23 October 2012

With a passionate commitment to Liverpool and an in-depth understanding of media and broadcast, Liam will provide a highly informed, local perspective to our exploration of the future of broadcast.

Liam worked with the BBC for more than 20 years, also managing BBC Radio Merseyside. He left the corporation in 2006 to work freelance and pursue his political career, running as an independent candidate in this year's Liverpool Mayoral Election, in which he finished second. Liam also runs his own production company, called Intense Media.

Liam was one of the first campaigners for Liverpool to have their own directly elected Mayor, chairing the independent group, 'A Mayor for Liverpool'. In his own campaign, Liam advocated the principles of freedom of information, promising transparency and accountability through regular public question times, weekly online updates and ongoing engagement with social media, including daily twitter updates on his schedule and day-to-day actions. Liam shows great foresight in his commitment to the possibilities of public broadcast, recognizing the various modes of broadcast as a powerful tool for social engagement, both locally and globally.

Liam has been interviewed by SevenStreets, the Guardian and the Liverpool Daily Post about the Mayoral Election and his beliefs in Liverpool's cultural standing and potential as an independent city.

Liam also lectures in Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, keeping in touch with new generations of broadcasters. To the John Moores University Journalism department, he said "We've got a vast cohort of those who are at their most creative, most energetic, their most willing to experiment and try new things and I think we ought to be harnessing those energies and those ideas as a city." This statement reveals Liam's openness and will for Liverpool to step up as a city to explore its full potential for cultural richness and individuality as a city. Read the rest of this interview by Patrick Arnold here

Join us and Liam on Friday at 11am to hear from a line up of internationally renowned speakers, including Channel 4's Commissioning Editor for Arts Tabitha Jackson and artist collective LuckyPDF.