Wakey Wakey! Salford Grad helps Yorkshire rise and shine…
Friday 12 October 2018
A GRADUATE who performed at Glastonbury has landed a job as a radio presenter, just months after completing his studies.
Rich Stephenson, who graduated from MA Broadcast Journalism from Salford in summer, is the breakfast host on KCFM, a commercial radio station in East Yorkshire. He’s one of three daytime presenters, working from 5am-10am Monday to Friday, and 10am-2pm on Saturdays.
Before coming to Salford, Rich had been a studio manager and musician, and wanted a career change into radio presenting. He said:
“As soon as I came to the open day I knew it was the place for me: great facilities, a very well known student radio station, tutors who work in the industry - and the BBC and ITV next door! It had everything I needed to develop... I just needed to put the hard work in.”
“I’ve always been a massive radio lover! It’s a great mix of my two passions: music…and talking!”
“I’ve always been a massive radio lover! It’s a great mix of my two passions: music…and talking!”
His first memory of radio was appearing on BBC Radio London for the Gaby Roslin show, where he explained that witnessing a technical error made him realise his dream.
“During the show the live newsfeed dropped off. I was amazed at how quickly and professionally Gaby and the team worked to sort it in a matter of minutes. I just thought, “Wow, I’d love to present a show like this!”
Following this, when studying at Salford Rich presented his own show ‘That’s Rich’ on the University’s radio station, Shock Radio, and used his knowledge from his music career as a platform into the industry.
After starting his new role as the KCFM Breakfast show host last month, Rich feels as though his knowledge of East Yorkshire and warm, friendly personality are what gave him an advantage in the application process. However, he still learns new things about his home region each week, when KCFM send him out ‘On The Road’, a weekly segment of his show where he heads out into East Yorkshire to see what’s going on in the area.
He said: “I’m still finding out about places to go and things to do, which is exciting! They’ve already made me jump into the North Sea with an Inshore Rescue Group and make sausages in a local butchers- all in the aid of research!”
Caroline Cheetham, a Broadcast Journalism Lecturer at Salford has congratulated him saying:
"It is fantastic to see Rich achieve such a dream start to his career in radio.”
“As well as being a first class radio producer, Rich has the perfect personality for an on-air presenter. He's intelligent but he's also warm, friendly and an excellent listener. There is also nothing that Rich doesn't know about music. As well as being a music fan, he's an excellent writer and musician. We, and all the broadcast team at Salford, are thrilled that KCFM spotted that he has something special and gave him this prominent on-air role, even though he had only just graduated from the course."
When asked about the future, Rich explained that he is still keen to keep up his passion for music through presenting radio.
“I love the challenge of entertaining and informing East Yorkshire every morning. And of course playing some great songs!”
Rich has a tour coming up in November, and his next EP will be released later this year. Listen to his Top 10 single, ‘Katie’
