Charles Ryan on BBC Radio Newcastle?

[nerfherder]

I'm round at my parents for Christmas, listening to BBC Radio Newcastle, and I just heard an interview with an American guest about board games. It was a good, entertaining piece, and the guest seemed to know about what was and what wasn't available in Britain (and he used "quid" instead of "bucks" for prices ). The DJ mentioned his name was Charles Ryan. Was this THE Charles Ryan?

Cheers,
Liam

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Quite possibly - he posted a "looking for gamers" post a couple of weeks ago, and listed his location as Hampshire, UK. Not knowing anything about UK geography other than London is south, and Hadrian's Wall is north, I couldn't tell you if that's near Newcastle, but I wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Morrus]

It's a long way from Newcastle!

 

[diaglo]

he's my number one fanboi

 

[nerfherder]

Quite possibly - he posted a "looking for gamers" post a couple of weeks ago, and listed his location as Hampshire, UK. Not knowing anything about UK geography other than London is south, and Hadrian's Wall is north, I couldn't tell you if that's near Newcastle, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Thanks for the info about him living in the UK. As Morrus pointed out, Newcastle is nowhere near Hampshire, but the BBC regional stations are all part of the greater BBC.

Charles, if you're reading this and you're interested, an ex-girlfriend of mine is a DJ on BBC Radio Humberside on Saturday nights, and I know she loves boardgames. Her email is susanne dot fraser at the usual BBC address. I haven't spoken to her about this, so I don't know if she would be interested or not.

Cheers,
Liam

 

[nerfherder]

Woof!

Since I noticed Charles is around the boards again...

 

[CharlesRyan]

Hi, all, sorry I didn't see this thread earlier!

Yes, that was in fact me! I wasn't actually in Newcastle for that interview--I was in a studio in London. I actually did 19 interviews that day (it was a very long day), all on the topic of games: Why people should play more, what kinds of games you might look for beyond Monopoly and Cluedo (Clue to us Americans), etc. I did one for 5 Live (a national show); the other 18 were for regional BBC stations like Newcastle. Most were live, but several were recorded to be played later that day or later that week.

It was fun (though exhausting), and I was happy to play the part of an expert and help out the cause of gaming!

 

[nerfherder]

Hi, all, sorry I didn't see this thread earlier!

Yes, that was in fact me! I wasn't actually in Newcastle for that interview--I was in a studio in London. I actually did 19 interviews that day (it was a very long day), all on the topic of games: Why people should play more, what kinds of games you might look for beyond Monopoly and Cluedo (Clue to us Americans), etc. I did one for 5 Live (a national show); the other 18 were for regional BBC stations like Newcastle. Most were live, but several were recorded to be played later that day or later that week.

It was fun (though exhausting), and I was happy to play the part of an expert and help out the cause of gaming!

No problem. It was a slightly surreal experience, I have to say, to hear the voice of Millenium's End on the airwaves of local BBC radio!

So, what are you doing in the UK? How did you end up getting the gig with the BBC (if you don't mind me asking)?

Cheers,
Liam

 

[DaveyJones]

It was fun (though exhausting), and I was happy to play the part of an expert and help out the cause of gaming!

I guess you gave up on stalking Diaglo.

 

[CharlesRyan]

Yeah, I guess I'm just not Diaglo material. . . .

I've been here in the UK for about 6 months now. I work at Esdevium Games, the UK's biggest game distributor, where I run the UK marketing for the gaming brands that Esdevium represents exclusively in the UK. (Which is pretty much the bulk of major hobby gaming brands.)

The radio gig came about from a conversation with our PR agency, in which we were lamenting the unimaginative game-buying habits of the UK public (the mass market, not the hobby market) and wishing we could get more people to try a more diverse range of games than Monopoly and Deal or No Deal. "In the US, we have these self-proclaimed experts on toys and games who get invited onto all the talk shows to give the public advice on what to try around Christmas time," I said, "Too bad there isn't anyone like that in the UK." "Hmmm. . ." replied our PR people. And a few weeks later I was on the radio!