Telling the truth an explosive act

The Light talks to TNT Radio boss Mike Ryan

- DARREN SMITH

What's your background?

MR: I've been in media all my life as a journalist, for newspapers and radio stations. For a long time I was playing music on rock stations in the U.S. and Australia; had my own production company - making radio programmes; moved into shows for cable, then we kicked off a video programme.

One day, someone called us and said, we like what you do and let's have a chat about doing a little more.

If you do talk radio, you do talkback - but they're top-heavy because you have a lot of people doing all of the things that need doing.

We had a goal; it took about a year and a quarter and we have some fantastic people now. The time was right to move into video - that's our next stage for year two. For year three, make it bigger and better and make sure the business can stay afloat. We have to do good - there's not a whole lot out there; we are totally independent. We have no outside influence.

People say we're cutting edge and new, but what we're doing is what you and I grew up with years ago the station telling the story as it is, and telling the truth.

And sure, we have opinion shows, but the truth is the truth. Sometimes we might get it wrong, but we just want to tell it as it is.

We focused on the UK because we're convicts, and we haven't thanked you enough for sending us to these places with big white beaches. So this is our way of thanking you guys we haven't forgotten our roots, which is why the UK is so important. Probably the epicentre of freedom and rights. The take-up of the vaccine was low - 44 per cent did not get the jab. In Australia, we were terrified - but it shows you there is a great number of Brits that are good-thinking people, that don't stand for BS.