Talking To The World

The Sixties icon Andy Warhol once said: "Everyone can have their 15 minutes' worth of fame", but at the Butterfield Broadcasting Corporation, you'll have to make do with just 13. So says producer Chris Butterfield who, from his tiny studio in Bardney in Lincolnshire, is making waves in the world of radio.

This isn't radio by pounding rave music or the ramblings of self-indulgent DJs, this is radio of a different style, something much gentler on the ear. "It's all about quality, not quantity," says Chris. "We put the emphasis on real people - real lives." As one overseas listener commented favourably: "It's like Radio 4 used to be." Chris's tales of fascinating Lincolnshire folk are proving so popular that fans from as far afield as Canada, America, Australia and New Zealand visit his website on a regular basis, all of them clamouring to hear more.

Back on home soil, tapes and CDs of the programmes are proving to be a big hit with shoppers in Lincoln. Collectively called This is England, the programmes also feature the music of Lincoln busker Neil O'Grady.

The 26-year-old media man is not alone in his recording efforts, it's very much a family effort, with mum Liz interviewing, and dad Bob helping out where he can. The family are battling to keep up with demand and it's all the more remarkable an achievement when you consider that they make no money out of it.

Talking to the 6ft-tall gentle giant at his home and office, he is surprised and excited by his runaway success. "We're the alternative BBC. We don't work on ratings or the like. Our satisfaction comes from knowing people are enjoying what we do, somewhere across the world. We'd love for the programmes to be transmitted in this country, though.

"We've got interest from community radio stations across the globe, from a tiny station in deepest Canada to huge public radio stations in America who want to broadcast them regularly, and we're even waiting to hear from a station in Port Lincoln in Australia which is twinned with our Lincoln. We're also emailing more Canadian radio stations and are making approaches to stations in China and Russia.

"We've gone up a level in the United States, as a station in Washington State wants to broadcast our programmes in the autumn and that's National Public Radio. A broadcasting association in Australia wants them to go out via a satellite feed to 130-plus community stations right across the whole continent!"

All this international recognition has come about since Chris decided to put the half-hour programmes on the Internet via his website which attracted the interest of expatriates across the world. His idea really took off, though, when the website caught the eye of the Brit FM radio station in New York, which was keen to promote English radio. The radio station began promoting This is England on its website and that in turn alerted the University of Evansville, in Indiana, which just happens to own Harlaxton College near Grantham. The head of the radio station liked the programmes so much they plan to run them weekly from May.

At the same time Chris continues to produce entertaining and informative programmes for Talking Tapes for the Blind for its Lincoln and Grimsby groups. He explains that it was thanks to them that he gained valuable production experience before This is England emerged and they also encouraged him to take part in a prestige national comepetition.

The computer whizz had set up his own business building websites after leaving university. Chris made a success of this before realising the market for websites was shrinking. He picked up a leaflet for Talking Tapes in Cleethorpes Library and made an approach. They loved his first 10-minute programme, which was about a garden railway enthusiast in Cleethorpes. "Although I was officially disabled, I didn't want to just sit around being bored, I needed mental stimulation. I hope I can encourage others out there who have disabilities."

Soon his programmes were being syndicated around all the county groups and others around the country. The Lincoln group were so impressed with the professional quality of his work, they suggested he put his tape about the now retired commander of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight into the national BT Soundings Competition. He was delighted to scoop the runner-up prize and attended an award ceremony in Coventry.

Spurred on by his success, he started making full half-hour programs on audio tapes, with mum taking on the role of interviewer out on location. From Lincoln Castle's stonemasons to local scribes, from an inventor of a landmine disposal machine to old-fashioned sweet shops, all topics are carefully researched. Each interview lasts 13 minutes and there's a suitable interlude for the benefit of discerning listeners. "In the beginning we were using an old reel to reel machine, but Lincolnshire Community Business in Lincoln kindly helped us by providing a more sophisticated mini disc recorder for interviewing. Some of the trustees liked the programmes so much they ordered several for Christmas presents."

Expansion was on its way; Chris was now some way from his early days experimenting with special effects while studying at college and doing stints on hospital radio. "We realised there was a wider audience out there but I do this purely for the love of it. Even my doctor says it's therapeutic for me. There's definitely a market for our programmes, as they are very much in the old BBC style, except we jokingly call ourselves the Butterfield Broadcasting Corporation," he muses.

Listeners send in ideas but they are always on the lookout for unusual characters or enthusiasts with fascinating interests or occupations. Even his dad is involved in the next volume, having conducted an interview from the restored Humber Sloop the Amy Howson gently sailing down the Humber. Having just finished work on a second volume of material (which should be in the shops as we speak), the day I met Chris, he was working away in the studio editing material for the next programme, this one recorded on location out on the beat with a rural policeman near Grantham last month.

All production costs are funded out of the family's own pocket. Mum Liz tells how the budget for producing the first CD was just £70 and went mostly on recording Neil, the musician, in a professional studio. "While we strive for BBC production standards we are probably the tiniest production company in the UK, but maybe the happiest too. We know what it's like to try to produce good radio on a zero budget, which is why we decided to give the programme to small rural stations all over the world. We still give the 26-week run completely free to any public radio broadcaster or university station in any country who requests it," she says. "We decided that building understanding between ordinary people everywhere was something we could use the programme to achieve. We also did not want to make anything that we would not wish to tune into ourselves, so the programmes are designed to be relaxing, entertaining and informative in a way that respects the listener and the interviewee."

So if you know of anyone that's a real enthusiast about his or her hobby or occupation, give the Butterfield Broadcasting Corporation a call. Meanwhile Chris has become the subject of media focus himself, and rightly is enjoying his own 15 - or is that 13? - minutes of fame.

For more information about This is England CDs and tapes, contact Chris Butterfield on (+44) 1526 398012. Or visit his website at: www.one-voice.co.uk/england/