Keep The Faith magazine - Britain's leading publication about Black faith

Shirin Aguiar-Holloway talks to Charmaine Noble-McLean, Director of Content at Premier Radio and one of the most influential women in Christian media

The dulcet tones of Charmaine Noble-McLean have long graced the airwaves of Premier Christian Radio.  This intrepid, hardworking class lass from Wolverhampton has been with the station through thick and thin almost since day one.

Charmaine’s journey from volunteer journalist to the station’s Director of Content started in 1996, nine months after Premier launched. She had always wanted to work in radio, and had done some voluntary work with Radio BRMB in the West Midlands but had had “no regular firm gig.”

She is indebted to Marcia Dixon, whom she met whilst at the New Testament Church of God in Mile End. Marcia suggested Charmaine contact Premier Radio for work experience, and provided a couple of contacts at the station.

The suggestion was a good one.  Charmaine contacted the station and was called in for an interview.  She recalls “a very friendly chat,” at the end of which she had some voluntary work on Premier’s breakfast show. She found herself thrown in at the deep end.  “A lot of the team were ex-BBC journalists, very good journalists. They showed me how to write copy and go to press conferences. I was working all the hours God sent because I loved it; ‘This is what I want to do, I love this work.’

One assignment Charmaine was given stands out clearly.  “I remember coming in one day, dressed casually in jeans and a jacket, and one of the journalists said, ‘We’re doing this story today. We need you to go down to this address and do an interview with this person, and get it back quickly so we can edit it and turn it round for the show.’

“So I went down there. Little did I realise it was a Government press conference on transport. I walked in. The entrance was at the front of the press conference. I was late. The conference was full of men in suits. There was I, a teenage Black girl in jeans coming in late. But I got the interview, got it back, chopped it up, and turned it round. Whether it was great or not I don’t know, but I did what they wanted and it went to air.”

Charmaine also had a stint working as PA to Premier’s Chief Executive, Peter Kerridge.  She only agreed to the role because she was able to continue doing radio work.  Juggling both roles meant that for two years she came in early to work on the Inspirational Breakfast Show, and stayed late to work on the Drive Time (early evening) programme.

After the Radio Team Manager left, Charmaine was asked to step in to what was a managerial role, but she also continued with her on-air work, obtaining her first show presenting the youth show (the Soul Survivor Radio Show), for which she is best known. “It was just great doing interviews with all these artists, from Hip Hop to Rock to Matt Redman-type people, as well as sitting in and presenting other shows occasionally. I worked on every show to be honest with you, on the breakfast show, on the afternoon show, the drive time show, but the more responsibility I got, the less I was able to do a regular show, so there came a point where I thought, ‘I can’t call myself a youth anymore; I was in my twenties!”  She eventually made way for someone else to take on the role.

Meanwhile, Premier grew: “During my time as Head of Radio we began to generate more Christian news. Our emphasis was on what God had to say about these situations, and that became a mainstay of what the shows were about: a much more overtly Christian view on what’s going on. This was a big change because before that time we were really a regular radio station with a Christian ethos as opposed to a Christian station.”

Not satisfied with her first degree in BA in Communications and Information Technology, Charmaine did a part-time Masters in Journalism while at Premier.  She loved learning, and planned to do a Masters in Theology, but circumstances changed, and she got married.

Since starting out at the station, Premier has grown beyond her imagination. It now has a TV arm, three magazines and two radio stations, with Premier Radio broadcasting nationally on DAB, on Sky and Freeview, and Premier Gospel on London DAB and online.

The mum-of-two, who describes herself as a Pentecostal “faking it as an Anglican”, loves Premier’s diversity, as it serves Pentecostals, High Anglicans and Catholics. It is also taken seriously by the powers that be. “We have engaged with more politicians than we’ve ever seen before, who’ve taken us seriously. Who would have thought that we would have succeeded in getting interviews with people like Gordon Brown? It’s amazing.”

Working in the media hasn’t always been easy, but Charmaine loves what she does.  “For me, anyway, you don’t do it unless you love it ’cos it’s tough sometimes. But somehow it’s the grace of God giving me strength but also an enthusiasm for these types of media, otherwise I would have jacked it all in and gone and done something easier.”

For more information about Premier Radio visit www.premier.org.uk