Harrison, Keith

Keith worked at BBC Radio Cleveland in the late-1970s, including presenting the early morning show On the Move (1978).

He left to work in London as a producer on BBC Radio 2, including: Brian Matthew’s Round Midnight (1979 – 1981), Peter Clayton (1979 – 1980), John Dunn (1981) and Two’s Best (1981 – 1982).

He was a Channel 4 announcer, at its launch in November 1982 and stayed for 18 months. He also appeared in-vision c. January 1983 – May 1983.

Keith joined LWT as an announcer and also read the local news headlines (1984 – c. 1986).

Correspondence

Paul R. Jackson got in touch with Keith, with the help of Stan Laundon from BBC Radio Cleveland. Paul and Keith corresponded in February 2024.

How did your love of radio come about?

“1966 was a very important year for me. Not because England won the World Cup – it was far more important to me than that.

“A pirate radio ship called Radio 270 started broadcasting off the Scarborough/Bridlington coast and my life was to change forever.

“From the moment I first heard the likes of Paul Burnett, Roger Gale, Noel Miller etc, then I knew that I wanted to work on the wireless.

“The main problems were that, at the time, people from a 2-up, 2-down terrace house in Stockton-on-Tees didn’t work on the wireless – they got an apprenticeship and stayed with that company until retirement.

“There were no other stations apart from the Light Programme, the Home Service and the Third Programme, plus Radio Luxembourg, which used to fade in and out. But I was determined that this is what I wanted to do.

“When I told the careers master my plans, he said that he’d help and get me information. The next week he presented me with an application form to be a wireless operator in the Merchant Navy – not quite what I had in mind!

“I persevered and got a Fidelity 4 track tape machine and discovered I could ‘kind of’ multi-track on it, so I recorded a programme and sent it to the Light Programme. The reply I got was the best and the worst piece of advice I could have got.

“Basically the chap said that there was no chance of me working in radio but, if I wanted to persist then he’d suggest I get more experience of dealing with people i.e., join an amateur dramatic society or work in a shop!

“As I was hopeless at learning lines at school, I chose the shop option!

“Robinson’s was a large local department store in Stockton and I worked in the electric department selling TVs, washing machines etc. Eventually I became ‘Manager’ of the record department there and, because I was a massive Beatles fan, managed to drastically over order their latest LP!

“I was eventually offered a managerial apprenticeship there, but that wasn’t part of my big plan so I left and joined Rumbelows as a salesman.

“By this time BBC Local Radio stations were starting up, including Radio Teesside in Middlesbrough.

“I remember clearly very early on New Year’s morning hearing Eric Sumner saying ‘doesn’t it feel as if there’s just you and me awake in the whole world’ and I knew exactly what he meant. He was talking directly to me. So out came the Fidelity tape machine again and a tape was sent to Radio Teesside and I got a reply!

“In 1973, Jim Brady, who was the programme organiser of the station, invited me in for a chat and offered me a job on my days off from Rumbelows.

“They needed someone to reclaim tape. The small reels of tape needed to be spliced together onto a large spool and it was sent to London to be replaced by a large clean spool for fresh tape…and I was in charge of that.

“The reclaiming tape lasted for a couple of years, but I learned the basics of editing and did the occasional bits of recording for the news producers. But I also got to listen to and watch the people doing their programmes.

“Stan Laundon let me read some requests out on the Sunday Request Show, as did Vanessa Gittings, and I owe them a lot. After a while, a job as an SA came up and I was persuaded to apply to experience the BBC’s Boarding system so that, when I was ready, I’d know what to experience. 

“Nobody was more surprised than I was when I was offered the job.

“I was suddenly working on the wireless. Request shows, continuity, production etc all became the norm. I learned an awful lot in those early days via mistakes and trial and error! I even managed to put Mrs Dales Diary off the air one afternoon.

“Alan Shaw, my station manager, had left to become manager at Radio Manchester and was moving to new premises with new equipment and he asked if I’d go down for 6 weeks and front their drive-time show.

“Again I learned so much from the people there.  When I went back to BBC Cleveland, a producers job came up and I was asked to apply, but thought there was no chance of me getting the job.

“I was offered my dream job – breakfast show presenter/producer. Up at three every morning and on air, initially, from 6am till 10am and I loved it.

“After a couple of years, I felt that I needed a bit of a break. Not on holiday, but on a different programme for a few weeks. I think I might have tried to be a prima donna! When they said no, I thought that I’d show them and apply for another job.

“Aerial, the BBC magazine was the go to place for jobs, so I decided to apply for one that there was not a cat in hell’s chance of me getting an interview for….just to show the bosses I mean business!!

“Not only did I get the interview in 1979, but I got the job too. I was now a Radio 2 producer living in London.

“From my point of view, the late-1970s were an ideal time to join Radio 2. There were some superb producers with an amazing amount of knowledge and expertise. People like Angela Bond, John Molloy, Bill Bebb and Steve Allen, who taught me an awful lot.

“For some unknown reason, I was classed as a speech producer and worked on the likes of Round Midnight with Brian Matthew, The John Dunn Show etc.  Sitting with Brian in the canteen was quite amazing, as I used to listen to him on a Saturday morning in my teens and now, suddenly, I’m one of his producers.

“The stories he came out with were quite amazing and he was telling me about them!! I learned a lot from him and John regarding interview techniques. They both asked the right questions at the right time and, it seemed, had always done their homework.

“There was also a two-week period when Jimmy Young was on holiday and his studio producers took the same off and I was drafted into the studio to produce David Frost of all people.

“There were times when I felt overawed by it all. Here’s a young man from a 2-up, 2-down terraced house in Stockton, producing the BBC Radio Orchestra in Maida Vale.

