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Day: 31 March 2017

Interview: MCR Live

Written by Sophie Billington on . Posted in Music.

MCR Live is a brand new radio, podcast and content network. It is based in Manchester and is a platform for the city’s musicians, DJs, thinkers, and influencers. I spoke to Rhys Hancock, co-founder of MCR Live and alumnus of University of Manchester and Fuse FM, about the project and his more general involvement with music and radio.

MCR Live was the idea of Radio.co, an ‘all-in-one radio platform for today’s broadcaster’. Initially, Radio.co was trialling a smaller network called ‘Northern Quarter Radio’, but after a six-month test transmission, they decided to make it bigger and to encompass Manchester as a whole. It was when Rhys joined the process that the project began to move away from the traditional radio format.

Rather than traditional advertising, MCR Live relies on partnerships and branded content with big names such as Skiddle, Funkademia and Percolate. What this essentially does is combine modern radio with social media campaigns. “It’s like a more cultural version of LadBible”, Rhys explained.

This forward thinking makes perfect sense, and it is a wonder that MCR Live are the first to do it. Rhys put the network’s innovation forward succinctly: “There are other people doing aspects of what we’re doing, but no-one is combining these aspects together under one platform and brand.”

The network is aptly named, for Rhys collaborates with names from across the city. Residents include not only bigger players and city legends such as Below the Surface, Funkademia and Percolate, but also up-and-coming collectives such as OfftheRecord, which is currently run by Manchester students. “We want to provide a platform for all kinds of creatives, influencers and DJs across the city and beyond. Some have larger followings than others. As long as they are providing quality content and mixes, then we are willing to open our platform up.”

Aside from DJs, MCR Live is also close to local bands: “Rob Paterson, who was on my course at uni (and a former Mancunion music editor) is in a band called The Vanity Project and they have a show with us on a Saturday that is well worth checking out.” And the web of connections has yet to finish expanding: Rhys tells me that he’s in talks with the likes of Duncan Wallis from Dutch Uncles. “He’s a top guy and a big name in the Manchester music scene.”

Regarding the Manchester music scene, as a University of Manchester alumnus, Rhys shared his thoughts on the interaction between the students and the nightlife. “My general music tastes have always been fairly constant. I’ve always listened to electronic/alternative and dance music. However, through going to the University of Manchester, I definitely started go to more disco, funk and house nights. I guess that’s part of the university experience in a place such as Manchester, being able to discover different genres and nights.”

In his time at Manchester, Rhys was Station Manager of Fuse FM. Prior to university, he didn’t have any training in radio other than a few “awful” teenage podcasts with his mates, so he seemed grateful for his experiences with it. “Fuse FM will always have a place in my heart for what we did, the friends I made, and the opportunities that came as a result.”

Although Fuse FM gave him the opportunity, Rhys’ involvement in MCR Live was one of luck: “By chance, I went along to a Northern Quarter Radio meeting and met the guys from Radio.co and from then I had a few meetings. I was doing my dissertation at the time and I seemed to be in the right place at the right time.” For anyone hoping to crack their way into the media industry, Rhys offered an insightful comment: “It’s important for anyone to get out there and network; you don’t know who you’ll meet and where it’ll take you.”

And just because it’s becoming a killer part of the industry doesn’t mean that MCR Live ignores the larger issues in media. Rhys took the time to speak out on the representation of women in the media: “I think it’s clear more needs to be done. As a start-up, we need to get fully up and running before we can truly help the cause, but we have more full-time female employees than male ones at MCR Live, so it’s a good start.”

He also detailed his connection to the recent Women in Media conference, in which successful and influential women from the industry conducted panel discussions, workshops and keynotes. “I’m friends with the guys who run Women in Media, and they’ve done a great job”. Rhys has intentions to work towards contributing to their cause: “Over the coming months and more, I hope we can do our bit to get fair and equal representation for all.”

On the topic of development, MCR Live holds high hopes to become more than just radio and podcasts: “We want to evolve into a lifestyle brand, with the expected rise in city centre residents due over the next few years — it’s important to create a central point of contact for music, arts and culture. Social media campaigns, live events, video and more. We want to become a new style of local multi-platform media company that has not been seen before.”

At this point it only seems fair to end this brief glimpse into MCR Live with Rhys’ own summing up. When asked to describe MCR Live in three words beginning with M, C and R, I was once again met with the true potential of the platform: “Manchester Creative Revolution”.

With philosophical podcasts like Manchester Conversations and The Book of Future Podcast already running, and with more in the pipeline spanning comedy, health, art, sport and more, if you were to ask me if MCR Live is capable of a creative revolution, I would answer that it will fall nothing short.

Sparking Debate at the People’s History Museum

Written by Tom Patterson on . Posted in News.

The People’s History Museum’s intimate performance space was recently packed out for a performance of Strike A Light, with the audience transported to Victorian London to hear the story of Maggie McCallow (played by Paulette Lemard), a charismatic match girl who was part of the 1888 factory strike against the appalling working conditions of the time.

Set in a matchmaking factory and then on streets of London at a protest, Maggie McCallow described Phossy Jaw, a painful and disfiguring disease caused by working with Phosphorous and the frequent and unfair fines that were given out to workers. She then talked about how social campaigner and women’s rights activist Annie Besant helped to galvanize the workers to bring about change in the factories.

Annie Besant famously said: “Better remain silent, better not even think, if you are not prepared to act.”

Actor Paulette told The Mancunion: “I thoroughly enjoyed it, I think for me when you’ve got a good audience, that makes a big difference.”

In addition to Strike a Light she has also performed No Bed of Roses at the museum, which is based on the life of three women who came to Manchester from the Caribbean in the fifties.

Learning Officer Andy Hoyle, talked to The Mancunion about the museum’s ethos and goals: “Although we look at case studies of famous female led protests or famous female thinkers, we’ve also got to bear in mind that these struggles still very much continue today, although not to the same extent. We want to engender some discussion and some debate within the visitors to get them thinking about contemporary issues and to realise that what was worth fighting for yesterday is also worth fighting for today.”

Tied in with International Women’s day, the museum has been working with Creative Tourist and Manchester City Council throughout the 2017 Wonder Women countdown which leads up to the 100th anniversary (in 2018) of when women partially gained the right to vote.

Funding provided by MCC has allowed the museum to put on free events like the Strike a Light performance and run guided tours in the museum and guided trails around the city.

Creative Tourist and PHM describe the festival as “the artistic response of the birth city of the suffragette movement, celebrating those who won the fight for votes for women nearly a century ago, and the activism that continues to underpin the feminist issues of our time.”