Meet The Team: Hits Radio
Fresh from their success at this year’s ARIAS - meet the team behind the UK Station of the Year, Hits Radio.
The team look back at 2021 and how the station thrived during a challenging year. They discuss the station's key projects and features, and dive in to their award-winning ARIAS entry.
Fleur East – Breakfast host on Hits Radio - Fleur East shot to fame as a finalist on The X Factor in 2014 before launching a music career with huge debut single 'Sax', with over 110 million streams and 75 million video views. She then re-captured the public's hearts all over again appearing on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here. Alongside hosting the Hits Radio Breakfast show, Fleur also has regular TV presenting slots on ITV’s Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway and ITV gameshow The Void.
Paul Gerrard, Programme Director, Hits Radio Network. Joining Bauer in 2019, Paul programmes the national radio station Hits Radio and the network output from Manchester. He leads a talented team of producers and presenters including Fleur East, Gemma Atkinson, Max George and Sam Thompson. Prior to joining Bauer, Paul led a number of stations to number 1 in their markets, successfully launched new stations, re-built several breakfast shows and delivered record breaking listening figures.
Steph Hill, Senior Executive Producer for Hits Radio. Steph works closely with the talent on the radio station in the creation of major projects, including Hits Radio’s Summer Staycation tour and the network’s activity at The Brits. Stephanie previously worked at Global where she produced a number of their shows in the Midlands and created some brilliant stand-out moments, including getting her show on the billboards of NYC’s Times Square, stage managed live music events, created incredible emotional moments from live broadcasts in Lapland and even given away a brand new house worth £250,000.
Michelle Livesey – Deputy Head of News for Bauer England and Wales – With 21 years of experience in journalism Michelle joined Bauer Media (formerly EMAP) in 2001 as a trainee journalist. Throughout her career she has won multiple awards for her campaigning journalism, most notably for Clare’s Law in which she fought to change the law so that people have the right to know if their partner has a history of violence.
Mary Mandefield (our host) - Mary is a presenter, speaker & creative producer living in London. An advocate for finding power in your voice, using your platform for good and making a change in your own way, Mary has worked on content for NHS, L’Oreal, Oxfam, the British Science Festival and more. She currently hosts the talk show Bringing it Black on Westside Radio.