John Ryan
Managing Editor, BBC Radio Manchester, UK
John Ryan is Managing Editor of BBC Radio Manchester, the BBC Local Radio Station of the Year 2006.
John was born in Surrey in 1968 and has had a passion for radio since childhood, when he presented pretend programmes on his Grandad’s cassette recorder.
After work experience at a Reading commercial radio station, he accepted the offer of a full time production job and never returned to his A Levels. Next, he joined BBC Radio York in 1987 as a production assistant.
A year later, John became the youngest Breakfast Show presenter in the country at BBC Radio Newcastle. Three years later, he became an instructor at BBC Radio Training, working with new broadcasters across the UK. A producer role at BBC Radio Lancashire followed, before John returned home to Surrey to help create the new BBC Southern Counties Radio.
In 1997, John was asked to become Managing Director of CTFM Radio, a new commercial station for Canterbury. He left CTFM in 1999, and following six months at ITN News Direct, a news station in London, John joined BBC London for a short term project to establish the BBC’s website for the capital.
Next, he spent a year at BBC Radio Northampton, thoroughly overhauling the output and increasing the audience reach, culminating in a Sony Award nomination. In 2001, John became Marketing Manager for the BBC’s local services on radio, TV and online in England.
From January 2004 he led BBC Radio Leeds through a major programme review and a move to new premises. He took over the BBC’s Manchester station in October 2005, relaunching it six months later with Terry Christian and Anthony Wilson in starring roles.
