Who is James Wilson?

EARLY DAYS James Wilson was born on the 24th of April many years ago in a small village in Nidderdale, North Yorkshire. He attended Summerbridge County Primary School before moving up to Harrogate Grammar School. With a keen interest in music he was invited to join the local Youth Club, where he ran the club disco. James did initial voice and sound editing training with BBC Radio Leeds in the seventies, as well as interview techniques. After a flirtation with television his interest in radio was revived when RSL group Harrogate Festival Radio changed its name to Stray FM for a series of trials in the Harrogate District. James joined the group, which was subsequently successful in winning the licence for the area. James was also involved with Yorkshire Television's Telethon 88, Telethon 90 and Telethon 92 AT FOUR THIRTY . . . . James's interest in journalism was encouraged by local newspaper group Ackrills, publishers of a series of weekly newspapers in North Yorkshire, and for whom he wrote regularly. Full time broadcasting included traffic and travel bulletins on all of the northern BBC local radio stations with AA Roadwatch, based at the Arlington Business Centre in Leeds, and several programmes on Stray FM in Harrogate, in the days when it was a truly local radio station. James has also been involved in numerous products involving broadcasting in a voluntary as well as a part-time capacity for more years than he cares to mention!	OTHER STUFF: James has served on the Post Office Users Council, two local town councils and the BBC Local Broadcasting Advisory Council. He has also served as governor with two schools - a primary and a secondary. He is currently a member of A Crime Reduction Partnership, and is a keen supporter of railway transport initiatives. As a result of his radio work James was commissioned to do a number of voiceovers, including several educational and advertising videos. These included a half-hour advertising feature for the Challenger II battle tank on behalf of Vickers Defence that was shown around the world, and a feature video detailing the history of reservoir construction in the Yorkshire Dales. James has also provided the commentary for a video on the National Britain in Bloom awards ceremony, and was the voice of the NSPCC in cinemas on Sleepless in Seattle. Following the foot and mouth epidemic in 2001 Radio Four invited James to talk to the Radio Festival in Manchester about our coverage of the tragedy. That coverage has subsequently just recently been mentioned in parliament in a debate about truly local, community based radio. In the Yorkshire Dales Radio days James presented a daily programme, with a mix of great music and topical interviews. Guests included several of the now well-known TV chefs, a couple of the TV doctors, and actors and actresses, including Jenny Agutter of Railway Children fame. There was royalty too, with a lengthy interview with Viscount Linley recorded at Harewood House, and his (CONT)	uncle Prince Charles, who came into Fresh Radio's studio facility, then based at Hawes. Latterly, under a new manager, James presented a very popular Sunday evening show which one listener from Settle - showing acute powers of observation - nicknamed "Sidelined to Sunday" - it was actually called Solid Gold Sunday! We regularly pulled in over a hundred telephone calls to the show, to our Mystery Music competition. His focus of attention has for some years been on the regions Air Ambulances - we boast a total of five! What was for seven years known as the Fresh Radio Quiz has raised cash for a number of charities - over the last few years Rolls Royce Leisure has had two of these as their official beneficiaries. Three years ago the North West Air Ambulance was chosen to benefit from fund raising efforts, while for the last two years it's been the Yorkshire Air Ambulance, of which their are now two. James, together with colleague John Middleton and James's wife Judith have run the annual "Masterbrain" and "Inter-Pub Quiz Challenge" to raise funds for them

Geoff Druett	VOICEOVER PROJECT The latest voiceover project has been for a film company based in Leeds, who have produced a series of films about communities in Yorkshire. The first in the series is a history of Skipton, and the company has asked him to provide the voiceover for another, on Harrogate. James's friend and fellow broadcaster Geoff Druett has provided the voice for a history of Horsforth	WHAT'S NEXT: James' chief interest in radio continues to be in the area of presenting - hopefully one day he'll once more be able to present his own show. He is involved with two groups who are hoping to apply for Community Radio licences, while a third is potentially in the pipeline. Fresh Radio, as long as it retains it's local roots and the right direction, will continue to be James's main interest and concern. James now lives in East Lancashire (formerly part of the West Riding of Yorkshire) with his wife Judith and stepson Christopher.