Web work
Here's a selection of online work for which Simon has been responsible over the last decade, as Head of Interactive for Somethin' Else, Head of Music Interactive for BBC Audio & Music Interactive and as Freelance Consultant and Project Manager for state51.
Somethin' Else 2005-2007
Audi TT Remastered
To reinvigorate the image of the TT, Audi commissioned a podcast series comprising current "cool" bands' versions of classics. The Flash-based website hosted the downloads and a wealth of supporting written materials.
Africa Beyond
A comprehensive portal to all of the BBC's Africa-related content, created for Britain's fastest growing demographic: African immigrants. As well as working as a portal the site contained a wealth of original material, including extremely popular message boards and blogs.
Somethin' Else
Of course, one of Simon's first tasks as Head of Interactive for Somethin' Else was to redevelop its own website, making it a shop front for the company's vast amount of work across radio, TV, talent
The Black Room Sessions
A new kind of music video service! Month by month, Somethin' Else's cross-disciplinary team of multimedia producers would shoot, record and edit live performances by an incredibly eclectic range of acts in the company's bespoke basement film studio; the finest perfomamces
were made available through the site either as individuals films or as part of a larger "show".
Fresh40
Somethin' Else's launched the UK's official national Urban show in the Autumn of 2007; the interactive team had a mere 6 weeks to create the accompanying - necessarily web 2.0! - website.
Keepin' It Peel
Radio 1's website celebrating the life and career of DJ John Peel, featuring full biography, thousands of accolades from fans, friends and associates and - the biggest challenge in the construction of the site - a full database of all the Peel Sessions fully illustrated with sound clips.
The Local Radio Company
A suite of websites carrying a vast amount of local information - weather, traffic, sport etc - for 27 regional radio stations.
Asian Nation
A site created fro the BBC Asian Network's Asian Nation season, itself conceived to commemorate the 60th anniversary of Indian partition. The site featured a highly innovative image, video and sound uploader used by the public to record their messages about their experiences as British Asians.
hit40uk
Somethin' Else had been making the UK's nationally-syndicated radio show for some years before the interactive team took on the task of bringing it up to date and making it web 2.0 compliant!
BBC Radio & Music Interactive, 2001-2005
BBC Music website & portal
bbc.co.uk/music or "slash music" was launched 2001 and has undergone several iterations since. The current version was initiated under Simon though actually launched after his move to Somethin' Else.
Radio One's One Music
Commissioned by BBC Learning, the One Music website was a compendious and constantly-updated area of the Radio One website dedicated to helping young musicians and music entrepreneurs get into - and get on in - the business.
The Proms
Each year the Proms website provides listings and ticketing information about the world's largest classical music festival, as well as hosting audio and video highlights and a avst amount of supplementary materials - interviews, reviews, profiles.
BBC Parents' Music Room
The Parent's Music Room gave advice to parents of children from birth to age 16 on how how encourage their kids to learn an instrument or simply develop an abiding engagement with music.
BBC Radio 3
Simon managed the team responsible for the UK's leading cultural radio station's website, and oversaw its major relaunch in 2004. Major props to Double Shot associates Justin Spooner, then Interactive Editor for Radio 3, and Paul Finn, the site's designer.
Sold on Song
BBC Radio 2's website celebrating the art and craft of the great song takes a song-by-song approach to the subject, using a combination of music analysis, popular anecdote and pop history to explain their success.
World on your Street
A Radio 3 project, WOYS turns the notion of "world music" on its head, looking at the musical culture of immigrant communities around Britain.
state51, 1998-2000
Playlouder
Although relaunched in a different guise since, indie music 'zine and portal Playlouder was launched by a team led by Simon in the Summer of 2000. Amongst the early successes of the site was the first ever video webcast from the Glastonbury festival, put together by a team project managed by Simon on site.
Motion
Ground-breaking music reviews service Motion (re-branded "Sonomu") brought together, annually, hundreds of reviews of music releases of a vastly diverse nature. Over its three year history, Motion became a real contender on the UK underground music scene, signing off with live music and arts club night co-hosted with record label 4AD. Simon co-led Motion's lauch and oversaw its editorial development, as well as wrote widely for it. Sonomu - pictured here - still features all the writing done for Motion by Simon and his colleagues.