Charles Parker Day 2012

Supported by the Charles Parker Trust, Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland, Soundscape Productions, the University of Westminster and SADiE

The Charles Parker Day 2012
University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
Friday 30th March 2012 10.30-16.30

The Charles Parker Day Conference is a well established event in the national radio conference calendar and is an opportunity to reflect on this innovative producer’s work and examine within a wider contemporary context the philosophy behind his radio productions.

Michael Rosen, the children’s writer and radio presenter, talks about working with Charles Parker in the 1970s as part of Banner Theatre. Michael was also a member of Ewan MacColl’s ‘Critics Group’ which was the subject of Genevieve Tudor and Chris Eldon Lee’s recent Radio 4 programme ‘How Folk Songs Should Be Sung’.

David Hendy from the University of Westminster explores one of the first features made for radio - Lance Sieveing’s 1928 ‘Kaleidoscope’ and BBC Radio 4’s Network Manager, Denis Nowlan talks to Daniel Snowman and Libby Spurrier about the monumental 26-part series they made with Michael Mason for Radio 4 - ‘The Long March of Everyman – themes and variations from the history of the people of Britain’ which was transmitted 40 years ago and employed Charles Parker to record the ‘voices of the people’.

This year is the 50th anniversary of the radio ballad ‘The Body Blow’ which set in motion a change in radio’s representation of disability issues. But have the attitudes of producers and commissioners to disability issues and rights changed since 1962? Former BBC Disability Correspondent Geoff Adams-Spink talks to Trish Caverly and Bridget Flint and Aidan Linton-Smith from the British Polio Fellowship.

Sean Street’s talk 'Ecce Homo - Man in the Machine' echoes one of the themes of The Body Blow which is explored in his new book 'The Poetry of Radio: the colour of sound’.

The Observer’s radio critic, Miranda Sawyer, explores the future of the radio feature in a digital multi-platform world, with Francesca Panetta, from The Guardian and Hackney Podcast, talking about her ‘Hackney Hear’ iPhone App; Paul Thomas, the former Radio 1 producer who has just been appointed Editor of Sound Digital Production at the ‘Indie of the Year’ - Folded Wing; and Peter Rudge from Duckrabbit who will demonstrate audio documentaries with pictures!

But Nina Garthwaite, the brains behind ‘In the Dark’ talks about her own personal journey in the opposite direction – from TV Documentary to listening to pure radio in the dark.

Also looking to the future of radio - Simon Elmes, the Creative Director of BBC Radio Features, will present the Charles Parker Prize 2012 for Best Student Radio Features. 

On Friday March 30th join us for a fascinating foray into the radio feature – past, present and future. It costs just £25 or £15 if you are a student.

More details about The Charles Parker Day 2012 and how to register
More information from Andy Cartwright or call 0191 515 3223

Information about earlier Charles Parker Days