HISTORY
So how did Moonshadow Media come about? Well here we have to go back to the late 1960s when I was starting to find my feet as a musician and also discovering an interest in photography. The die had been cast.
In the late 70s I had been working as a pro musician and was a "snapper" (taking photos for pleasure more than anything) when I was approached and asked to take some photographs for a business exhibition by one of the exhibitors. As a result of this I was then booked as the official photographer for Warrington Brighter Homes exhibition and got to work with actors Johnny Briggs and Helen Worth (Mike Baldwin and Gail Tyldesley on the ITV show Coronation Street)taking publicity photos for the exhibiting businesses.
That exhibition was to secure me two lucrative contracts, one with a roofing company and one with a glazing company. I was then asked to consider becoming a photo journalist for the CB Gazette (a newspaper for the up coming CB Community) and during that period I was sent as photographer on the RAC Rally, The Warrington By-Election and numerous pro CB Radio demonstrations etc.
I then did a number of other private commissions but wandered back into professional music, and more importantly into radio - working for Halton FM, Tarka Radio and doing a couple of shows and interviews for Lantern FM in N.Devon.
Working with my long term friend Tom Armstrong we staged a series of theatre shows, created a performing arts training school and established a recording studio called the Blue Rooms in Georgeham and it was during this period that we considered the merit of setting up, using the Sky TV service, a tv training facility - cost implications killed that idea but we were convinced that there was a way that the internet could be used but we had no idea how.
In the mid 2000s we discovered something called podcasting and because by this time I had qualified as a Life Coach I thought it would be a great idea to "podcast" some of the techniques I had learned as a coach, and so Coaching Radio was born.
From that first tentative step back into the world of broadcasting, albeit from a different angle and on my own account I soon discovered that there was an interest in the things I was talking about. So I expanded and recorded more and more shows some on coaching topics and others on my other great love music. However I did not want to be too "mainstream" so decided at that early time that the music I would use would be drawn from the wealth of talent that is out there unsigned.
I was soon approached by friends of mine who had heard the Coaching Radio broadcasts and they asked me if I could do a similar sort of thing for the Pagan Community. I responded that would be a fairly simple thing to do and so set about creating the brand Cauldron FM
Having established these two broadcast services I soon realised that I needed more variation and I approached the publishers of a children's pagan magazine with a proposal that I thought would interest them. I suggested that they did an audio version of their magazine, a suggestion that was welcomed and so the Pagan Moonbeams show was added into the Cauldron FM mix.
One of the presenters of this children's show was Raven Moonshadow and when the show came to an end she volunteered to stay on as a Cauldron FM presenter and created her own show for Pagan Youth called Raven's Circle. This show has had some rave reviews and Raven then went on to create a very different type of show for an adult audience entitled The Nest
We quickly recruited another presenter Rev.Kora who presents a show entitled Kora's Cauldron which was going really well and building the audience figures nicely until an illness struck and sadly this has taken her off the air temporarily
Alongside the radio operation we have also established an internet television presence in the form of Ilfracombe TV and North Devon TV as well as building a portfolio of advertising clients for whom we provide radio advertising
The next stage of our development has seen us establishing a working relationship with R+L Digital Videos a copy writing service provided by Sarah Canty (who is also involved with CauldronFM) and offering a voice over service for corporate clients.
Our publishing arm has been extended to include our newest online publication Connect North Devon a bi-monthly magazine dedicated to holistic, green, wellness and ecological matters.
THE FUTURE
We are cuttently undergoing broadcast trials to enable us to launch a 24/7 radio broadcast operation with a mix of pre-recorded and live transmissions. We are developing our TV presence and planning to expand on the Cauldron theme creating programming that will appeal to our Pagan listenership. We are also looking to use the Moonshadow branded 4 x 4 to visit events around the country to promote the brands of CauldronFM and Moonshadow Media thus raising the awareness of our presence as serious players in the Media industry
That brings me to the end of this our first blog, I hope that you have enjoyed it and will join us as a follower. Our next post will include presenter profiles and maybe some more titbits of interest from Moonshadow Media Productions
We wish you all Love, Light and Blessings
The Moonshadow Media Team
To visit the CauldronFM Facebook page
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