Andrew Marston

At the age of 14, Andrew become a volunteer with Hereford Hospital radio, providing PA services at local events and presenting a magazine show called "MusiChat". He later became the station's vice-chairman and publicity manager.

By 1999, he had already become a keen supporter of new music and put together HHR Live '99, where all of the city's main bands performed on stage in Hereford's High Town, in front of thousands of people, attracting front-page coverage from the local press. In 2000, he won a bronze award for BT Non-Music Programme of the Year for his local news show.[3]

Andrew Marston at Naughty But Nice in Hereford

At the age of 14, Andrew became the resident DJs at the Jailhouse Nightclub in Hereford during their weekly kids' nights and soon after started providing mobile discos.[3]

Over the next few years he went on to hold down a number of long-term residencies at no fewer than ten venues, while continuing to guest at clubs across the region. Some of his corporate clients have included high-end repeat bookings for West Mercia Police, Worcester Warriors, Worcestershire County Cricket Club, British Telecom, Staffordshire University, The 100-mile raft race, Tesco, New Look, TK Maxx, Bulmers, Argos and Cargill.

In 2003, Andrew began working as a promoter and started a weekly band night in Hereford. For more than two years, Marston hosted one of the busiest events in the city, giving a paid opportunity to many local bands including Brandon Steep (who went on to become one of the last bands played by John Peel)[8] and The Myth (who were finalists in the BBC Midlands Today School of Rock competition).[9]

In June 2005, Marston was approached by BBC Online's Dan Johnson about helping out on a new music programme for BBC Hereford & Worcester. The BBC had been publishing album reviews online, but Dan had said to bosses "why don't we stop talking about music – and actually play it?". A week before transmission, management got nervous and requested a demo was made – and Andrew took the role of representing Herefordshire – a move that came as a surprise. It was initially thought that the programme would run for just a few weeks and maybe become bi-weekly due to the "lack of music around".[10]

Within weeks, senior management within radio began to question whether this was the right move for local audiences and a task force was employed to review the programme. More than 20 bands were invited to the Hylton Road studios by BBC representatives to stage a round-table debate. It was during this meeting the BBC Introducing scheme was born, enabling local stations to "vet" local tracks and submit them to the national stations.

Andrew Marston interviews The Proclaimers at the Big Chill

In 2007, Dan Johnson left the then-called Friday Session to pursue a career as the Head of Sport Online, leaving Andrew in charge.[11]

During his time at the BBC, Andrew has also appeared several times as a guest speaker at Worcester College of Technology.

In 2006, Andrew began working for BBC Online, producing news articles, image galleries and local features. He helped reshape the systems that enabled local teams to publish photo galleries and his photos of The Big Chill (music festival)[12] and the Worcester Warriors would regularly attract more than 15,000 unique users per day – but his biggest achievements were during the 2007 summer floods where many of his images attracted a record audience of 6 million hits in a week.[13] The snowfall pictures would attract similar figures in subsequent years.

Andrew chairing a BBC Introducing Musicians' Masterclass. Panellists included The Pretenders, Dodgy and Mott The Hoople.

Andrew was also commissioned to create the "Music Map" feature for BBC Online as well as "The People's History Of Pop".[14] Throughout these projects, he got to meet bands like Mott the Hoople,[15] The Pretenders[16] and Dodgy[17] – unearthing many of the demo tapes that got them signed,[18] while producing previously unwritten articles on The Beatles, Queen, Aerosmith, The Who, Pink Floyd, U2, The Rolling Stones, Fleetwood Mac, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Tom Jones, T. Rex, Jimi Hendrix, Clifford T. Ward, David Bowie, Black Sabbath, Roy Orbison, Captain Beefheart, Rick Wakeman, The Eagles, The Spencer Davis Group (featuring Steve Winwood), Manfred Mann, Small Faces, The Yardbirds, Donovan, The Merseybeats, The Moody Blues, The Searchers, Engelbert Humperdinck, UB40, Roy Harper, Underworld, Toyah Willcox, John Peel, Jimmy Cliff, Herman's Hermits, The Animals, Cilla Black, Freddie and the Dreamers, The Tremeloes, The Troggs and Jethro Tull.

Having secured early awards with hospital radio for Non-Music Programme of the Year, Andrew landed a role at the BBC which would lead him to redesign all of the trails for the station, remake the entire jingle package and cut a number of prize-winning entries, including BBC Hereford & Worcester's Station of the Year 2010 at the Sony Radio Academy Awards[19] and various prizes in the Frank Gillard Awards (including diversity, made up of segments from his own show).[3] It was some of his contributions from the Wychwood Festival that went into the submission that won BBC Introducing their gold at the Sony Radio Academy Awards in 2011. Andrew was also on-air during the 2007 summer floods and found himself presenting a news programme from 7pm until midnight instead of his new music programme,[20] receiving top praise from Mark Thompson, director-general of the BBC at the time, who said: “The feedback you’ve received from your audience has offered ample testimony of just how essential that service has been to so many people’s lives. We could never hope to keep them informed and connected were it not for the kind of efforts you've made, and the professionalism and creativity that you've demonstrated”. This resulted in the station receiving gold in the Sony Radio Academy Awards.

He was responsible for taking Sam Isaac to Glastonbury Festival and the BBC Electric Proms,[21] Pencil Toes,[22] The Anomalies[23] and Pegasus Bridge[24] to BBC Maida Vale Studios, while securing the brother/sister duo Muchuu a support slot with Florence & The Machine and The Temper Trap alongside a spot on the BBC Radio 1 playlist.[25] He also landed The Roving Crows a place on tour with Jamie Cullum, George Barnett,[26] two spots on the BBC Radio 1 playlist, as well as a place on stage at the Wychwood Festival and BBC Radio 2’s Live In Hyde Park: Festival In A Day.

Mixing bands in a recording studio, October 2014

After conducting all of the artist interviews at Bestival for BBC Radio 1, Andrew began hosting his own stages at local festivals – enabling bands to play live on-air in front of thousands at events including The Big Chill (music festival),[27] Wyeside,[28] Nozstock: The Hidden Valley,[29] The Worcester Music Festival,[30] SnodFest in Upton Snodsbury,[31] and taking over stage curation duties from BBC 6 Music's Tom Robinson at the Wychwood Festival.[32] He also selects acts for Glastonbury Festival, Lakefest, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Radio 1's Big Weekend and T in the Park.

He was the first person to give airtime to artists such as Ellie Goulding,[33] Becky Hill,[34] Peace,[35] Andy Robinson,[36] Lauren Wright,[37] Naked Remedy,[38] AurA,[39] This Wicked Tongue,[40] Dissident Prophet and The Cohen Brothers,[41] securing many of those artists a slot on the BBC Radio 1 playlist.