005. In 2007 he joined the BBC to work on the BBC iPlayer for radio, achieving a dramatic increase in the service’s audio quality. Since leaving the BBC in 2009, he has worked for a variety of businesses, including the receiver manufacturer Pure, UK Radioplayer and Radioplayer Worldwide, OXIS Media, Absolute Radio and talkSPORT, and a variety of European media companies; helping them focus on the benefits and challenges that new platforms bring to their business.
He is a Trustee of the pan-industry body The Radio Academy. He has served as a judge for a number of industry awards including the Australian ABC Local Radio Awards, the UK Student Radio Awards, and the UK’s Radio Academy Awards, where he has also served on the committee. He was a founder of the hybrid radio technology association RadioDNS.
He is one of the organisers of nextrad.io, the radio ideas conference each September. He is regularly interviewed about the future of radio, and has appeared on programmes like BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme, BBC Radio 5 Live and the UK commercial radio network.