James West

@westjames.bsky.social

1167 Followers 546 Following

Lead Technical Operator for BBC Media Operations in Salford | Making radio for BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC World Service Sport and BBC Money & Work | Views my own

Images of sporting heroes - in this case the England women’s football team - are projected onto the buildings at MediaCity
Brightly lit office buildings against a pitch black sky. The buildings are reflected in the still water which fills the dock in front of them.
Bungalows behind a stone wall at night. It’s dark. There’s a faint red glow in the sky.
It’s a BBC mark 3 local radio mixing desk.
An old fashioned Mini converted into an ice cream van for Coxons sits facing the sea at Bamburgh beach.
A huge dish of mac and cheese. Yes, that is a garlic baguette I chopped up and sprinkled on the top. It was delicious.
The crowd at Castlefield Bowl waving to a train. Guy Garvey on stage to the right can't quite believe what he's started.
Negronis and the Duomo in Florence
Eight lanes of motorway traffic viewed from a footbridge overhead. On the left four busy lanes head towards Manchester. The four lanes on the right heading away from the city are much quieter
Screenshot of a text message which says: Thank you so much for donating on 15/05/2025. Your donation has now been issued to Wigan Royal Infirmiary. Every donation counts.
I’m outside in the sunshine in Manchester. I’m wearing sunglasses and an Orange McLaren baseball cap. I’ve just git off the tram ready to run 10k in the Great Manchester Run.
A running top with my race number 10282 pinned onto it.
A long, narrow lake stretches across the frame. Towns nestle of the far shore. It’s a sunny day and ferry crosses the screen from right to left.
A lame duck hobbles a long
Photo shows a wine vending machine. Two rows of wine bottles are behind a glass panel. To the right are various buttons, a small touch screen and a card-reader.
A green backpack at the left of the image sits atop a yellow case. A (small) bottle of Prosecco peels out of a side pocket of the backpack. The second class carriage of an Italian train is in the background
Someone is dozing in a striped hammock. Their straw hat is just visible above the side of the hammock.
Scouse princess Cheryl from This City is Ours
Runaround now! It’s a photo of Mike Reid.
Mac desktop with a ghost image of the software update installing screen hazily laid on top of
The laser pointer against a dark but starry sky showing us where to look with our binocs.
Notice outside a hotel says “Food served all day from 12-8:30pm”
A posy of colourful flowers in a glass on a white table.
Stereo PPMs in a BBC radio studio at MediaCity in Salford. The left hand instrument meters the left and right channels on the red and green needles. These are measured directly from the desk. The right hand meter shows Middle and Side (M and S) and the white and yellow needles. M is calculated by adding L and R together and subtracting 6dB. So M=L+R-6dB. M is really important because this is what everyone listening in mono hears. S is the difference between left and right, and tells how much stereo content there is in the programme. S=L-R-6dB Thanks for attending my Ted Talk.
A grotty office on Aldersgate Street in London that has another life as Slough House, the home of Mick Herron’s Slow Horses.
Screenshot of a promotional email from Caffè Nero with placeholder Lorenz Ipsum text instead of the actual message.
A Tesco supermarket with a Pulp connection.
Lucy and James well wrapped up. Looks like he's mansplaining again..
Spam iMessage - text follows below Royal Parcel Notice: Dear Customer We regret to inform you that your Royal Parcel is undeliverable due to loss of address information as a result of damage to the parcel. Please follow the steps below to update your detailed address information: (Please reply Y, then exit the SMS and re-open it to activate the link, or copy the link to open it in Safari) [link redacted] Please update your address within the next 12 hours so we can deliver your package quickly. Thank you for your cooperation! Have a great day! Royal Parcel Customer Service Team
Frosty crystals on my car window obscuring the weak January sun.
Street photographed from the front doorstep. Cars in the foreground, semi-detached houses across the road. Everything covered in a couple of centimetres of snow.
Buildings on the south side of Erie Basin at Salford Quays with the sun hiding behind them.
All the screens. The Comm SM’s view of studio S12 in Quay House, Salford.
Selfie of me in Christmas hat and shirt with a headset balanced there somehow.
A Red Bull F1 car on the dry line at Monaco leaving the swimming pool complex. Sergio Perez is the driver.
Wood cut out Father Christmas in moody lighting. Not at all sinister.
Pink-tinged clouds in the top two-thirds of the picture with trees and a greenhouse silhouetted in the bottom third.
A flat and grey sky over the buildings at MediaCity.
Spotify Unrwapped February was your Serotonin Beach Indie phase You were really into artists like MGMT, Vampire Weekend and Wet Leg.
My top artists on Spotify 1 The Killers 2 Squeeze 3 Billy Joel 4 Scissor Sisters 5 Ladyhawke
Vulcan bomber coming in low over RAF Sealand with wheels down.
Toad in the hole. Ten sausages baked in a Yorkshire pudding. It's magnificent. It's on the hob top with gas rings visible beneath the clear pyrex baking dish I've used.
Flixton Community Choir Christmas Concert TUESDAY 3RD DECEMBER 7.30 PM SAINT MICHAEL'S CHURCH FLIXTON M41 6HR DONATED MONEY ON THE NIGHT WILL BE DIVIDED EQUALLY BETWEEN MS SOCIETY & BRAIN TUMOUR RESEARCH
Compressors!
Overhead view of a sound mixing desk. The faders are all shut, because it’s the old BBC design where you pull to open.
The London skyline with the red glow of a breaking day. A sandy path with grass and a few trees makes up the foreground.
Phone socket on the white tiled wall of my hotel bathroom.
Selfie of me on the train.
John Peel sitting in the SM’s seat, and not at all where any respectable self-op DJ would be.
A huge silhouette of a swan projected above the stage in front of a packed auditorium.
A screen shot of Question 15 from this week’s Thursday Quiz from The Guardian. 15. Who is replacing Zoe Ball as the host of the BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show? Colin Murray Scott Mills Rick Edwards Ronald Mael
Photo of me from the 80s. I’m about 18. I’m wearing a dreadfully patterned jumper over a shirt with a collar. My sleeves are rolled up and I’m saluting with a small glass of red wine. The vibe is very “Hello ladies”
Mark 2 BBC Local Radio desk at Radio Lancashire on King Street in Blackburn during the mid 80s