Jazz on the Tyne – birth of a jazz podcast

Five years ago, I could never have imagined that I would find myself presenting a radio show or podcast, let alone one that’s about to hit 100 (editions, not years!).  As with so many things, it was largely a matter of chance.

At the start of 2019, I was looking for volunteering opportunities, having just self-published a book based on my 13 visits to the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. I had heard about the Volunteer Centre Newcastle and I looked through the extensive list of opportunities on their website. Two in particular caught my eye: one was for a maths tutor; the other was for a presenter on Hive Radio, an internet station operated by Community Arts Project North East (CAPNE). 

I decided not to pursue the former opportunity, although I currently do some informal maths tutoring for those with English as a second language.  However, I did apply to CAPNE.  I recently found a copy of my application form, which included the following:

I have no previous experience of radio broadcasting but would be keen to learn about this.  I have been told that my voice would be good for radio and – as well as playing music – I would enjoy telling listeners why I have chosen these songs and hopefully give some background about the musicians.  I would also like to advertise local upcoming gigs and feature recordings by some of these performers.

I had no expectation that this application would be successful. So, I was astonished shortly afterwards when Ben Hudson, co-director of CAPNE, rang and said they were interested in taking me on!

I then met Ben and Diane Gray, the other CAPNE director, at their base at Perth Green in Jarrow. Ben, who’s a folk musician with a teaching and training background, and Diane, who’s an award-winning radio producer, had founded CAPNE a few years earlier, to maintain the community radio station previously based at Bede’s World museum. The station had presenters playing various styles of music – but not jazz! So, I explained my plans for a jazz show to Ben and Diane, who were happy to go with this. They had a radio studio at Perth Green, but I decided to record my shows at home; a fortunate decision, in the light of global events the following year.

I prepared the first programme soon afterwards; Ben and Diane liked it and fixed the date for transmission: 27 April 2019.  In the meantime, I busily alerted people to the new show, set up a Twitter account – and designed a logo, featuring a saxophone and the Angel!

Over the next year or so, Jazz on the Tyne was broadcast fortnightly on Hive Radio in an hour-long midday slot on Saturdays, with a repeat on Wednesday evenings.  The Saturday slot had the advantage of coming directly after two strong music programmes: Ben Hudson’s folk show at 10 am, which covered the North East scene; and – at 11 am - Trev Reed’s 60’s show, which (in my view) gave a more celebrated programme on the same theme a run for its money!  I was very sad when Trev died towards the end of 2019.  Although the current podcast format for Jazz on the Tyne offers more flexibility regarding scheduling and the length of programmes, I do miss tuning in to Hive Radio on a Saturday morning, knowing that other people would be listening at the same time.

Early on, I realised I needed to place special emphasis on one of the things I had mentioned in my CAPNE application; namely, to showcase music by local artists and highlight what was going on jazz-wise in the North East.  So, for example, I prepared special shows previewing the Newcastle Jazz Festival and the Newcastle Festival of Jazz and Improvised Music.  With the arrival of Covid and no gigs taking place, I had to change tack and - for much of 2020 and beyond - interviews with musicians from the North East and further afield formed the heart of my shows.  I’m enormously grateful to all my guests for sparing the time to chat with me; I was fascinated by the insights that they provided.  Although I feature fewer interviews now, they remain an important part of Jazz on the Tyne.

Sadly, as well as having a massive impact on musicians, the pandemic severely impacted the operation of CAPNE. During the second half of 2020, CAPNE ceased transmissions from its website and instead all its music shows were uploaded to Mixcloud as podcasts. In fact, all of Hive Radio’s music programmes both before and since that time (more than a 1000 of them!) remain available at www.mixcloud.com/hive_radio. At the same time, Diane and Ben began uploading to Anchor FM a series of audio dramas set in the north east, under the heading Hive Radio Storytellers (https://anchor.fm/hive-radio-storytellers).  I’m pleased to say these dramas continue to be produced now. However, CAPNE closed at the start of 2021, and Jazz on the Tyne is the only show now being uploaded to Hive Radio on Mixcloud.

The hundredth edition of Jazz on the Tyne will be coming out at the start of August. Ahead of that, I would like to thank Ben and Diane for helping me to get the show off the ground and everyone who’s assisted me one way or another.  Plus - there’s still time to send in a request or message for this programme, by emailing me at jazz.tyne.hive@gmail, via Twitter @jazz_tyne, or via the Jazz on the Tyne website, www.jazzonthetyne.org.  I’d love to hear from you! Colin Muirhead