John Bradford
John Bradford came to Bristol in 1983 as West’s second managing director. He had previously been launch managing director of Radio Tees (1975) and Mercia Sound in Coventry (1980), and had steered both stations to enormous audience and financial success. Amazingly, John took time out to talk to me one-to-one about a career in radio in early 1984: he successfully put me off! John remained managing director until West merged with Wiltshire Radio and became part of the joint management of GWR with Ralph Bernard, but didn’t stay long in this role. I can’t trace his career after GWR until 1996, when he became chairman of the Radio Academy, a post he held until his retirement in 2006. He is still active in schools radio.