Why did Emma Scott, 50, come out of radio retirement for an online radio station? Kira Gibson finds out.
Radio was a hobby for Emma, with her ultimate career goal being that of a police officer. But life didn’t work out that way for her, it went in a completely different direction.
Having been presenting on various shows since 1988, she started to have bad experiences towards her retirement from presenting in 2013 to the point she didn’t want to present anymore.
Despite her retirement from presenting, Emma still worked in the radio sector.
“Even when I left radio presenting, I just moved into a different job that involved radio, so it’s kind of in my blood,” she says.
Following seven years of radio retirement, and having a break from presenting, Emma went to work on a rock and metal online radio station named Primordial Radio.
Coming round to Primordial Radio wasn’t a decision that came straight away. Primordial was formed in 2017 by Hugh Evans (Moose), Pete Bailey and Russell Collington (Dewsbury Rock) and several shareholders who funded the operation.
“So the correct order for me was shareholder, I had no intention of doing any radio again, ever. But when I heard that Team Rock were going to be Primordial Radio I thought ‘I’ll get involved in that, because it’s Moose and it’s Dewsbury and it’s Pete and they’re lovely guys.’
“I’d already done some work with Moose and Dewsbury before at Team Rock on a couple of shows. So when I found out that Primordial Radio was coming, and they obviously needed a load of shareholders to get it going, I put in what I could, which wasn’t much at the time. But I’ve got some shares, which is very nice,” Emma said.
Emma didn’t join the team until the dreadful Covid-19 lockdown in 2020, three years after the station had started and had now established a cult following (#notacult).
“When Moose asked me to join the presentation team, I said yes, funnily enough. And I came out of retirement, because it was Primordial. Primordial is like a family. That’s how I saw it anyway, I didn’t see it as going back on the radio and it being a really scary thing.”
The new presenting job on Primordial gave Emma the spark of life she needed to enjoy the presenting job again. Since she came out of retirement, she has become more involved in other projects.
The big head of the station, Hugh Evans (Moose) said: “Em and I have known each other for a few years, and every couple of months we’d go ‘you alright?’, have a brief conversation and then don’t speak for a month, that kind of thing.
“This seed was planted a while ago, and I thought ‘oh she’d be perfect for it’ because there’s Emma Scott on the radio and then there’s Emma Scott. If you get the Emma Scott that we know, I mean, she’s just amazing, and she’s so clever and funny. But I don’t think she appreciates it herself.
“I don’t think she sees that in herself. She’s gotta be Emma Scott the presenter, when if she’s just Emma Scott, much more compelling, much more interesting, much much more funny, much more relaxed. So the fact we coerced her, cause I know she had a really bad taste in her mouth when she left radio, the fact we managed to coerce her back is… It’s humbling really. I’m thankful that she did.”
Emma doesn’t find radio easy, in fact she finds the whole experience difficult but it’s a passion of hers. Something of which she is glad to be doing, despite all the challenges that it may bring.
She says her favourite thing about Primordial Radio is: “You’d think though, being that it’s a radio station, that I’d say ‘yeah. I love the music! I love the presenters!’ That is Primordial but the main thing about Primordial, that I think that differs, that makes it differ from other radio stations is the family feel. And as I said, that’s why I came out of my radio retirement.”
Emma has taken a break from presenting on Primordial Radio, but has other projects on the go such as PlugginBaby, a radio plugging business which hosts new music from new artists just breaking out onto the scene, as well as new releases from established artists.
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