This Is MediaCity - Media News, Insights and Interviews

How can private capital and new funding models help unlock creativity and help your next production? Rachel McClelland is behind Mythos Manchester, a landmark film event which hopes to answer just that. On today’s podcast we’ll find out more about Mythos and how Rachel plans to build a finance platform to help producers and funders connect. We’ll also cover her passion for regional story-telling a...

When Steve Lamacq needed a co-host for new BBC Podcast, The Rise and Fall of Madchester, it’s no surprise that Alison Bell received the call. Alison has been at the heart of the city’s music scene for years, her PR office was next to Tony Wilson’s and Noel Gallagher invited her to watch his "brother’s band Rain” before they became a certain Oasis. Even before that she found herself sharing a stage...

Today we are joined by entrepreneur, Simon Corbett, the founder of PR agency, Jargon Group, and Industry Insights Group. Starting out in major agencies, Weber Shandwick, Edelman and Porter Novelli, Simon founded Jargon Group in 2009. He talks about how he’s grown it organically and through acquisitions to become a global player, with dozens of staff. He explains the method behind buying other agen...

Michael AJ Sheridan is a social media producer and broadcaster who’s worked with BBC, Netflix, Channel 4 and many more. A University of Salford graduate, he explains how he hit the ground running (quite literally) on Coronation Street, Hollyoaks and The Voice.  He talks to us about working in social media, a call with Netflix boss, Ted Sarandos and what happened when he asked the cast of RuPa...

From negotiating pitches to GenAI, on today’s This Is MediaCity we talk to production director, Nigel Moore about some of the challenges and opportunities faced by indies. Nigel and his team at Fuzzy Duck have been based at MediaCity for more than a decade and their client list includes the likes of United Utilities, National Trust and Chester Zoo. So how do you maintain that success and what barr...

Channel 4 is looking to the future and how to make advertising on television available to companies of all sizes. Mark Watts and his Manchester-based team say using new technology and artificial intelligence, they could turn around an ad in a day. He argues that while there’s a lot of talk and headlines about advertising on digital, that television does something that they can’t do: “Television de...

Whenever a cast member leaves, or a major storyline breaks in Coronation Street or Emmerdale, it’ll be Iain MacLeod’s name in the headlines. With a 20 year career in soaps, Iain is now Creative Director of Continuing Drama at ITV and ITV Studios. “I like the immediacy of it, it’s exciting, fast-paced and every day you’re making television.” In this week’s This Is MediaCity he explains how a backgr...

He’s worked on everything from the Eurovision Song Contest and Graham Norton to The Apprentice and Top Gear. Sohail Shah is now the Managing Director of MediaCity’s King of Sunshine Productions, which has just had a big Channel 4 hit, with Nordic Train at Christmas. He’ll tell us his inspiring story which started through a chance encounter at WH Smiths and led to appearing on a gaming show, and ye...

He has one of the biggest jobs in UK media education and today, Dr Richard Jones joins us to talk all things media, journalism, sports and politics. As Director of Broadcast Media, Film, Journalism, Politics and Contemporary History at Salford University, Richard is in a unique position to talk about everything from the future of news reporting to where next for Andy Burnham and the Labour Party....

What do global Netflix hits Run Away and Fool Me Once have in common with Children in Need and The Voice? They were all edited at MediaCity’s post production facility, dock10. On this week’s podcast, we go behind the scenes with Commercial Manager, Jon Nunn, to see if he’ll spill some of the secrets behind the biggest shows on television. Jon will explain what goes into the post production on majo...

BBC The Late Show host, Becky Want gets up early today to join us on the This Is MediaCity couch. This is a podcast which covers it all, from how she’s won around her new national audience on the BBC, to the incredible way she got her first television job.  Plus working with legends including Les Dawson, Caroline Aherne and many more. Becky has been a mainstay of regional broadcasting for yea...

Katie Walderman and Gamal Fahnbulleh are the faces of flagship ITV news programme, Granada Reports. They’ve been presenting the show together for almost exactly a year this month, but both admitted they had big shoes to fill when they arrived. For Katie, she grew up watching Lucy Meacock, while for Gamal, he arrived after the tragic loss of Tony Morris: “He was just such a force of nature. And for...

