The Original Sims

Some of us called him “Rockin’ Robbo”; he got that name when he was working in Downtown.  “The wee man with the glasses. “ had other names.  But he was more a jazzer than a rocker. A husband and father first, a journo and a drummer after that and a great figure in Northern Ireland broadcast news.  And he was buried today.

Paul Robinson started in Armagh as a trainee reporter before going to the Newsletter and the Belfast Telegraph.  We worked together in Downtown – he a news man, me a DJ.  Even though it was a small place, music and news were kept separate, but Robbo brought the two together doing music news on a programme Ivan Martin and I worked on.

But he was a serious and brave journalist. Davy Lynass – probably his friend for longer than anyone – spoke at the funeral and told a tale of Robbo being out on a story and his car being hi-jacked by the IRA.  Paul was left standing in a field with one of the IRA men and told to stand still and wait. After a few minutes fidgeting and hopping around from one foot to another he broke the science “Hey, mate – any chance I can have a fag?”
The coffin arrived at the church to the sound of an Irish lament played on Uillean pipes.  I can’t say how many people were in the church.  It probably held upwards of 400.  I arrived early, but not early enough and stood with at least 50 others outside in the cold Bangor sea wind.

This generation of senior broadcasters and journalists who have reported so much horror and seen so much change are a tight bunch.  Whether BBC, UTV or the news papers, we are a big tight family.  We all know each other – most of us have worked with each other at some time or another.  I was almost always on the non-news side – for a while I did both.  We are all friends.

People cried.  People who are house hold names, who verbally pummel politicians and leave them looking foolish and inadequate every day, walked away shaking with emotion.  And there were politicians there too, shaken and sad.

The service ended with to Don Henley’s IGY radiating from the speakers out side the church. Hundreds of people spilled out of the church, shaking hands, supporting each other, many laughing.  Which was right – apart from drumming on every surface, smoking a fag every chance he could Robbo laughed – he laughed a lot and we lauhed today with him.

I’m off, then - to another blog-home.  After a couple of years here at Blogsome I’m moving into two new detached blog villas.  First stop will be davysims.com which I have moved into now.  But soon to a newly and significantly renovated davysims.co.uk which I’m told will be very modern and state of the art. 

So update your book marks (who am I kidding?).

Thanks Blogsome.  Not sure why you provided this free, but thanks anyway.

Thanks to whoever it was who nominated me for the Digital Circle Steering Group.  My and the other names now go forward to election.  But nomination in itself carries responsibilities and among them the most important is the CV.  That balance of fact and modest ambition while trying not to be too po-faced and having to write in the 3rd person which is always weird.  And trying not to name drop left right and centre, too. The CV will appear on the Digital Circle Website soon.  So I thought I should post it here, too.  One thing I can’t say in the CV - "Available For Hire from March 2009" - call me …

In March 2009, Davy Sims will mark 30 years working fulltime in Media. 
 
Starting as a presenter in Downtown Radio where he championed new and experimental local music, he moved to BBC in 1986 where he launched The Bottom Line – later renamed Across the Line. 
 
Just over half his 22 years in BBC was as a Radio Producer in Radio Ulster, Radio 1 and Radio 4. He produced the first ever BBC radio programmes on computers and the internet "Cyberphobia" and was contributor on Radio Ulster and Radio 2 on "The Web".
 
In 1999 he became the first Online Producer in BBC Northern Ireland where he launched a range of sites within the BBC NI portfolio.  Within 18 months Davy became Editor New Media where he further developed the department and portfolio to include Web, Interactive TV, Mobile, Communities (real and virtual) and activities around the digital divide (BBC Bus).  His responsibilities expanded beyond Northern Ireland into helping lead the change BBC’s Web 2 Strategy, and in particular the  development of Message Boards platforms and management, Blogs and Social Navigation and Networking across BBC.
 
Leaving the BBC in August 2008 he entered the wonderful world of the freelance producer and media consultant.  Davy’s clients range across broadcasting, publishing, charities/voluntary sector, public sector, marketing and communications. He is developing several sites and blogs. One site is aimed at selling Northern Ireland abroad and one blog is www.gaelgames.com a Podcast about Gaelic Games.
 
Davy has been a member of the Digital Circle Steering Group since just after its inception. He produced the Digital Circle podcasts.
 
His own personal and professional objectives include helping and supporting new talent and he as a long track record in the area including giving early opportunities to journalistic, presentation and music talent while in Radio and spotting and supporting a number of small digital business and individuals in the digital industries in Northern Ireland.
 
Where finance has been available he has always been keen on finding new ways of working and delivering creative ideas and production. 
 
His personal and professional network extends into the UK, Ireland and Europe, but is now beginning to develop links in North America.
 
Davy stills sees himself as a Content Producer; he can’t design a straight line and an only read code a little bit - but can’t write it.  His focus is on The Content and most importantly The Audience.   His biggest audience was 19 million listeners for the first Radio 1 Green Week; his smallest is the few people who occasionally visit davysims.co.uk (which at time of writing has an Alexa rank of 9,027,497 – down almost 3,000,000 from last week. So not very popular, then).
 
Davy has a strong belief that the digital industry in Northern Ireland can achieve remarkable results providing that the industry is results focused and works as one big organisation when needed and as small innovative organisations and businesses when appropriate.

An all too fleeting visit to “Unconvention Belfast” and http://twitter.com/unconvention yesterday.  Was hoping to stay longer, but a minor domestic crisis drew me home earlier than I would have liked.  The main reason I was there was to do a workshop on Podcasting.  I was unexpectedly (and gratefully) joined by Stephen O’Regan of balconytv.com.  Stephen does things differently from me – first balconytv is video and I don’t really do video, the second is that he uses a different podcasting system. So he was able to bring a different perspective.  But thankfully we agreed tended to agree especially taking a professional attitude to the production of podcasts.

Unconvention (read all about it) is a truly excellent event which runs on adrenaline and volunteerism.  It is a real public service which endeavours to bring professionalism to the music industry of Northern Ireland.

It is time for the rest of Northern Ireland’s business community and media to realise that individuals and small businesses that support and arrange events like Unconvention are as much part of the economic revival of our city and all of Northern Ireland as is any other industry.  The music, entertainment, creative industry have an enormous economic benefit which can been seen on the Profit and Loss account.  But it has a more subtle impact on our ecomony by raising expectations and morale.  And as any business person will tell you morale has a direct impact on the bottom line.

So where were you BBC, UTV, Belfast Telegraph and others?  Yes our desperate "traditional" media – desperate for stories and for younger audiences. You are required by your audiences (and in some cases by Charter and law) to provide a fair and balanced coverage including Economy.  This is not a “good news story” with everybody smiling and saying “Awww, shucks.” at the end.  This is a real business story even if it is by its own title and admission “Unconventional.” This is not kids messing about in front of the mirror playing tennis rackets; this is business. 

Next time send someone.  No, send two – one to cover the entertainment and send your Business Cor.  also.

After several years at Blogsome, I’m planning to move out to davysims.com