Alison Finch
Assistant Producer, Radio 4 Planning Team
● Feeds into many programmes including Front Row, Arts Hour, Loose Ends, Start The Week,
Open Book, World Service programmes including the Conversation etc.
● Get sent a lot of pitches – chasing is not useful,
● Be discerning
● Alison works on Loose Ends – needs to be starry
● Looking for regional authors – anywhere that would be in the location. Covers programmes
including Desert Island Discs, This Cultural Life
● The weekly editorial meeting will discuss clashes and aims to stop an author appearing on
more than one programme
● 5 week run up time – very happy to receive proofs long in advance
● Specify the show when you pitch – say where you think it goes
● Woman’s Hour used to do around five author interviews a week but it’s limited now
● Do shop around and do your research to see which programme the book will sit
● Useful to have a copy only if you’ve got lots of books to talk about – you can ring Alison
● Best way to pitch is via email
● Work 5 days a week and in London on Wednesdays and Thursdays
● Catalogues are very useful – particularly physical
● Likes a debut novel
● Front Row, Open Book and Woman’s Hour will do authors on the line if necessary – has to
be live though
● Much prefer people in the studio
● Alison’s 8-5 and mainly likes email
● Won’t do books if they’ve been on the Today programme. Worth noting that if Today need
to drop something, usually the Arts interview is the one they’ll drop
● Mostly Alison’s programmes want to be first
● Front Row reach is around 1 million, Loose Ends is 5 million
● Audiences are middle aged/middle class, but they will buy books
Lowri Rhiannon Morgan
Assistant Producer, Saturday Live
● Ben Mitchell along with Lowri and two other AP’s come together to discuss pitches and ideas
● Live every Saturday form 9-10am
● Three guests a week
● Don’t just like big names and they will find time for debut authors etc. They have the
capacity to give voices to the lesser-known names
● Personal story – memoir, fiction and non-fiction are all great for them
● Non-fiction – the author’s personal story and their inspiration behind the stories are key
here. Author’s personal journey to writing their book
● Specific segment called Inheritance Tracks (also a podcast in its own right), half way through
the programme at 9:30 and this is the pre-recorded segment of the programme and this
would need to be a big name – what’s the track they’ve inherited in their childhood and the
track they’d pass on. If a big star can’t be part of the roundtable, they can do in here. Around
6-7 minutes long and there is opportunity to plug here
● Authors they will always look to go around publication date
● Not a pluggy programme, they’ll prioritise personal stories
● Lead times – they advance plan so looking at a month-two months in advance
● Team work Tuesday-Saturdays
● Ideas meeting is on a Wednesday with the team – get pitches in via email ahead of this meeting
● They like catalogues
● Author HAS to have a personal story
● Any practical elements/learnings a guest can share is great
● If they have a big guest on, they will get out new lines from them from their other interviews
● Big names tend to stay away from their personal journeys but this show will want to go in-
depth, so author has to feel comfortable talking about theirs – need to be a good storyteller
for their book and themselves
● Now based in Cardiff – they do try and get their guests to Cardiff. They don’t like them at
home on Zoom, so even via a local BBC Radio studio is preferred – only in certain circumstances
● Saturday Live encourages round-table format and conversation style
● Interviews are recorded for their social content – any anecdotes will go onto social
● Looking for diverse and younger voices – whole programme in October dedicated to influencers
● Warm, happy stories are good as well as the sad personal stories
● Meeting publishers – great but if you’re in Cardiff, yes. Lowri is also happy to meet via Zoom
● Ben is producer but all AP’s can send pitches on for discussion
● If author is based internationally, they would make an exception for down the line. They
would need to stay down the line for the full hour to interact with the other guests
Olivia Skinner
Producer, Front Row
● Monday-Thursday arts and culture from 7:15-8pm
● Author interviews
● Programme relaunched with 45 minutes and fewer items – used to pack 5/6 items in, now
more like 3 so they’re more selective now
● The main push is for live interviews with authors and ideally in the studio
● Interested in discussion format and they’re doing fewer one-on-one interviews
● Looking for big names – Front Row can offer 14 minutes of in-depth, researched conversation with a well-informed interviewer
● Interested in fiction, not so much in memoir (more Saturday Live and Loose Ends). They do do some non-fiction now, but it has to be on a cultural topic where they’ll look to find a spin on the topic
● They have a Thursday review programme where they review books – presenter Tom Sutcliffe
is interested in this and always worth suggesting titles they can review
● Prefer live and face-to-face – they’re based in Salford 7:15-8pm
● Email is preferred and Olivia may not reply straightaway so be selective and think about your
pith and what the presenters are interested in
● Send catalogues, proofs and catalogues to Alison who can feed them in
● There is a books planning team – there are some staffing issues on the team and there will
be a books producer coming in, but send pitches to Olivia in the meantime
● Thry wull take live down the line – pre-record won’t work. Live over Zoom might work, but
live in the studio is preferential
Katy Hickman
Producer, Start the Week
● There are two people working on STW – Katy and Natalia Fernandez
● Conversation programme with 3-4 guests, live on a Monday at 9am
● They cover science, politics, history
● Looking for connections between guests and how conversations might come together.
Looking for book that a theme can be created around
● Memoir doesn’t work so well, no more personal journeys or self-help books. Debatable
ideas and facts are best
● Contact via email
● Studio guests are preferred – before Covid, in-studio was non-negotiable. Only now will they
have the odd guest down the line, but they need to interact with the other guests. Flag the
guest’s availability in the email
● You can get them in studios outside of London if they’re based elsewhere
● Show is 42 minutes long
● Format is live so be honest about your guest – are they right to be in a discussion with other guests
● Exclusivity is preferred – you need to be clear with your guests. If they agree to do STW, they
will just do STW
● Lead times are long as Katy works at the theme – thinking about November now (around 6 weeks)
● Meetings with publishers – if you have a lot of authors, that’s great. But email probably
preferred. You can also ring
● Katy needs to know the themes in the book, that’s most important – thinking about the
overall conversation
Other:
● Alison – go to both show producer and Alison, you can cc Alison into your individual show pitches
● Alison makes a database for every show to look at
● Poetry – all shows interested. Front Row producer Julian May interested in poetry
● No poetry on Open Book as it’s just before Poetry Please on a Sunday
● Children’s and YA – yes – they do do it, but not quite as much as adult fiction
● Front Row lead time – a month-2months in advance ideally, but they do leave flex in the
schedule if they need to be reactive. Give Olivia the heads up that your author’s coming over
from the States as soon as you can. They’re booked up until mid-late October at the moment
but that’s not usually the vase
● Open Book – the book I’d never lend can be recorded outside/alongside another show
● Lowri – other AP’s are Catherine Powell and Rabicca Notcan
● Lowri – do send new authors, Saturday Live desperate for those
● Katy – how do you select a novelist? STW don’t do as many novels, but if they can speak to a
broader subject might be okay. Would need to know the themes of the book, wouldn’t do
debut fiction, would prioritise a bigger name. Katy not so interested in publication dates, she might want them before or after
● Do flag when your authors are over in the UK