Broadcasting legend, or self proclaimed “ginger scruff from Salford”? You decide, because Mike Sweeney is on the podcast today and as you’d expect this is an unfiltered account of his career from working as a docker, to putting Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham on the spot each week. “I remember, I had a pair of tight jeans on, black t-shirt, donkey jacket with collar turned up, medallion, a s...

On this week’s This Is MediaCity is Kate Squire, the BBC's Senior Head of Content Production for the North East and North West, who talked to us earlier this month. We will discuss regional BBC News and features and how it’s evolving to appeal to a younger audience, which doesn’t necessarily tune into local radio or television. Kate will explain why she’s so passionate about representing the UK as...

This week, we hear from Sinead Rocks, the Managing Director of Nations and Regions at Channel 4. Based in Yorkshire, she’s overseen the biggest change in the broadcaster’s history, as it moved its headquarters from London to Leeds. That’s something she was very familiar with, given she joined Channel 4 from the BBC, where she was involved in its relocation to MediaCity. She explains what impa...

Waterloo Road, Bad Girls, Footballers Wives, Casualty, The Five, Gangs of London - Cameron Roach has an enviable CV. The founder of Rope Ladder Fiction speaks to us as Waterloo Road moves into a major new studio space in Trafford as the BBC One hit keeps on growing. While he’s been a Series Producer, Executive Producer, and Sky’s Director of Drama, he’s very much focused on finding the next genera...

With days to go before this year’s BBC Children in Need, we caught up with Head of Content, Tommy Nagra. “This is the business end of our year, it’s a bit like air traffic control, just hoping that all the planes will take off and land nicely.” This will be Tommy’s 8th year at the helm of the charity production broadcast live from MediaCity's dock10 and he reveals it will also be hi...

There aren’t many people who can say they got emails from Davie Bowie and shared a cheese flan with Kate Bush. But then, Mark Radcliffe is a bit of a broadcasting legend starting out at Piccadilly Radio and getting major shows on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 6 Music. Then there’s a Top 20 album and best-selling book.  He sat down with This Is MediaCity to talk about all of that and...

It is one of the biggest animation festivals on the global calendar, Manchester Animation Festival, returns in November and it’s even more packed than ever. Walt Disney and Industrial Light and Magic are among some of the big names attending this year, as the Festival celebrates all aspects of the animation sector. It also has an exclusive preview of the next big Netflix animation - could it rival...

A brand new golf concept has opened at Salford Quays, using cutting edge tracking technology so you can play regardless of the weather… We speak to the man behind TeeClub, Nick Holmes, who puts us through our paces on the range and reveals how he’s played alongside a Ryder Cup player and beaten a Masters champion - not a bad claim to fame. “We wanted to create something to bring the community toge...

Empower Youth Zones are all about providing thousands of young people across Greater Manchester opportunities and experiences. Adam Farricker is the CEO and his team are behind the already successful HideOut Youth Zone in East Manchester and as of this summer, the new Salford Youth Zone. Adam explains how the charity is helping young people by giving them something positive to do and someone trust...

Maltina Jashari is on a mission to become Salford’s first female Formula 1 Driver.  And it’s getting very close for the architectural engineering student, who’s splitting her time between track testing, studying and trying to raise the money to make her dream come true. While very much focused on her future career, Maltina explains that this is also about promoting motorsport and STEM to the...

How ethical is GenAI? Will the Olympics embrace esports? Is tech coming after my job? Yes, strap yourself in, because joining us today is Professor Andy Miah, who is Chair in Science Comms & Future Media at the University of Salford. As an expert in the ethical, legal, social and cultural questions around technological change, Andy is the person to ask when it comes to the future of our organi...

Heidi Dawson has a double role at MediaCity, being the BBC’s Head of Salford and also Controller of BBC Radio 5 Live - the first radio station to broadcast from here. Heidi says she was one of the first people to put their hand up when the BBC announced its decision to move North and that stems from a “a real burning ambition to be in Greater Manchester” even as a youngster. She didn’t realise it...

We are back with Series 2 of The MediaCity podcast and we start with a focus on the next generation of talent learning their skills here. The Reporters’ Academy gives young people the skills and opportunities to inspire them for future careers in media and beyond. Katy Atkinson explains that while students have been given the experience to work on Olympics, Commonwealth Games and more, it’s also a...