Mike Powell – Q&A

Name?
Mike Powell but I have been known as Benedict Taylor; a pseudonom I had to use when I worked at County Sound in Guildford. The Programme Director was…Mike Powell!

Age?
A state of mind

Where are you from?
My Mum but before that a planet far far away

How did you get started in broadcasting?
Working on kingston hospital radio at the age of 12 – but they wouldn’t let me on air as my voice hadn’t broken!

When was that?
On a Wednesday I think

Why News broadcasting?
They wouldn’t let me do comedy

Where else would have viewers seen or heard you before?
Radio Luxembourg – presented a celebrity DJ slot at 18! In the broom cupboard at CBBC (I had 9 auditions to be Phillip Schofield’s replacement!); Radio 5 Live; BBC Radio Solent, SCR, Radio Kent, Berkshire, Oxford; BBC South Today doing weather, but also a touch of news; corporate videos for British Airways; now presenting breakfast/lunch for Points West and reporting

What is your Best on-air moment?
Still to come – some breaking news now, man has landed on mars….

What is your Worst on-air moment?
Running into the news booth during the news ident; opening the mic totally out of breath…seeing the transmission matrix in the corner of my eye flick over to another frequency..thinking I was off air and releasing a great sigh of relief and stopping. The presenter then asked (after a 10 second gap) – Are you okay Mike?…! He thought I had keeled over – and so did most of the audience….

What would you like to do before your career ends?
My career has changed from journalist at 17 to priest in my twenties to working in a prison, borstal and hospital to flying the world as cabin crew to presenting telly and radio…I’m looking forward to the next exciting twist…

What do you like to do in your spare time?
What spare time?

What advice would you give to anyone that would like to get into the broadcasting world?
Keep persisting. I bombarded radio stations from the age of 10 and one commentator at the time – the legendary Brian Moore – kindly told me I was a little young. But these days anything goes; so if you’ve got the burning desire to broadcast keep on trying – there are so many opportunities now. I wish I was 12 again; maybe these days they’d let me on air

A big thanks to Mike for taking part.