Powell, Mike

Mike Powell’s fascination with broadcasting took hold early – at the age of ten he was already writing to both ITV and the BBC in pursuit of a job.

By twelve, he had found his way on to hospital radio, though he was barred from the airwaves until his voice broke. Undeterred, he went on to audition nine times for the role of Phillip Schofield’s successor in the CBBC Broom Cupboard.

At seventeen he landed his first on-air opportunity, presenting a show on Radio Luxembourg.

Around the same time, he took up a position as sub-editor on a national girls’ magazine – and within a year the same publishing house invited him to join the launch team of a new music paper as a reporter, where he contributed three weekly columns and covered both concerts and record releases.

A change of course followed when Powell joined British Airways as a member of cabin crew, a role that took him across the globe.

His travels brought vivid experiences: white-water rafting in New Zealand and, rather less voluntarily, a period of house arrest during the Bangkok riots.

Back within the organisation, he moved into a training capacity – recruiting and mentoring new crew, and producing and presenting a two-and-a-half-hour corporate video distributed to all new recruits.

He subsequently led a team tasked with overhauling the airline’s entire induction programme, an initiative that saved British Airways millions of pounds and was later licensed to numerous external blue-chip companies.

The pull of broadcasting ultimately proved irresistible. From 1998, Powell presented weather for the BBC on both television and radio, with on-screen appearances on South Today in Southampton among his regional credits.

This laid the groundwork for a broadening portfolio at the Corporation: reading the news on BBC Radio 5 Live, hosting a varied slate of radio programmes across the BBC network, reporting for BBC Radio 4, and working as a television presenter and reporter for BBC World.

At BBC TV in Bristol he fronted the breakfast bulletins and contributed reports to The Politics Show.

Since 2017, Mike has been a newsreader on BBC Radio 2 – Europe’s most listened-to national radio station – alongside commitments to BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 5 Live.

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson corresponded with Mike in September 2017 and asked about his career.

“I was a journalist at the age of 17, interviewing John Travolta, the Bee Gees, Beach Boys and Olivia Neutron Bomb, etc.

“Then I trained to be a priest, working in prisons, borstals, schools, hospitals, etc.

“I then worked in America, then at a borstal, then flew the world for British Airways for a decade and as Customer Service Manager for Heathrow Express before joining the Beeb in 1998 as a weather presenter before being given my own radio show that lasted for nine years on BBC Solent, Surrey and Sussex.

“Yes, I was permanent as weather presenter at South Today.

“Interestingly for two months I’m writing and reading the news for GNS – the General News Service of the BBC – which provides hourly news bulletins from 7pm – 12am for all 40+ BBC local radio stations. And the Weather Team are sat right next to me. The circle of life eh?

“So pleased to see that you’re reviving the project and keeping busy.  Like you, I’ve always had a fascination with broadcasting and used to present the weather in my bathroom as a child and read the news at my mum’s dressing table in my teens.”

Personal information

Clips of Mike on The TV Room

Mike may be featured in video/audio clips on our other websites. Click the links below to display a listing (a 404 error will appear if no clips are found):

Rewind | Clean Feed

Online presence

Acknowledgements