Welcome to Sound & Vision media

Well done Tom Winsor.

You might remember he was the rail regulator a few years ago, and thus subject to many media grillings.  These days he comments on regulatory issues, turning up on programmes like Radio 4’s Today.

What a wheeze he had recently when he appeared live in the studio to be quizzed by James Naughtie about the BP oil disaster. Naughty Tom decided to pack a set of his own home-made crib cards, but didn’t deploy them on cribbing. Instead he displayed them to the puzzled presenter during the course of the interview. One card taunted: “Don’t rush me, I’m almost finished.” Another proclaimed: “You don’t really expect me to answer that, do you?” And a third simply yawned: “I got up a 5.30 for this?”

James Naughtie is reported to suffered a sense of humour failure as Winsor ploughed on through the deck, answering oily questions along the way. Ever the professional, Naughtie ensured a seamless interview, with no listeners the wiser of any studio antics. Even Winsor’s card: “I’ve had enough of this, I’m off,” didn’t cause Naughtie to spill the beans to his audience. Nor did: “I’ve lost the power of speech; carry on without me!”

The cards now adorn the walls of the Today production office. No news yet on whether Tom Winsor is ever to be invited back, nor what his next trick will be. It’s a risky media relations strategy, to say the least. But rather fun too.

John Francis Crowley (born April 7, 1967) is an American biotechnology executive and entrepreneur. He is best-known as the founder of several biotech companies devoted to curing genetic diseases. After his two youngest children were diagnosed with Pompe Disease, Crowley became the CEO of Oklahoma City-based Novazyme, a biotechnology start-up that was conducting research on a new experimental treatment for the disease.

In April 2009, CBS Films began filming this major motion picture about the Crowley family's quest to save their children's lives. The film, titled Extraordinary Measures was released nationwide on January 22, 2010. Directed by Tom Vaughan, Extraordinary Measures stars Brendan Fraser as John Crowley and Keri Russell as Aileen Crowley, and also executive producer Harrison Ford as "Dr. Robert Stonehill" who is a character based on Dr. William Canfield. John Crowley has also written a personal memoir entitled Chasing Miracles: The Crowley Family Journey of Strength, Hope and Joy, coauthored with Ken Kurson. It was published by New Market Press in January 2010 to coincide with the release of Extraordinary Measures.

SAV Media's recent interview with John Crowley make compelling viewing

Exeter-based SAV Media, the video production and media training company headed by former ITV news and sport presenter Mark Tyler, has created a series of short films for a major international business that works with some of the world’s most influential business leaders.

The “Five-Minute Mentor” videos, for London and New York-based consultancy Merryck & Co, feature world-class speakers, including a former vice chairman of the US intelligence agency the CIA, the head of a pharmaceutical company whose story has just been turned into a feature film starring Kevin Costner, and a professor from London Business School who helps companies thrive in difficult economic times.

Mark Tyler says: “We filmed the whole two-and-a-half day conference, as well as making the “Five-Minute Mentor” films, which will be used to explain how business leaders can face the challenges of the future.”

You can watch the films on the MerryckTV YouTube channel, but here's an example featuring Herb Meyer, a former CIA strategist. Herb's views on the 'new normal' are fascinating

McChrystal....I wish i'd never said that!

History shows that shell shock can make soldiers go mad. So is that what happened to General Stanley McChrystal, formerly top dog of the Nato war effort in Afghanistan when he allowed a Rolling Stone reporter to follow him for an entire month? Or had he started to believe his own publicity? After all, until the US magazine published its explosive profile, the American General had become accustomed to almost reverential reporting. He could say anything. Reporters would airbrush the words in return for future interviews. Until his luck ran out with the media he had been courting.

And when the luck deserted him, even Rolling Stone appeared so unaware that it had a career-busting piece for its bumper summer issue that an almost-naked Lady Gaga displaced blurb for the Afghan story almost entirely from the cover.

Although General McChrysal paid for the publicity with his job, he appears to have understood what he was doing, not just through the weeks he was followed, but in the days before publication. Neither he nor his staff objected when the profile was fact checked, a kindness that not all publications offer, of course. That means General McChrystal knew what he was saying and he was happy with it. Although  he couldn’t unsay what had been said, he appears to have offered no clarification. No extra words that showed he was under pressure when he said what he shouldn’t have said about his colleagues and allies.

And that’s what cost him his job.

Oops....Got nowhere near that one either....

A few years ago, former England goalkeeper Peter Shilton was a live guest on our Sunday afternoon football programme, the Westcountry Match. He'd retired from international football after Italia 90, and ended up as Player/Manager at Plymouth Argyle. Not a fantastic reward after clocking up 125 England appearances, particularly with a Chairman like Dan McCauley to deal with.

 Anyway, Shilts agreed to come along and join me in the studio as the pundit for a match involving one of his former clubs Nottingham Forest. We had loads of time to chat while the match was being broadcast, so I took the opportunity to ask him about the penalty shoot out defeat by the Germans in 1990. What were his tactics, and what was going through his mind as the drama unfolded?

 He told me that, because a lot of the German players were young and inexperienced, he wasn't going to make up his mind and dive one way or the other early. Instead he would wait and expect some of the shots to be towards the middle of the goal, or at the least, not far enough into the corners to prevent a much later dive saving them.

Great theory Shilts. Only one problem. You never really got close to any of them did you?

