16/06/08 - PRESS PRAISE FOR SMOOTH
OPERATIONS' COMMERCIAL RADIO FIRST
On Sunday 15th June at 1pm Smooth Operations broke new broadcasting
ground as its documentary The Rolling River Of Rock was broadcast
on commercial station Smooth Radio. Elizabeth Mahoney wrote the
following review
in The Guardian (Monday 16 June 2008)
Rolling River of Rock (Smooth Radio, Sunday) is the first
of ten independent productions commissioned by GMG Radio for its
network of stations. It's on for the next seven weeks, in hourly
instalments, charting the musical significance and history of
the Mississippi river. It feels like a good Radio 2 documentary
- engaging from the start, comprehensive, richly illustrated and
well produced - and in its scale, is highly unusual for commercial
radio.
The Mississippi is a good place to start. Not many topics
lend themselves so easily to evocative, alluring music, and a
riveting local history. Yesterday's programme was about New Orleans,
described by series presenter Mark Cohn, as "a steaming cauldron"
and "the northernmost city of the Caribbean". Cohn,
singer on the hit Walking in Memphis, has a voice that is treacly
in a good way, all warm and moreish. There was plenty of punchy,
lively input from others, too. Local radio station founder Jerry
Brock passionately described the excitement that early brass bands
roused in the city. "Before we had boom boxes and portable
telephones," he said, "a brass band was the closest
thing to portable media. Man, a band of music coming down your
street! Can you imagine?
Part two of The Rolling River Of Rock, 'Louisiana &
the Delta Blues', will be broadcast on Sunday 22nd June at 1pm on
Smooth Radio. The series is available to listen again via Smooth
Radio’s website and will also be broadcast on Real
Radio, Rock Radio
and Century Radio over
the summer.
16/06/08 - NEW PASTURES FOR NICK
BARRACLOUGH
Sunday 8th June was a momentous day in Smooth Operations' history.
At 5pm Nick Barraclough broadcast his last country show on Smooth
Radio. For Nick and Smooth Operations it represents the end of a
run of weekly country music shows that has remained unbroken for
a remarkable sixteen years.
Says Nick: "I've had a wonderful time with Smooth this past
year and it's allowed me a fantastic opportunity to widen the audience
for country music in the UK. But after sixteen years of continuous
weekly broadcasts I feel it's time to take a break and pursue new
challenges."
Nick leaves Smooth Radio to concentrate on producing and presenting
specialist music documentaries for BBC Radio 4, following the success
of his programmes about maverick DJ Wolfman Jack and Border Blasters
about the pioneers of American radio on the border with Mexico.
His presenter credits for 2008's Sony Station of the Year include
Did I Shave My Legs For This?, Three Chords And The Truth
and The Roadie's Tale.
Country music though is in Nick's blood: "I remain passionate
about the genre and I've been lucky enough to meet and mingle with
real legends of country music," he says.
"Somewhere a small part of the Barraclough family home will
be forever Nashville".
Nick has been showcasing country music on UK radio since 1992.
His show on BBC Radio 2 was Smooth Operations' very first commission
and the foundation of what has become an extremely successful production
company.
He anchored the BBC's pioneering live coverage of the Country Music
Awards from Nashville long before they became fashionable and was
honoured with an International Broadcaster award for his dedication
to the support and promotion of the genre.
14/05/08 - SONY GOLD FOR SMOOTH OPERATIONS
 Smooth
Operations is celebrating after winning another Gold at the Sony
Radio Academy Awards 2008 on Monday 13th May.
The Feelgood Factor was produced by John Leonard and presented
by Mark Radcliffe. The programme follows Mark's radio journey to
meet the three survivors of the classic r'n'b band Dr Feelgood and
was judged the best in the Music Special category.
The show reunited Mark with his best friend from his university
days, Phil 'Wammo' Walmsley. The pair first met over a copy of the
Feelgood's Down by the Jetty album and on its re-release
thirty years later they set off in search of the remaining band
members, with Mark assuming the role of late singer Lee Brilleaux
and Wammo as eccentric guitarist Wilko Johnson.
"The Feelgood Factor" featured contributions from Bob
Geldof, Paul Weller and Blondie drummer Clem Burke as well as Mark
and Wammo reliving the memories of hearing the album for the first
time.
