Brett Orchard - From GWR Roadshows to Commercial Radio Ownership - and a Family Media Brand Reaching More Than 20 Million Views
GWR FM. Severn Sound. Orchard FM. Wyvern FM. Total Star. Five licensed commercial radio stations. More than 40 employees. One continuous media career spanning traditional broadcasting, live entertainment and modern digital media.
Brett Orchard is a British broadcaster, media entrepreneur, author and digital media founder with more than 30 years of experience in commercial radio, live events, audience development and entertainment.
After building a substantial roadshow and promotional operation serving some of the South West’s best-known radio stations, Brett went on to own and operate a group of five Ofcom-licensed commercial radio stations employing more than 40 people.
Today, he applies that experience to DaysLikeThis.Life, the nationally recognised British family media brand he founded with his wife, Vikki. The brand has generated more than 20 million cross-platform views in a peak month and received recognition from the UK Content Creator Awards, UK Content Awards and Social Media Marketing Awards.
Building Radio Brands in the Real World
Brett’s relationship with commercial radio began at the age of 15, when he completed school work experience at GWR FM.
Orchard Entertainments Gone Country!
Long before social media, Brett was already building audiences through live entertainment.
During the 1980s and 1990s, Brett operated Orchard Entertainments, providing mobile discos and entertainment for a wide range of events.
When line dancing became a national phenomenon in the late 1990s, Orchard Entertainments adapted that existing Roadshow identity into Roadshow Gone Country, adding an American flag and country styling to the original branding.
The new format developed into a series of country-and-western and line-dancing events around Bristol and beyond. Brett’s role was primarily as promoter, organiser and DJ rather than dancer, working with a team of instructors who taught at the events.
The shows were ambitious for the time. After American country music television channel CMT disappeared from UK screens, Orchard Entertainments introduced a large video screen so audiences could dance while watching the original country music videos rather than simply listening to the records.
That idea attracted the attention of Linedancer Magazine. In August 1998, the magazine visited the operation and published a feature entitled “Bye Bye CMT – Hello big screen,” documenting Roadshow Gone Country and describing Orchard Entertainments as a Bristol-based family business whose wider operation was already taking the Summer Roadshow around the country in a 58-foot tractor-and-trailer unit.
The artic pictured in the feature was Brett’s first full-size roadshow truck. He later went on to build another, continuing a long-running interest in mobile entertainment, promotions and roadshow presentation.
The feature also has a personal connection: Vikki appears alongside Brett and members of the Roadshow Gone Country team in the accompanying photograph.
He returned to GWR in 2003 and recognised an opportunity to transform the way local radio stations presented themselves beyond the studio.
Taking local radio roadshows beyond the small promotional setups of the era - pasting tables in front of cars, tents on the backs of vans and makeshift scaffolding stages - and turning them into proper live entertainment events with the scale, pace and crowd energy of national radio shows. Brett believed radio stations should make the same impact in public that they made on air.
He acquired a major roadshow unit - a 17-ton lorry equipped with staging and studio facilities - and began helping GWR create a much stronger presence at public events.
The operation expanded rapidly. Other stations within the group began using Brett’s roadshow services, including Severn Sound, Orchard FM and Wyvern FM.
At its height, Brett’s operation included a fleet of substantial roadshow vehicles, a 44-ton articulated lorry and an extensive collection of staging, outside-broadcast, promotional and event equipment.
Brett and his team provided radio stations and media organisations with:
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Large mobile roadshow stages
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Outside-broadcast facilities
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Branded promotional vehicles
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Hydraulic staging
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Professional presenters and event crews
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Live entertainment and audience engagement
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Promotional equipment and infrastructure
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Large-scale public event support
This was far more than equipment hire. Brett understood how radio worked as entertainment: the importance of presenters, pace, production, station identity, local pride and creating moments that audiences would remember.
The roadshows turned radio brands into something people could see, hear and experience in their own communities.
Media Background
From Promoting Radio Stations to Owning Them
When GCap Media was acquired by Global in the late 2000s, the structure of British commercial radio began changing dramatically.
For Brett, that change created a new opportunity.
After years of helping radio stations build audiences, promote themselves and connect with listeners in the real world, he moved from supplying commercial radio stations to owning and operating them.
That next chapter became Total Star.
