Welcome, Guest. Please Login
YaBB - Yet another Bulletin Board
  To join this Forum send an email with this exact subject line REQUEST MEMBERSHIP to bbcstaff@gmx.com telling us your connection with the BBC.
  HomeHelpSearchLogin  
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print
Michael Colley (Read 9319 times)
HelenPP
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline



Posts: 3

Michael Colley
Nov 6th, 2013, 8:17am
 
Michael Colley, formerly Chief Publicity Officer, Radio, has died.  

Michael joined the BBC as a Radio SM, working on some of the early sessions with the Beatles.  He moved to TV News Production, where he worked on In Town Tonight, and from there to Television Publicity, where he was Publicity Officer for News & Current Affairs.  He was then appointed Chief Publicity Officer, Radio, and later Head of Information, Radio.

Funeral details will be posted later.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
HelenPP
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline



Posts: 3

Re: Michael Colley
Reply #1 - Nov 15th, 2013, 11:54am
 
Michael Colley's funeral  will be held at

Woodlands Crematorium, Brumby Wood Lane, Scunthorpe, South Humberside, DN17 1SP
on  Thursday November 21 at 2.00pm.

All are welcome.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
HelenPP
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline



Posts: 3

Re: Michael Colley
Reply #2 - Nov 17th, 2013, 12:26pm
 
Peter Rosier writes:

I was saddened and surprised to hear that Mike Colley had died.  My wife and I enjoyed two joyous lunches with him last Christmas and New Year, remembering great times at the BBC.

I met him on October 26 1968 - the day I joined the BBC.  After that our paths crossed frequently as he became a friend and mentor.

I took over his job as Publicity Officer for TV News and Current Affairs.  The BBC now has a huge team to do that!

Later I followed him as Head of Radio Publicity and we worked together promoting radio.  It was a formidable task filling his shoes.  He had overseen the massive information job of promoting the changes of radio wavelengths, using Boy Scouts to deliver stickers for radio dials to households across the country.  BBC Radio also had to cut the numbers of orchestras to fit in with budgetary constraints.  Mike led the effort working alongside Radio MD Aubrey Singer to explain the needs to a doubting Musicians Union and arts lobbies.  He was a consummate BBC politician and fixer.

At a time when there were calls in the Peacock Report for the BBC to be more transparent, Mike took radio shows to the public and opened the doors to licence payers.

He could conjure money from nowhere, so we had a huge white Ford estate with one of the first in-car telephones, which we used for the various public shows that Mike organised, like the Ideal Home Exhibition and local radio events.  We also had some of the first mobile phones that were like the size of two bricks.  None of these things ever appeared on a budget sheet!  Nothing illegal though.

Mike started his career as a studio manager, and became an innovator in true public relations, a marketing pioneer thirty years before the BBC established a marketing department.

After retiring he gave more time to his passion for painting, and spent time in the South of France, and took to boating.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Rodney_C
YaBB Newbies
*
Offline



Posts: 1
East Yorkshire
Gender: male
Re: Michael Colley
Reply #3 - Apr 1st, 2021, 8:01am
 
I worked for Michael Colley from the Autumn of 1971 until early 1974. He was a decent boss who knew his way around the BBC system, something I could never get to grips with.
Back to top
 
 
IP Logged
 
Page Index Toggle Pages: 1
Send Topic Print