8: Ian Rufus - Hallam, Mercia, BRMB - Commercial radio executive

Few individuals can lay claim to having been present at the birth of UK commercial radio, and also being there at the launch of Hallam, Mercia and in the early throes of Viking. Ian Rufus was.

In this edition of the Radiomoments ‘Conversations’ series, Ian reflects honestly on his decades in the business. He tells of LBC’s troubled first year, its industrial strife and its journalists going unpaid – and his time at the helm as the earliest commercial radio mergers were staged. He tells of insider share dealing, regulatory obstinacy – the birth of the network chart show - and his proudest moments.

In his own words, from his redundancy from press - to his spell at the helm of one of the UK’s biggest radio groups, this is the Ian Rufus story. Ian died in May 2016.

Enjoy the whole Conversations series here. Music by Larry Bryant.