Brett initially developed Star Radio in Cheltenham, relaunching it under the Total Star name and using everything he had learned through GWR, Severn Sound, Orchard FM, Wyvern FM and the wider commercial-radio industry.
Live events, visible local marketing, branded vehicles, familiar presenters and direct community engagement all became central to the station’s identity.
Brett subsequently expanded his radio interests by acquiring and operating a group of five Ofcom-licensed commercial radio stations covering Wiltshire and Somerset.
The business employed more than 40 people and carried the considerable responsibilities that come with regulated commercial broadcasting: staff, studios, programming, advertising, licences, transmission, technical infrastructure, vehicles, events and the constant commercial pressure of operating local media businesses.
Brett had made the journey from a 15-year-old on work experience at GWR to the owner and managing director of his own commercial radio group.
Understanding Audiences from Every Side
Brett has experienced commercial radio from almost every conceivable angle:
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School work experience
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Radio presentation
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Live outside broadcasts
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Roadshows and public events
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Station marketing and promotion
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Group-wide service provision
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Managing employees and infrastructure
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Commercial radio ownership
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Local media operations
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Audience and advertiser relationships
Traditional commercial radio depended upon much more than what happened behind the microphone.
RAJAR figures mattered. Local visibility mattered. Advertisers mattered. Community relationships mattered. Every station carried major costs and responsibilities, from presenters, sales teams and engineers to studios, transmission, vehicles, regulation and events.
Brett knew that world from the inside—not merely as a presenter, but as an owner responsible for the entire operation.
The central lesson remained remarkably consistent:
Audiences respond to personality, familiarity, consistency, warmth and trust.
From RAJAR to Real-Time Digital Reach
Those same principles now sit at the heart of DaysLikeThis.Life.
Founded by Brett and Vikki Orchard and built around their family life with George, William and Lola the Sproodle, DaysLikeThis.Life combines the warmth of a real British family with decades of professional media experience.
The technology has changed. Audience behaviour has changed. Content now travels around the world within seconds rather than remaining inside a local transmission area.
The principles, however, are the same ones that powered Brett’s radio career: show up consistently, create recognisable features, understand the audience, build trust and make people feel part of something.
In a peak month, DaysLikeThis.Life generated more than 20 million cross-platform views across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and the wider digital ecosystem.
That audience is not a nostalgic footnote to Brett’s former radio career. It demonstrates his continuing ability to recognise changing media habits, build relevant formats and connect with audiences through entirely new forms of distribution.
This is not simply a story about former commercial radio. It is the story of an experienced media owner successfully rebuilding his skills, ideas and audience relationships for a new generation.
Why This Background Matters
DaysLikeThis.Life is not an accidental collection of family videos.
Its regular features, recognisable personalities, warmth, humour and audience loyalty reflect many of the qualities that once made strong local radio stations part of their communities.
Where commercial radio once used roadshows, outside broadcasts and promotional vehicles to meet listeners, DaysLikeThis.Life now reaches audiences through social video, published books, original intellectual property, podcasts, travel, live family moments and real-world events.
The journey encompasses:
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GWR FM work experience at 15
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Broadcasting, roadshows and live presenting
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GWR, Severn Sound, Orchard FM and Wyvern FM
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A substantial roadshow and outside-broadcast operation
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Major vehicles, stages and event infrastructure
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Ownership and management of five commercial radio stations
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More than 40 employees
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The creation of Total Star
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Published books and original story worlds
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Podcasting and spoken-word entertainment
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DaysLikeThis.Life achieving more than 20 million views in a peak month
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National awards recognition
It is one continuous media career - from local commercial radio and major public roadshows to an award-finalist British family media brand reaching millions around the world.
Opportunities, Partnerships and Media Enquiries
Brett is open to selected opportunities across broadcasting, publishing, brand partnerships, family entertainment, documentary production, podcasting, live events and original intellectual property.
These opportunities may connect with DaysLikeThis.Life, The Six Adventures series, William’s Wild World, Brett’s Old Time Radio Show, commercial radio, live roadshows or Brett’s wider experience as a broadcaster and media owner.
For producers, broadcasters, publishers and commercial partners, Brett and DaysLikeThis.Life offer an unusually powerful combination:
More than three decades of traditional media experience, ownership of major commercial operations and a current digital audience reaching millions around the world.
