³Ô¹ÏÍø

From banking to presenter on BBC radio, John has had a range of experiences that helped him set up his own business, a successful radio company.  From a young age he showed musical talents.  He was a chorister who sang at St John’s College, Cambridge. He travelled the world due to his musical ability, and appeared on TV and radio shows.

After A-levels he began to pursue a career in banking and for some years he learned all about lending money and getting to know about people. He found out that it takes 1.7 seconds to form an opinion of someone. These new skills would prove to be very helpful when going into a radio career.

In 1984 while still working at NatWest he decided to set up his own media company and by 1997 he was fully self-employed.  He now works extensively with BBC radio, and has also done a lot of work outside radio for other clients.

John has been doing a lot of charity work for the BBC Children in Need and for schools. A few years back he was persuaded by the BBC to take a dip back into his past profession of singing. As a result he sang in front of a Premiership rugby crowd of 14,000 people. He also abseiled 400 feet for Children in Need, which was featured in the TV programme by the BBC.

We learned a lot from John and his extensive knowledge of radio. Two things he believes that make the difference between success and failure in the business world are effort and taking time to really listen to people. If you are willing to put in the work, like he did with his radio station while working at the bank, and listen to people who might want to do business with you, you can become very successful.  John believes giving back is also a vital part of helping the future which is why he has done so much work for Children in Need and the local community.

Based on a report by Sebastian Serrudo-Gossner