“It didn’t help that I couldn’t read music, so I was well out of my depth, but the SMs at Maida Vale were quite superb and words can’t express how good they were with me.

“Also, during my time on Round Midnight, I met people who I’d only seen on tele or film. People like Mohammed Ali, Charlton Heston, the Bee Gees, Tommy Steele etc. Brian and I even had afternoon tea in the Savoy – served by Lauren Bacall in her suite!”

How did the switch from Radio 2 producer to Channel 4 announcer happen?

“In 1983, I got a call from a tech person I knew who’d been working in BBC TV continuity, asking if I’d mind popping along the road to help with the auditions for a new TV channel that was opening.

“Basically they didn’t have enough people to audition for the radio style announcers they wanted and they wanted me to make up the numbers.

“TV was never part of my big plan as someone once told me that I had a great face for radio!! But I went along as it was only a couple of doors down from my office in Charlotte Street.

“I’d got nothing to lose and it was nice presenting again, which meant I was very relaxed and ad-libbed.

“I was told afterwards, that I was on everyone’s list from those selecting the new team and a few days later I was offered the job with Channel 4. I was now working in television – unbelievable.

“For the few weeks before Channel 4 went live, I was doing dummy runs with the station. Only broadcast to other TV channels, so they could work out continuity etc.

“We all put in an amazing amount of hours pre-opening night. Paul Coia and I seemed to hit it off straight away. I think it was the odd sense of humour we both had.

“Sadly Paul didn’t stay all that long with Channel 4 and the ‘fun’ seemed to evaporate.

“There were only four of us initially (with David Stranks and Olga Hubiczka) and once a month we presented in-vision, a late-night programme called Preview, but this was dropped after six months.

“Channel 4 was run by computer and, if the computer said you had 5 seconds for an announcement, then you had 5 seconds – not 5.5 seconds. I remember one of the announcers having to say ‘Now on 4, Jack Hargreaves The Old Country’.

“Unfortunately he over ran by half a second and the nation didn’t get to hear the final syllable of the word ‘Country’!!

“I was able to learn quite a bit about in-vision stuff and closedown was in-vision and, at the time, hardly anyone watched at that time of night!!!

“Channel 4 and I decided to part company, after around 18 months and I’m sure it wasn’t ‘cos I took the michael out of an hour-long programme charting the journey of a pineapple chunk from being picked to ending up in a tin in a pantry!!

“Bill Bingham took over from me on the team.”

How did you end up joining LWT?

“LWT asked if I’d be interested in joining them as an announcer cum newsreader and it was here that I met another announcer who made a suggestion that was to turn out to become my USP as far as conferences and videos were concerned.

“I had great problems learning lines, but another announcer, Trish Bertram had worked in the theatre and told me that some actors put their lines onto cassette and listened to them as they feel asleep at night.

“I was able to adapt that suggestion and, after a few weeks of trial and error, came up with an idea that was to ‘revolutionise’ the way some people fronted conferences.

“By putting the whole script onto cassette and adding an earpiece plus remote, I was able to do away with a lectern and autocue and was able to wander around the stage, and indeed the audience, whilst looking as if I knew all of the script…..or I was making it up as I went along!

“It also meant that I could do more than one conference a week, as I had no lines to learn!  And I owe all that to Trish Bertram’s suggestion.”

What did you do after leaving LWT?

“I had stayed for 18 months and called an agency I knew when I was at Radio 2, called Arlington Enterprises. An amazing lady called Annie Sweetbaum took me on as my agent.

“She sent me from an interview for a corporate video for Unipart and I ended up fronting their videos, conferences and roadshows for several years, along with Kay Alexander from BBC TV in Birmingham.

“Great lady and we had some amazing times together in places like Monaco, Birmingham, Bradford etc!!

“The Unipart work led on to other conferences and videos. I fronted the relaunch of BT along with their chairman Sir Iain Vallance, from six floors up at BT headquarters.

“I did most of Iveco Fords conferences and roadshows, as well as hundreds of other corporate companies over the years.

“Again, I was fortunate because it was the time of growth in the corporate industry and lots of money was spent on sets and productions.

“Unfortunately the recession set in and lots of cutbacks occurred.

“The end for me was a 12-week roadshow where I was in Bradford on the Sunday to rehearse with the client, Monday did the show till around four, then had to drive to Glasgow to rehearse Tuesday show.

“Do the show Tuesday, then drive to Birmingham to rehearse the show that night and do it on the Wednesday.

“I suddenly realised this schedule was in danger of killing me!! Particularly as it was January, and I was driving in snow and sleet.

“I’d had a company of my own in my ‘back pocket’ called Sound Business and I decided to resurrect it and see what I could do with it.

“Conference and videos were becoming expensive during a recession so I started an audio production company offering corporate clients an audio cassette mainly for their sales force on the road.

“SJP Wealth Management were one of the first on board and we were producing around 28,000 cassettes and then CDs for the RAC Patrols had a similar programme and that contract lasted for well over 20 years. 3M were also with us for many years.

“The company was doing exceptionally well with a set-up including some 20 reporters across the country and indeed abroad.

“Duplication and distribution was sorted and the company ran like clockwork until Covid struck.  Arranging interviews became difficult as they all had to be done via remote settings and people kept getting ill on the days we were due to produce the programmes.

“It became quite difficult to operate under those circumstances so, early on in the pandemic, I made the decision to close the company and find an easier life!!

“Radio always was and always will be my first love and I’d guess that’s why the audio production company was so much fun to do.

“Not bad for a bloke from a 2-up, 2-down terraced house in Stockton on Tees!”

 

Personal information

Clips of Keith on The TV Room

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