The Smooth Operations Team

An Executive Producer and former Editor of BBC North, John brought The Mike Harding Show (BBC Radio 2), The Radcliffe & Maconie Show (afternoons, BBC 6Music) and long-running series Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show! (BBC Radio 4) to Smooth Operations’ portfolio.

His television credits, For BBC Four, BBC Red Button and Sky Arts, include Cambridge Folk Festival, The BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, Celtic Connections Festival and live concerts with KT Tunstall, Steve Earle and The Divine Comedy.

The executive producer of the acclaimed 2006 Radio Ballads (BBC Radio 2) John has 3 Sony Gold awards and was made a Fellow of The Radio Academy in 2007.

Viv joined Smooth Operations in 2001. A Masters graduate of Cambridge and Leicester Universities, where she read History and later Museum Studies, Viv dropped all that worthiness like a hot brick for the glamour of music production. She earned her spurs working across every area of Smooth Ops output for the BBC and GMG producing concerts, documentaries and weekly specialist music strands both here and abroad.

For 3 years Viv produced Radio 2’s flagship evening programme The Radcliffe and Maconie show, during which time Mark Radcliffe was named Sony Music Broadcaster of the Year. She joined the board in 2007.

“You have great energy man!” - Slash
 
Ian’s first documentary was a history of the jukebox presented by Alan Freeman. Since then he’s worked with all the greats in radio - John Peel, Mark Radcliffe, Stuart Maconie, Max Bygraves, Mark Lamarr and Marc Riley and has made documentaries on subjects as diverse as drugs and pop music, sibling rivalry, punk at middle-age and George Formby.

Having produced Bruce Dickinson’s Rock Show for 3 years on BBC 6Music, he has now relocated to Manchester overseeing Radcliffe and Maconie’s switch to that network. Career highlights include being called an "old tart" by Robert Plant, watching Garth Brooks struggling to sit down (his belt buckle was too big and his jeans too small) and drinking Scotch chez Gillan.

Born into a musical family and brought up on folk music, Kellie joined the company in 2003 after spending much of her life as a professional singer and musician. Her credits include producing the Mike Harding Show, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award and coverage of the Cambridge Folk Festival and BBC Electric Proms as well as ad hoc documentaries and programmes for Radio 2 and 6 Music, BBC World Service and Radio 5 Live.

After training and working as a journalist, Jon joined Smooth Ops in 2006 as the Content Producer of BBC Radio 2’s Folk & Acoustic minisite. He later served on the good ship Radcliffe & Maconie for its maiden voyage and stayed with that show for two years. Work on documentaries for 1Xtra and Radio 2 followed, as well as the development of our Delphonic record label and the production of interactive content from the Cambridge Folk Festival and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Jon now counts among his responsibilities the production of Mike Harding’s long-running folk show for Radio 2.

Lizzie arrived at Smooth Operations via a lengthy journey across the corridor at BBC Manchester, where she was previously billeted in BBC Magazines Advertising. Brought up in Holland, Suffolk and London, she studied Music at York University and now resides in Manchester, where she works on the Mark Radcliffe & Stuart Maconie Show and finds the abundance of cheap beer, bars and gigs - and the occasional BBC Philharmonic concert for that hint of culture - the perfect compliment to the hectic lifestyle of the young executive.

A Lancashire native who emigrated to Canada at the age of 6, Annie returned to the UK in her late teens. Early work as a veterinary nurse and personal assistant to a BBC governor gave her unequalled contacts in the BBC and the ability to castrate a cat on the kitchen table. She joined Smooth Operations’ northern base in 1998, from where she works on projects such as Count Arthur Strong’s Radio Show on BBC Radio 4 & the Radio Ballads for the BBC Network.

Vince Hunt came to Smooth Operations in 1999 from the BBC in London where he was a news reporter and producer launching Five Live Breakfast, producing World Service radio news programmes and World Service TV coverage of the Gulf War and Omagh bomb. Within weeks he was in a car crossing the USA with Andy Kershaw making the series ‘Promised Land’.

Since then he’s worked across the range of Smooth Operations output, particularly on the Mike Harding Show, the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and the award-winning Radio Ballads series for BBC Radio 2. Vince is currently working on a further series of Ballads about the Olympics for BBC Radio 2.

Lorna joined Smooth Ops in 2009 to work on The Radcliffe & Maconie Show.  No one mentioned this would include walking 100 miles of the Jurassic Coast, eating more cheese than medically advisable, or looking after the banging donk during the holidays but she has survived.  Previously a freelance documentary researcher, she made the route into radio via a career in Communications and a degree in Social Anthropology and Comparative Religion.

She works on The Radcliffe & Maconie Show on 6 Music, Mark Radcliffe’s Music Club on Radio 2 and tries to keep a documentary on the go.

Henrie is currently the Broadcast Assistant on The Mike Harding Show. Previously she worked as a journalist for around 8 years before realising her true calling was in radio. She left her job as section editor at Imagine Publishing and took a Masters in Radio Production at Bournemouth University. Since then she hasn’t looked back, she worked on nearly every festival radio station throughout 2010. Her efforts were rewarded by a nomination for Best Female at the Student Radio Awards. She was recruited by Smooth Ops after working at the Cambridge Folk Festival. A keen music lover, she plays keyboards in a band and goes to an obscene amount of festivals.

Louise joined the company in August 2002 after four years as a management consultant. Born and bred in Saddleworth, she was happy to escape the smog of London for the green fields and fresh air of the Saddleworth hills, but the quiet village life she was hoping for went out of the window when she joined Smooth Operations.  She enjoys being mum to Eleanor and Ruby, and being a glutton for punishment she is currently on maternity leave again!