Skip to main content

Steve Parkinson - Radio is the Theatre of the Mind

When Steve was asked about his path from high school to where he is now, he told us that it was a winding one! He “had no idea" that he would go from working as a teenager at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen, a Saturday at Debenhams and a six week stint at Wimpy Burgers to being Group Managing Director today of seven national radio stations.
In order to get to where he is now, Steve, after graduating from drama school, went to work in theatres and cruise ships as a stage manager. He then moved onto TV presenting in Newcastle. This lead to jobs in radio stations all over the UK where he worked his way up from producer to marketing to commercial roles.
            
 “I can’t say I mapped it out.”
Listen To Absolute Radio Here
Steve went on to tell us that the thing he loves the most about his job is the variety. “Although I set out to work in theatre and TV, radio oddly gives me a fix of everything. Audio, video and a lot of events.”
“Radio is the theatre of the mind!”

Funnily, Steve also said that the worst thing about his job is the variety:
“As much as I love it, radio is 24/7. If a transmitter goes down or if there’s a massive news story that needs a news flash or a change of music to fit a more sombre mood, we’re on it whenever.”

Listen to Heat Here
What advice would you give to someone who would like to get into the creative industries based on your own personal experiences?
“Show interest and enthusiasm and you’re half way there. Be flexible, be positive and be helpful! Learn quickly, and be prepared to move around if you want that job. Studying at school/College/Uni is good as it shows not just the qualifications but that you can commit to something. But pastimes and hobbies are useful too, as it shows you have interests and motivations in a broader sense.”

Bauer Media: https://www.bauermedia.co.uk
Working in radio: https://www.radioandtelly.co.uk/workinradio.html
MGA Edinburgh: https://www.themgaacademy.com

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rhonda Scott - The Scott School of Singing

Careers in the creative industries can come in many shapes and forms. Rhonda Scott is a premium example of how you can take things you love and make a living out of them. After leaving school in S5, Rhonda went to study Music Education with Drama at Aberdeen University. Whilst studying she also obtained her performance diploma in both piano and singing. In 1984, Rhonda started teaching music in secondary schools as well as being involved in many youth theatre projects. In 1995 Rhonda founded Ragamuffins and Leading Lights theatre groups, while also working for Aberdeen Youth Music Theatre (AYMT) as a musical director/choreographer. Continuing to teach in schools until August 2007, Rhonda decided to branch off and start up her own singing school. The Scott School of Singing, is where Rhonda and an array of other singing teachers from across Aberdeen teach and inspire people to peruse their talents in the creative arts!  Rhonda told us that the best part of her job is...
Post a Comment
Read more

Shirley McGill - The McGill School of Speech and Drama

Shirley is a fantastic ambassador to the creative arts and their integration into young people’s lives.  Soon after leaving school, Shirley obtained a Bachelor of Education as well as studying Speech and Drama and gaining her Licentiate with Guildhall School. While working as a primary school teacher Shirley also taught speech and drama privately. After working as a teacher in schools for four years, eventually it got to the point where Shirley had to chose between one or the other. Time did not allow both and in 1992 the McGill School of Speech and Drama was founded! While teaching speech and drama through her own business, Shirley was asked to join Aberdeen Youth Music Theatre (AYMT) as their director.  When Shirley joined, the group was only three years into existence and had just 30 members.  Since then, it has grown to over 160 members with three sections; juniors, intermediates and seniors, all of which produce their own, independent shows. Shir...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sonja Rasmussen - No Amount of University Teaching Can Make a Good Sub-Editor

While studying for her Bachelor of Education degree, Sonja realised that teaching wasn’t going to be for her in the long term – yet she loved writing the essays with their deadlines! After working as a teacher for six months, Sonja applied to do sub-editor’s training at Aberdeen Journals and was offered her first job as a journalist. After two weeks of intensive training, she was thrown into a busy news desk and learned from her mistakes. “I worked in the days before page layout on the computer cutting back stories. I went on to do a spell as features sub-editor, where I became one of the first to use the new Apple Mac computers.” Sonja worked on the Evening Express and Green Final, and every day was different, busy, noisy and lots of fun for her. After having children, Sonja returned to work the night shift at the Press and Journal, she was very busy, planning 60 pages a night. But it did take a year to get used to working until 3am! In 2016, while still working n...
Post a Comment
Read more