East London Radio

I’ve lived in East London for over 25 years. Like many people living here – I’m not from here, I’m not sure I meant to stay here this long, but there’s something wonderful about this place I call home.

Its a great mixture of people – the most culturally diverse corner of the UK, if not the world, and generally everyone gets on with everyone else, theres a great sense of belonging to an exciting and ever changing community.

Its a place of contrasts – I love that its so near to the centre of London, yet easy to escape to the country and abroad. People who have always lived here share their street with newcomers, who are largely accepted and welcomed into the community. Victorian houses alongside shiny new buildings, heritage alongside the future.

It was Londons best kept secret, the place where many looked down their noses at this side of town, not many Londoners knew of Stratford, except the Shakespeare “upon-Avon” variety, despite it being so near central London.

The games of 2012 changed all that – the ever resilient East Londoners put up with years of upheaval, and scrubbed the place up a bit, for our East London to be seen by millions. We proudly welcomed people from all round the world, something we’ve been good at for centuries.

East London never stands still and I think the next few years will be really exciting times for the area, there’ll be a lot more people here, new communities on the games site and along Thames gateway. We’ve got to make the investment in the area work for us, not just the money people.

At ELR, we’re working hard with the community to bring as many of the great flavours of the area to the radio airwaves, and I’d personally like to thank the million or so of us who live in East London for making it a brilliant place to live and work.

Mark is an experienced entrepreneur and director and one of East London’s leading authorities on business start-up, enterprise growth and flexible workspace provision.

Whilst building and selling a portfolio of his own profitable businesses, Mark became and still is a huge ambassador for business-led regeneration, community engagement, social enterprise development and corporate social responsibility and his current portfolio of executive and non-executive directorships extends across East London based profit and non-profit making businesses alike.

Mark’s passion for radio comes from a 3-year stint as a hospital radio presenter in the 90’s and in marketing roles where he successfully developed radio campaigns for commercial retail and healthcare businesses. He is a lifelong West Ham United fan and although often frustrated by his favourite team’s performance is very excited about their imminent move to the Olympic Stadium.

Mark is married and a Dad of twins, an avid scuba diver, a frustrated guitarist and lives on a hilltop overlooking Epping Forest where he keeps a watchful eye on his beloved East London even when he is not working!

Paul is a former Head of Strategy BBC Network Radio, Managing Editor of BBC Radio 1 and Managing Director of commercial network Talk Radio

In 2013/14 he was Chief Executive of the Radio Academy and is CEO of Creative Media Partners, a full service TV and digital consultancy with customers in Europe, Middle East, Africa, Asia and the US. Paul founded KidsCo in 2005 with lead shareholder NBC Universal and was CEO until majority sale in 2011, before which he was Senior Vice President Walt Disney Television based in London and Los Angeles.

Paul is a judge of the Baftas, Emmys, AIBs, Asian TV Awards, Arqiva and Sony/Radio Academy Awards and has a BSc Hons degree and MBA with Distinction from Bradford, Manchester and Cambridge Universities.