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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In
a groundbreaking production for BBC Radio 2, Michael Morpurgo's
WarHorse featuring Timothy Spall, Brenda Blethyn and Bob Hoskins
has its world premiere on November 8th.