Smooth Operations' managing director John Leonard said: "...
though the story's tinged with the tragedy of Lee Brilleaux's death,
there's such warmth coming from everyone about him. The fact that
Bob Geldof, Paul Weller and Clem Burke came on to say what an influential
band the Feelgoods were is testament to their standing. "
"It's such an incredibly personal programme to make that it
feels like an extra special victory," said Mark, who won Sony
Gold last year for Best Music Programme. As he was presenting his
show from Manchester on the night, John Leonard accepted the award
on his behalf.
"I'm sorry I wasn't there to pick the award up but if you
start turning up for every gold award you win, it looks a bit keen,
doesn't it? But if this makes more people realise the importance
of Dr Feelgood then that's great."
30/04/08 - SMOOTH OPERATIONS BAGS THREE
OF THE FIRST DOCUMENTARY COMMISSIONS FOR COMMERCIAL RADIO
Smooth Operations is delighted to announce that it has been commissioned
to make three major documentary series for the Smooth radio network.
The three series are The Rolling River of Rock, a seven-part
journey exploring the music of the Mississippi river and its tributaries;
Rock In The Dock, an entertaining exploration of famous musical
court cases and Blogs from the Bunker, an audio diary of
the experiences of soldiers serving in Iraq.
The Mississippi music series is in production and is due to broadcast
in seven parts from Sunday 15th June at 1pm. Rock In the Dock
will be aired in August and the Iraq documentary will go out in
November.
Smooth Operations’ managing director and executive producer
John Leonard said: “This is a very exciting opportunity for
us and I’m delighted to be making some of the first documentaries
for Smooth Radio. GMG’s decision to commission Smooth Operations
for these three series marks an important step for us and it supports
our position within the industry.”
The Rolling River of Rock will be presented by Marc Cohn,
who had a major hit in Britain with Walking in Memphis. It
will tell how the Mississippi and its tributaries has shaped American
music from the days of Louis Armstrong playing on the riverboats.
The seven parts of the series will focus on the music of New Orleans,
Louisiana, the Mississippi Delta, Memphis, St Louis, upstream Minneapolis
and finally Chicago, featuring classic tracks from blues, country,
soul, rock’n’roll and other musical genres.
Series producer Nick Barraclough said: “I remember sitting
with the great songwriter and riverboat captain John Hartford as
he mapped out the way the Mississippi linked up many of the significant
musical cities, and each type of music seemed to fertilise a different
region in turn. This will be a fascinating series both musically
as well as geographically.”
The seed of Rock In the Dock has been germinating for some
time and producer Ian Callaghan is delighted to be able finally
to transform the idea into a reality, “Whoever coined the cliché,
“sex, drugs and rock’n’roll” forgot one key
ingredient – litigation. Musicians long ago learned not to
worry about getting a good manager – just get a good lawyer!”
Rock In The Dock is no dry resumé of impenetrable
legal debate, but a collection of the best litigious, fractious
and plain weird entertainment the music business has inadvertently
thrown up, with consideration of some of the more significant legal
stand-offs that have helped define the modern music industry.
Whether it be clashes over plagiarism, drugs, sex or violence,
dodgy contracts, greed, indecent exposure, obscenity, artist rights,
the might of the media or the unpredictability of fans, rock is
often in the dock. The resulting acrimony is often worse than a
divorce, and far more entertaining.
Blogs from the Bunker will, we hope, be a groundbreaking
radio documentary that gathers the very personal experiences of
those serving in the forces today, weaving together music and actuality
to contemplate the reality of life on the front lines both now and
then. In commemoration of those who’ve fallen over years of
conflict, the programmes will be broadcast to coincide with Remembrance
Day.
14/01/2008 - BBC RADIO SUCCESS
Smooth Operations is pleased to announce a promising start to the
new year with another successful commissioning round for BBC Radio
2. Among the programmes we will be producing in 2008 (in addition
to our regular output) are:
Mark Riley's Musical Time Machine (6-part series)
Marc Riley dips into the BBC's archives and unearths seminal and
tantalizing rock interviews.
The McGarrigle/ Wainwright Dynasty
A documentary profiling one of the most fascinating and talented
dynasties in contemporary music.
War Horse
A musical radio adaptation of the inspirational children's book
and now hit theatre production.
Managing director John Leonard reflected, “We are delighted
that Smooth Operations continues to generate ear-catching and imaginative
ideas that offer opportunities to develop the medium of radio and
contribute to its already rich landscape. That we continue to achieve
this in an increasingly difficult environment is cause for celebration.”
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