Newspaper production at the Shropshire Star was put under the microphone as part of a BBC radio feature on the media.

BBC Radio Shropshire broadcast live from the Star’s head office in Ketley during Chris Ashley’s three-hour mid-morning show.

The programme examined all aspects of the paper, from newsgathering to the printing presses, and Star staff joined Daily Mirror and BBC radio reporters to explain their roles in the media.

Staff including chief sub-editor Lisa Bailey, nostalgia expert Tony Neal and business editor Carl Jones took their turns on the microphone together with former Star photographer, 84-year-old Dan Arden.

News editor and deputy editor Jon Simcock treated the presenter to a guided tour of the daily paper’s building (pictured above).

He said: “Chris spoke to about half a dozen people on most desks here including features, sport, newsdesk and pictures, probably the only people he didn’t get to speak to were the reporters because they were up to their eyes.

“I took him on the guided tour of the news room and the press hall.

“The listeners were able to find out everything they need to know about how we put the paper together.”

Star writers and reporters are familiar voices to radio listeners in Shropshire as they appear regularly on an evening local news panel show.

Jon added: “The show regularly has people from the Star discussing the days news, and if anyone needs a media expert we are only too happy to help.”

BBC Shropshire producer Jane McIntyre said: “We spent the morning speaking to various people involved in the industry including David Seymour from the Daily Mirror and our own war correspondent Andrew North.

“It was interesting to see how the reporting of news on the air compares to print and the morning proved to be quite fun.”

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