I don't think he liked us that much really. We used former Chelsea and England star Peter Osgood as the co-commentator and studio guest for the local derby at Home Park which ended Plymouth 0 Exeter City 3. Osgood accused Shilton of tactical naivety on the programme and, because Osgood had played with the Exeter Manager Alan Ball at Southampton, Shilts reckoned we were all biased against Argyle. Maybe it was all our fault that they lost 3-0 as well. 

For someone who'd been in football for so long he was remarkably thin skinned.

In the return fixture at St. James Park, he noticed in the match programme that I was sponsoring Exeter for every goal they scored...something you get roped into when you get accosted walking through the bar (Dave Bennett!). He took great pleasure in mentioning this to me in front of the assembled press pack after the game as evidence of how we were all anti him and Argyle (which wasn't the case at all...honest guv!)

Strangely enough Shilton was a lot friendlier in 2006 when ITV stumped up some money for him to do an extended interview before the World Cup to assess England's chances. He greeted me like a long lost friend when we met at the Thurlestone Hotel in South Devon where he was holidaying at the time. His big revelation......England must stick with Paul Robinson in goal!

 Thanks Peter. Got a tip for the 3.30 at Newton Abbot?

Shilton...Better at pointing than saving pens...

I’ve known for as long as I can remember that I was adopted. My new parents lived just off Topsham Road in Exeter and never kept it a secret. I think that’s the best way. I grew up as an only child, but proud that I had an interesting story to tell.  For years I believed them when they said that they had chosen me from a room full of babies waiting for adoption because I was spotty and crying my head off and they felt that I was the one that needed the most help! 

When I began the process of tracing my birth parents in 1990, I found out that wasn’t the case at all. They’d had a letter from the Council for Christian Care saying that ‘David Christopher’ was available and would they consider taking me! 

Dorothy and Henry were a little older than my friends parents, but I had a happy childhood . I went to Central junior and middle schools, before going on to Exeter School and then working for the BBC and ITV

I realised the potential dangers of tracking down my parents, but it worked out ok. I met my father in Bournemouth, and he told me that my mother had emigrated with her family to Australia. To cut a long story short, I visited her and my two half sisters in Wagga Wagga in 1991, and we keep in touch regularly, even though we haven’t met up again since then.  Although it was a great experience, I still regard my adoptive parents as my real parents
I’m planning to take my own family out there in a couple of years.

I’ve just become a vice Patron of the ‘Families for Children’ charity and I’m delighted they asked me. I’m hoping to help them in any way I can and spread the message about the brilliant work they do.

Mark Tyler is a 46 year old news and sport broadcast journalist based in Exeter, Devon. He is vastly experienced Producer and Presenter for BBC Radio and ITV. With audio, video and digital editing skills, he is now combining regular broadcast work with independent productions and PR projects. He is also an experienced conference host and master of ceremonies.Mark trained in Broadcast journalism at the London College of Printing (1984).

He spent 5 years as a reporter/newsreader/producer for BBC radio based in Birmingham and Exeter.

Mark joined the Plymouth based Television South West as Deputy Sports Editor in 1989, and in late 1990 made the move to LWT to report on the Saturday lunchtime network football programme ‘Saint and Greavsie’.

Mark returned to South West as Head of Sport for ITV Westcountry in 1993, and in addition to sport Production and presentation, he also regularly anchored the 6pm regional news programme.
In 2007, Mark was named ‘Executive Producer of the year’.

Since leaving ITV in Summer 2009, Mark has continued broadcasting while taking on long term independent TV commissions through his ‘Sound and Vision Media’ company. He also has a growing list of corporate clients for shorter term video projects.

Mark has hosted conferences for the Department of Culture, Media and Sport, Sport England, the Football Association and Devon County Council

Mark is a board member for ‘Active Devon’ and a Patron of the Exeter based charity ‘Dream-a-way’. He is married with two young children.

After growing up and living all my life in Exeter, I am very proud to be an ambassador for the Exeter Bites Back campaign.  The City is one that I love so much, and is one reason why I recently decided to leave ITV after working for twenty years as a sport and news presenter on regional programmes like Soccer Night and Westcountry Live.  With the studio base moving to Bristol, I felt the time was right to work much more in the area that I can really identify with and feel passionately about.

Of course it’s not easy to swap a regular income for the potentially more precarious life of a freelance. I have set up an independent production company ‘Sound and Vision Media’, which is giving me a fantastic opportunity to work behind the camera, as well as in front of it. I have always enjoyed the technical side of radio and TV, and now I have a wonderful chance to do much more of it.

Any initial concerns I may have had that there would be little call for my services in Exeter have been quickly dispelled.  Many local companies have identified that the use of professionally produced video on websites and DVD is absolutely vital in growing business at a time when advertising budgets and marketing strategies have been compromised by the economic climate. Modern technology means that it’s an extremely cost effective way of spreading a message far and wide.

I am also delighted to be playing a role in a fantastic sporting initiative based in Exeter. The Run in England campaign aims to get 50,000 people out running regularly in the lead up to, and well beyond, the London 2012 Olympics. It’s being organised by the same people who launched the hugely successful Women’s Running Network in the City eleven years ago, and in association with England Athletics I have been asked to head up the communications team.

I won’t be losing touch with broadcasting altogether. After starting my career alongside Jill Dando and Ben Bradshaw at BBC Radio Devon in the 1980’s, I was really pleased when another truly local station, Exeter FM 107.3, went on air last year and asked me to do a regular programme.  It has a fantastic mix of music and local Exeter news, refreshing at a time when other local media seems to be less and less local.  The added bonus is that I don’t have to wear a suit and make-up!!! There’s no better time to be talking about all things Exeter! I fully support the Exeter Bites Back campaign.