Give us a minute, Times Radio

Give us a minute, Times Radio

Last Tuesday afternoon on Times Radio, Darryl Morris, who was covering the Manchester mayoral election, and presenter Fi Glover, lamented the lack of serious, accountability-focused local media in Oldham. I could not have agreed more…except that Oldham Owl co-founder Jason Flynn and I spotted the gap about eight months ago, so in actual fact they were agreeing with us.

We would have been up and running by now, but I was diagnosed with cancer in March and had to lie low for several months following a brutal, necessary and successful surgical intervention. (Get checked. Have the surgery if they recommend it, even if it leaves you looking as though you have been attacked by a shark.)

As chance would have it, at the exact moment Morris and Glover were discussing the unique (and not in a good way) circumstances of Oldham politics and media, I was moving items around on The Oldham Owl news planner.

For a moment, I thought I was hallucinating.

Morris said “Raja Miah”, and there he is on my spreadsheet. He mentioned grooming gangs, Facebook conspiracy theorists, Dovestones fires (an unmissable metaphor), allegations made without evidence, arson attacks and buildings supposedly falling down because of “the wind”. Morris lamented that no one is getting a grip on the misinformation. I shouted at the radio: “Give us a minute, Times Radio.”

Part of Morris’s segment featured an interview with a man that was conducted in or near Parliament Square. Morris challenged the interviewee, telling him that what he was saying sounded like conspiracy theory. The man replied that everyone now disbelieved the Warren Commission’s findings on the JFK assassination, which he incorrectly said had happened in 1965. (The assassination happened in November 1963, and the Warren Commission reported in 1964. Not everyone believes that the Commission’s findings are wrong, but why let the facts separate you from the things you believe?)

This and other remarks prompted Morris and Glover to conclude that Oldham needs a serious news publisher.

The interview took place only yards from Molino Lounge, where I was chewing the cud with some of The Oldham Owl’s correspondents. It turns out Morris had even tried to interview one of them on his way to meet me. What are the chances?

The good news is that everything Morris mentioned is already in our sights. The better news is that our plans include plenty of things he did not mention.

For all those people out there who almost literally cannot wait for The Oldham Owl, our journalists begin work on their commissions today, Monday 3 August. They will be investigating, inquiring, gathering news, seeking comment, building contacts, testing claims, finding evidence and shaping stories.

We have some substantial investigations and scrutiny pieces in the pipeline, alongside more important matters such as comprehensive coverage of Latics and Roughyeds.

We cannot wait. Times Radio, we are coming.

The first edition of The Oldham Owl will be published on Thursday 3 September.