Smooth Operations Productions Ltd is an independent radio and TV production company specialising in music documentaries and series. The company is run by John Leonard and Nick Barraclough, who joined forces in 1996 after long and varied careers with the BBC, and it became part of the UBC Media Group in 2004.

Smooth Operations has produced over 2000 hours of programmes, mostly for the BBC. Our current weekly programmes for BBC Radio 2 are the Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie Show (Monday-Thursday 2000-2200l), and the Mike Harding Folk Show (Wednesday 1900-2000).

We also produce the Bruce Dickinson Rock Show for BBC 6 Music (Saturday 2100-0000) and will shortly be in production with a new programme for BBC Radio 1Xtra.

Smooth Operations created the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, now in preparation for its tenth year, and the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award, coming up to its eleventh. We broadcast live each year from the BBC Radio 2 Cambridge Folk Festival in Britain, and specialise in management and coverage of major events as diverse as the UK Music Hall of Fame, the Mercury Music Prize, New Orleans Mardi Gras and Rio Carnival.

Check out Past productions to see what we've done and In production for details of work in progress.