A life around audiences

Brett’s media journey began before he had even left school, working as an events presenter and compere before joining GWR in Bristol and Swindon in 1988.

It was a golden era of local commercial radio, energetic, personality-led, competitive and deeply connected to the communities it served. For Brett, it became the foundation for everything that followed.

He learned early that audience connection is not just about having a microphone. It is about timing, warmth, confidence, energy, personality and knowing how to make people feel part of something.

Those lessons have stayed with him ever since.

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Building radio brands in the real world

In 2003, Brett returned to the commercial radio world in a major way when he was asked to provide events, roadshow and marketing support for GWR in Wiltshire.

What began with one 17-ton roadshow truck soon grew into a much larger operation.

Brett’s company built and operated fully branded roadshow units, hydraulic stages, professional sound systems, outside broadcast vehicles, ice cream vans, 4x4s, power boats and promotional assets for commercial radio stations across the UK.

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The aim was simple:

to make a radio station look as exciting in public as it sounded on air.

Over the years, Brett and his team worked with stations and brands including GWR, Wyvern FM, Severn Sound, Lantern FM, Gemini FM, Horizon, BRMB and others, providing the equipment, branding, crew and live presenting that helped bring radio brands to life in front of real audiences.

Unlike a standard hire company, Brett’s business offered more than vehicles and kit. It brought showmanship, audience understanding, live event experience and professional presenting, turning radio promotions into proper public-facing entertainment.

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From promoting radio stations to owning them

When GCap was sold to Global and many local stations began moving towards the Heart brand, Brett saw the industry changing rapidly.

Rather than simply watch from the sidelines, he pivoted.

After years of helping radio stations market themselves, Brett moved into radio ownership and promotion, beginning with Star Radio in Cheltenham.

He relaunched the station under the Total Star brand, rebuilt its public image, brought familiar local radio voices into the schedule and used his roadshow, vehicle and marketing experience to make the station feel bigger, louder and more visible across the area.

The result was a small local station with a big presence — one that felt familiar, energetic and genuinely connected to its community.

Within months, the station moved from significant monthly losses into profit, and Total Star became a strong local presence in Gloucestershire.

Brett later expanded further by acquiring a radio group covering Wiltshire and Somerset, using Cheltenham as the central hub for a wider network.

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From RAJAR to real-time reach

For years, commercial radio lived and breathed audience figures.

RAJAR numbers mattered. They shaped confidence, advertising, sales conversations, station pride and sometimes even survival. Behind every station was a serious operation, presenters, sales teams, engineers, admin staff, studios, transmission costs, regulation, licensing, vehicles, events, marketing and the constant pressure of keeping a commercial radio business alive.

Brett knew that world from the inside.

He understood the cost of local media, the pressure of paying the bills, the importance of audience loyalty and the constant challenge of making a station feel alive, relevant and connected to its community.

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But for Brett, local radio was never just about filling airtime as cheaply as possible.

At a time when many stations were leaning more heavily on automation and voicetracking, he believed in live presenters, real local personality and genuine connection.

At Total Star, the aim was to keep the station live and local for as much of the day as possible — with presenters on air, familiar voices the audience recognised, and a station that felt present in the community rather than distant or automated.

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DaysLikeThis.Life is a very different animal.

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There are no radio station overheads, no huge staff structure, no lorries to keep on the road, no studios to run and no traditional broadcasting infrastructure.

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But the audience instinct is exactly the same.

Personality matters.
Consistency matters.
Trust matters.
Local connection matters.

The audience needs to feel that what they are watching is real.

In one recent month, DaysLikeThis.Life reached around 20 million views cross-network across social platforms, the sort of audience scale Brett could once only have dreamed of during his years in local commercial radio.

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The platforms have changed. The opportunity has changed. But the foundation remains the same:

understand the audience, show up consistently, create something people care about, and build a brand that feels human.