Age?
44.

Who is he?
Internet editor of talksport.net. Former print journalist.

What's the clever idea?
"Introducing audio email through Talksport's website. We're the first radio station in the world to broadcast VoizMail - voice rather than text emailing - live to air. We launched on July 18 and already have 140,000 unique users."

What's the thinking behind it?
"We're a phone-in radio station. At any one time, hundreds of people are trying to get through, but we have perhaps half a dozen lines, and can only take one caller to air. We do get an enormous amount of email, but people want to hear their own voices on radio, asking presenters, guests and stars specific questions, making comments, as if they were there. Also, it's not just about a greater audience, allowing voice access to those people who couldn't get to us on the telephone. The producer knows the question - it enables us to structure programmes better, pace them better."

How does it work?
"You need a PC with a sound card, which most PCs have, and a microphone, which we're giving away through the website. You go to www.talksport.net, click on the VoizMail button and that gives a step-by-step graphic prompt on how to do it. Then you simply say your piece, add your email address and click, it's gone. Very user-friendly. We then access that, play it over a microphone, write out a three or four-word synopsis, enter it on the studio's audio system and it's available for the producer to use. They just key it straight in, push the button, it immediately plays and the guest or whoever answers the question. It's very much an experimental system. We've done it three times now, with Shane Warne on each occasion. The quality has been surprisingly good."

Possible shortcomings?
"There is no direct interface between our studio sound system and the email at the moment, so we have to put it on a minidisk and carry it to the studio first. It's also not a telephone call. You don't get the same interaction. The penetration of microphone dimension is pretty low at the moment, although we're giving them away through the website."

What's next?
"We're going to take VoizMail across the whole station. Everybody will be getting a piece of it. We're talking about people coming to accept and use it in the same way as email or the telephone. Also, the thing about radio and the internet is they're perfectly suited to each other and there are so many new things coming along all the time. It won't be long before we're streaming our own video, because we're in the audio production business, on the radio side, and have a number of ideas for expanding our own web presence."