I'm into all sorts - as long as it feels real, and says or does something I find exciting, I don't really mind about styles. I have a bit of a leaning towards singer-songwriter types, but I don't really care if the singer isn't the writer as long as the song and the voice both work together.
Best acts I've seen live are Matt Hales (Aqualung, The 45s, Ruth - great songs, an amazing stage presence, why only a cult success?), RHCP (big, obvious, but still awe inspiring), Project X (they rock - why the hell aren't they signed?), Butterfly Boucher (the only person I've ever seen make a roomful of "impress me" media types stop silent EVERY time with just a guitar, voice and no PA), Muse (beautiful total madness), Lucie Silvas (here's hoping for a big 2nd album), Marie Claire D'Ubaldo (if you ever knew the Kashmir Klub, you'd know why), Catherine Porter (ditto), Christina Aguilera (amazing voice + world class songs + brilliant staging = the world's best ever pop show on the Stripped tour), Hard-Fi (excitement bottled, bottle smashed and held menacingly near the face)... And at the risk of never having any credibility, ever, I have to add McFly, because they are very, very good and I can never hold back a cheesy grin when I see them. Rock "cred" is completely overrated anyway - don't care about what other people think!
I'm always looking for new stuff, and usually end up trying to think how we can play it somewhere on our radio empire if it's good. We played a good selection of unsigned bands I loved on The Storm, and saw nearly half of these bands get signed (from Dogs Die In Hot Cars to El Presidente). I had to campaign for years to get a new station, "Chill", on air to play a bunch of stuff we couldn't play anywhere else. As you might have picked up from our Core slogan too, I'm always looking for The Next Big Thing!
Television
24.
Are there any other TV shows?
Books
Currently reading "V For Vendetta" which I bought two days before I knew there was a film, because I remembered how good the same writer's "Watchmen" was - the first "graphic novel" apparently and, according to Time magazine, one of the best 100 novels of the 20th century, so there, lit snobs. Coming to think of it, maybe I only read that as part of a cunning plot behind V For Vendetta? Damn, I'm so easily manipulated by the media.
Just finished "First Break All The Rules" by Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman. It's a useful summary of a 30-year Gallup survey about management which reveals that lots of ideas which have made it into conventional wisdom recently are actually a bit crap. It's a good managing-type book, and there's also a more generally user-friendly version "Now Discover Your Strengths".
At the moment I'm also reading "Mind Hacks" as part of writing my mini-book "The Radio Programmer's Easy Guide To Brain Surgery" about 4 things we need to know about the brain in order to communicate better, "Thank God It's Monday" as a reference in compiling a new course for people at church who also work, and "Kitchen Confidential" for fun!
Bern's Details
Status:
Married
Hometown:
Bristol
Religion:
Christian - other
Zodiac Sign:
Taurus
Occupation:
Radio stuff
Bern's Schools
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, United Kingdom
Graduated: 1993
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
1990 to 1993
King Edward's School
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Graduated: 1990
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Other
1983 to 1990
Bern building an extension to his network Posted at 8:17 PM Jul 16, 2007 view more
About me: Hello - I'm Bern, "programme manager" at Core - Fresh Hits for the UK and Chill (the station that has no slogan but... is here to help you chill!). I'm the person in charge of finding new tunes to play and people to say entertaining things between the tunes. I also pick tunes to play on the "One Network" of radio stations that includes BRMB, Power FM, GWR FM and about 30 others. I also set up and ran The Storm, a rock station which lived fast and died young in a handover to XFM we'll always remember for the passion and our listeners' brilliant, sick creative minds!
It's a fun job, and I love working with some very cool people - Sophie Bruce, Nicola Bonn, Philippa Collins, Nick Ludlow, Val Mellon, Tim Rouse, Steve Park, Ben Moss, Ben Glover and Kevin Hughes on air, producers Toby, "Small" Paul, and "Cocky" Brian, promotions guru Heidi, fellow music brains Caroline and Mark, and my boss Kevin who is very big and important.
My wife Helen is from Sydney and we're both part of Pip'n'Jay Church in Bristol. It's an exciting year for us as we're part of a lot of spirit-directed changes, new work with the Pulse community of young people and workers around the city. I've also been developing the Mission To Work project consisting of an orientation course and ongoing support for Christians who work in the city.
Who I'd like to meet: Other people who like music and having fun, people who like doing new creative stuff, and people who make music we should be playing on the radio. And people like these people we met at The Big Chill!
Glastonbury Festival 2009 proudly presents LEKIDDO - Lord of The Lobsters! live on-stage 12.30-13.30pm Saturday 27 June 2009 Dance Lounge in the Dance Village
...and LEKIDDO - Lord of The Lobsters! 'To The Beach' is available on iTunes, Amazon etc... worldwide.
Pinchy Pinchy kiss kiss
LEKIDDO - Lord of The Lobsters! http://www.lekiddo.com Spread the word - Let there be Lobsters!
Hey!!
Thanks for the friendship!! Loving your page!
So I was talking to the weatherman and he said its gonna shine today, Hmmm!
Check out my page, I wrote a song about it!
Remember dont trust a stranger "Stranger Danger",
Trust your heart!
Stay Sexy,
Coralie
Hear ye, hear ye friends. Calling all ye faithful and faithless, the Big Hand debut album is finally here and set to dazzle upon the main stage of life! Yes, its set for release, and its gonna blow your socks off.........
............ 14 tracks of the finest sparkling soulful zorbic ska ever heard for just ten little pounds, just a click to the left there. Get yourselves the remedy for the April showers, reach out through the ether and get yourself one today. Go on, you know you want to!
For a month or so now, we've been available on Facebook, iLike and ReverbNation. And for the past few weeks we've been in the process' of making a new website (www.moralsoul.co.uk), and our MySpace has had a refurb to match. We've also got a new mailing list, a Bebo profile and you can now vote for us on XFM Uploaded and Channel4 Music. If you haven't done so already, we would really appreciate it if you could all spend a minute or two hitting the sites and showing us some love! Don't forget to sign up to the new mailing list too, as we're going to stop using the old one soon! Thanx!!
