Once removed from the schedules, the majority of presenters and their shows end up forgotten and thrown on the radio scrapheap never to be heard of again. Far from it, though, for Howard Hughes. Having built up a cult following from The Unexplained on talkSPORT, Howard moved his show into podcast form and is now going from strength to strength with much interest from listeners both in the UK and abroad.
Some have coined Howard as “the voice of London” for his highly acclaimed journalistic and news reading abilities but most will, perhaps, remember him as part of The Chris Tarrant Breakfast Show on Capital Radio. Howard says: “Chris was like my older brother. We were, and are, great friends as he taught me a great deal. I massively respect him and what he does professionally.” But it has been in the time since leaving Capital that Howard fully developed his role as a presenter in his own right moving to LBC and then with talkSPORT.
The Unexplained was born in 2004 but what most listeners were unaware of was that it formed just a small part of Howard’s working week. He says: “Most people didn’t know that I was producing and reading breakfast news on London’s Smooth Radio and, for a while, Smooth Radio in the north west for the whole time I was at talkSPORT. For almost two years, I had three jobs; The Unexplained was just one of them.”
It was a gruelling schedule for Howard resulting in what he described as “zero life” despite the variety that it brought to his working week. He says: “I’d finish at talkSPORT around midnight and then on Monday morning I would be up at 4:00am for my weekday news job at Smooth Radio in London. And then on Monday and Tuesday I had some pre-recorded radio features to do as well. It didn’t make me rich, but it was high on a permanent radio buzz. In fact, one week I did the talkSPORT show, my other work at Smooth Radio, a voiceover and a Friday drivetime how at BBC Three Counties Radio. It was pure anorak heaven!”
Two years after signing a deal with talkSPORT to host The Unexplained Howard was released by the station leaving the show without a platform from which to broadcast. The usual story for a radio presenter and their show is that once they’ve been discarded by a station, the audience forget they ever existed. Not for Howard, though, as a number of people contacted him via email and whilst working at other stations. He says: “I started receiving the emails just days after I left talkSPORT; people were even phoning Smooth Radio about the show to find out if it would return. And they haven’t stopped to this day. I get them almost everyday with most saying that they’ve missed the show and great to have it back online and available to download.”
Not expecting this sort of response to the demise of The Unexplained on talkSPORT, Howard admits that he was proved wrong: “My view was always when a show is gone, it’s gone and forgotten. But this show, which I devised and made happen every week, proves me and keeps proving me wrong.”
Whilst the show, in podcast form, is now able to reach a different kind of listener, and a truly global audience, Howard is still able to attract a wide range of guests including old favourite David Icke and new guests. He says: “I’ve had a variety of guests from Dick Hoagland to Ed Dames, who stayed friends, and new company such as American medium James Van Praagh and South African author Michael Tellinger. He actually has a fascinating book out in later this month so keep a look out for that.”
But stepping out of the world of daily work meant that Howard was able to reclaim his life and has travelled, in recent months, to destinations such as the United States and, even, South Africa where he recorded two special editions of The Unexplained. Howard has, however, still kept one foot in the industry working for a number of companies. He says: “I did training for radio groups like UKRD, voiceovers for the likes of CNN and recently became station voice for a radio outlet in the south east of England. I also did my annual live voiceover for ITV's 2007 British Comedy Awards which was on television quite recently.”
Howard is confident that talkSPORT will continue to be successful describing them as a “class operator” but believes that the loss of James Whale will leave a gap and take someone very special to fill. He is also a fan of Liverpool’s City Talk station from Bauer Radio saying that it is “brilliantly run” and “it’ll be a huge success.”
You can listen to the latest podcast show of The Unexplained, presented by Howard Hughes at www.theunexplained.tv and includes two special shows recorded on location in South Africa with special guests Michael Tellinger and Michelle Eloff. Howard says: "Both shows are unmissable!"
Reintroducing: Howard Hughes
The Unexplained: 2004-2006
July 2008
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