Volunteer radio presenter, producer, music lover and all-round self proclaimed 'radio fanatic' Zinnia Bridgman joined me to chat about going from her lockdown student radio beginnings to co-presenting The South Coast Music Show on Voice FM.

We chatted about:

< Getting started in radio through university and student broadcasting,

< The thrill (and terror) of being live on air on Voice FM,

< Why volunteer community radio still matters in a de-localised industry,

< The concept of celebrities with platforms / high follower counts being able to cut the line for mainstream radio shows over people who have put in the hours,

< The goings on behind the desk and in the room where it happens,

< Supporting emerging south coast musicians and venues,

< Volunteering, passion projects, breaking into media, and other things...

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Zinnia Bridgman:

https://www.instagram.com/zinniaecbridgman/

https://linktr.ee/zinniaecbridgman

https://www.linkedin.com/in/zinnia-bridgman/

Voice FM:

https://www.voicefmradio.co.uk/

https://www.voicefmradio.co.uk/south-coast-music/south-coast-music-show/

‘Kindful’ video editor Richard 'Ricky' Charlton joined me to chat about going from a young kid from Grimsby fiddling with cameras, to being a paid video editor who’s previously worked with cartoons and currently senior editing at the biggest content agency on the south coast of the UK.

We chatted about:

< How he became interested in videography,

< How he ended up in Bournemouth,

< The BTS of creating an animated kids TV show,

< How he met Joe Hayes, and ended up working for @KindfulCreative,

< The future of content agencies,

< The current and future impact of AI on content creation, and other things...

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Ricky Charlton:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/richard-charlton-21753b255/

https://www.instagram.com/richardcharlton_/

Kindful Creative:

https://www.kindfulcreative.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/kindfulcreative/

https://www.tiktok.com/@kindfulcreative

https://www.linkedin.com/company/kindful-creative/

https://www.threads.net/@kindfulcreative

Benjamin Button Tickets (before it closes): https://shorturl.at/vk8LE

Fiddler On The Roof UK Tour Tickets: https://shorturl.at/qg6Hd

Into The Woods Tickets: https://shorturl.at/35c9I

Award winning musical theatre maestro Mark Aspinall joined me to chat about his 15 year journey from being a music school assistant to becoming one of the best in the biz when putting the music into musical theatre.

We chatted about:

< Mark’s original career plans before he pivoted towards the theatre world

< How he got his foot in the metaphorical stage door of the industry

< His experiences of being on the creative team for both 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' and 'Fiddler On The Roof'

< Being x2 Olivier nominated in the same category, and winning his first award in the process

< Going ‘Into The Woods’ for his next project

< Advice for theatre up and comers

< The future of musical theatre both on and off stage 

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Mark Aspinall:

https://www.globalartists.co.uk/artists/composers/

https://www.instagram.com/masps_snaps/

Freelance Copywriter Amy Shepherd joined me to chat about the relatively unknown art of copywriting, so much so her Nan doesn’t really understand what she does for a living. 

We chat about:

< What copywriting is

< Brands she’s worked for in the past e.g. @thecalmzonenet and @LUSH  

< Her stance on AI

< What she's currently working on

< Brands she wants to work for and with in the future

< Her future Crescendo 

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Amy Shepherd:

https://www.amyshepherdfreelance.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-shepherd-172a391a1/

https://www.instagram.com/amy_shepherd_freelance/

Joshy Clements is the go-to drone guy on the south coast. He joined me to chat about how he discovered and mastered the drone, how he's using its situational versatility to run a "booming" drone side business 'Horizon Drone Specialists' with multiple clients, the future of drone usage with the addition of AI, and pitched his ideal drone features to DJI in the process.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Joshy Clements:

https://www.horizonedronespecialists.com/

https://www.instagram.com/horizondronespecialists/

https://www.instagram.com/joshyclements/

Nate Williams is a multi-instrumentalist & podcaster who has worked with many well known artists. Nate joined me to chat about growing up in a musical family, playing musical instruments, life on and off stage as a gigging musician, working with Jamiroquai, Steve Winwood and others, as well as chatting with his industry friends and heros on his podcast 'In Session With...'

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Nate Williams:

https://www.instagram.com/nategroove/

https://open.spotify.com/show/5uEpi0tdYI7J25B3D6LuIG

https://www.tiktok.com/@/nategroove83/

PSA: Due to unforeseen circumstances, only a certain amount of guest video and audio was usable for this episode. As a result, the episode does end somewhat abrupt. Apologies, and enjoy the episode.

Lara is a violinist and composer/orchestrator originally from Liverpool, now based in London. Lara chats about her musical upbringing, deciding to learn the violin, life of a gigging musician & composer, and how she ended up in Abbey Road Studios with Rudamental and Nile Rodgers... at the same time.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on social media:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendop0d/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Lara Simpson:

https://www.larasimpsonmusic.com/home2

https://www.instagram.com/larasimpsonmusic

https://www.tiktok.com/larasimpsonmusic

Simon Howard is an independent singer/songwriter and musician from Gosport. Originally, he though computer science was his calling. Then after it was too late to change, he decided to take himself to Texas, took his guitar with him and become a musician.

The rest is history…

Simon chats about his time in Texas, his song writing process, his popular single 'Cancellation' and about how he tries to maintain an online platform amongst other things.

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on socials:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:  

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendop0d/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Simon Howard:

https://www.instagram.com/simonhowardmusic/

https://www.tiktok.com/@simonhowardhq/

https://www.facebook.com/simonhowardmusic/

https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/members/simonhoward.html

Elspeth McBain is back for a second chat. This time, we chat about everything Panto 2024, the financial reality of a touring production, and she gives a brief rundown of that is coming to the venue in 2024.

Find out what is on at Lighthouse Poole in 2025: https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/whats-on/

Follow the podcast, Ben and the guest on socials:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast:  

https://www.instagram.com/reachingthecrescendopod/

https://www.tiktok.com/@reachingcrescendopod/

https://www.facebook.com/reachingthecrescendop0d/

Ben Mussell:

https://www.instagram.com/ben_mussell/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/benmussell/

Lighthouse Poole:

https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/

https://www.instagram.com/lighthousepoole/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/poole-arts-trust-limited/posts/

Joe Hayes started out as a full time accountant with a massive photography hobby. Several businesses later and and a network of over 3000 people, Joe now facilitates photography, videography and more recently podcasting for some of the biggest brands on the south coast and in the UK in general.

Joe chats about how his unique path led him to where he is today, where he thinks the direction of podcasting as an industry is going, along with some advice on building networks, tech and how to get started in the 'content' industry.

Follow the podcast and guest on social media using the links below:

Reaching The Crescendo Podcast

https://linktr.ee/reachingthecrescendopod

Joe Hayes aka Kindful Creative

https://www.linkedin.com/in/joefernandohayes/

https://www.kindfulcreative.co.uk/

'kindfulcreative' on Instagram