Advisory Board
The International Radio Festival is honoured to count the following radio and music industry luminaries to its Advisory Board. Advisory Board President: Tony Prince 
Tony Prince began his broadcasting career on the 60’s pirate ship Radio Caroline after which he joined Radio Luxembourg Europe’s largest, most successful radio station in 1968 remaining with the station until 1984 (becoming Programme Director in 1976). In 1983 he launched the Disco Mix Club (DMC) the world’s first record label to exploit remixing production as the DJ art of the future. With the additional inspiration of DMC’s success Tony went one further and founded Mixmag magazine, catapulting club DJ’s around the world towards their destiny as the music producers we know today. Tony Prince on his appointment to the Presidency of the IRF Advisory Board: “There are challenging times ahead for radio, it’s very existence is on the line and the annual International Radio Festival is where we gather, focus and respond to market trends. I am so honoured to be involved with the IRF and the hundreds of DJs and stations involving themselves each year with this incredible event. As we enter a new phase in Marconi’s amazing wireless invention, where because of the internet there is no longer such a thing as local radio, the IRF presents radio as the world hears it!”. More on Tony Prince ___________________________________________________________________ Board Members 
Gordon Mac. Known as the Godfather of Dance Music Radio, Gordon Mac is a highly innovative and successful entrepreneur with wealth of radio experience and knowledge – most recently having launched his new radio station Mi-Soul. Having carved out his career as the first person to succeed in taking a pirate radio station to legalisation in the UK, Gordon is the youngest ever Managing Director of a radio station and renowned for creating the infamous Kiss FM brand. “I was deeply honoured to have been invited to the International Radio Festival last year and asked to join the IRF Advisory Board. It was the most refreshing industry event I’ve attended in many years, as it truly was an international festival.” Commented Gordon. “It was great to see the big corporations rubbing shoulders with the newer, smaller stations to discuss the issues and possibilities available to everyone. The positive collision of brands and ideas really made me feel that the radio industry is set to grow exponentially on the back of new technology and opportunities.” says Gordon Mac. ___________________________________________________________________ 
Scott Cohen, The Orchard. Scott Cohen is the co-founder of digital distribution pioneer The Orchard, the largest digital distributor in the world, located in 23 countries. He is a visiting professor at London Metropolitan University and sits on the BPI Council. Scott’s music career started in the late 80’s in independent and major label artist management. He reps & advises several artists. “Radio is ever evolving. It is more than transmitting music over airwaves and much deeper than online playlists. Radio is at a historic crossroads and The International Radio Festival is the place the discussion begins,” said Cohen. ___________________________________________________________________ 
Robert Kraft, former VP of Fox Music Kraft supervised all the music for Fox Filmed Entertainment, including 20th Century Fox Films, Fox Searchlight, Fox Animation, and Fox 2000. He supervised the music for more than 300 Fox feature films and many TV shows. Kraft won multiple Grammys, Oscars, and Golden Globes and produced record-breaking scores and soundtracks including: “Avatar”, “Moulin Rouge”, “Walk The Line”, and “Rio”. more about Robert here “I am thrilled to join my esteemed colleagues on the International Radio Festival Board. Music radio is a fundamental part of the media landscape, with a rich past and a brilliant future,” said Kraft. ___________________________________________________________________ 
James Cridland, Radio DnS. Radio futurologist & Managing Director of Media UK. He was the Digital Media Director for Virgin Radio in London in 2001; in 2007 he joined the BBC to work on the BBC iPlayer for Radio; also worked at PURE, Audioboo, UK Radioplayer. He is a trustee of the Radio Academy. “Last year’s Festival was incredibly enjoyable, and I’m delighted to be playing more of a role this year. The International Radio Festival is where great radio people come together to talk music and creativity: I’m really looking forward to helping shape another great event that looks to the future,” said Cridland. Watch James talk about Music Radio here ___________________________________________________________________ 
Maarten Brouwer is a social media entrepreneur focussing on media development in multiple urban African areas. His ambition to support in new urban Africa media initiatives has resulted so far in a successful Kenyan station for ghetto youth: Ghetto Radio. He has initiated a pan-African platform ‘thisisafrica’, right now a top-notch media company in revealing news, insights and radio facilities from and about the African urban industry. Maarten is a music expert when it comes to African pop culture and teaches on Universities and Seminars about African musical development and urbanisation. ___________________________________________________________________ 
Nikhil Shah is the co-founder of mixcloud.com, the worldwide successful online radio streaming platform. Over the past 5 years he has helped lead the growth of the company from a couple of guys in a warehouse in Wembley to the world’s biggest community of DJs and radio talent, reaching over 10 million people a month. He is also a DJ and runs electronic music record label ManMakeMusic. Says Nikhil “We have been partnering with the IRF since its first year in 2010, and I am delighted to be able to join the IRF’s illustrious board. The IRF represents an essential hub bringing together some of the best on-air radio content from all four corners of the world”. Nikhil is also behind ORA, the Online Radio Awards, launched together with the International Radio Festival in 2014. www.mixcloud.com/irf ___________________________________________________________________ 
JP Bommel, MD/COO of NATPE, is as an entertainment industry connector at the intersection of content and technology. His career in music and tech industry spans over 20 years with executive roles at BMG, EMI, Sony, Qwest and Reed MIDEM. During his music industry career, JP developed global marketing plans for iconic talent such as Tina Turner, the late Etta James, as well as emerging talent. Later on, in a visionary role, he directed Qwest Communications to leverage the power of the rising internet and launched Qwest “anywhere anytime”. A trusted advisor to the media and entertainment industry, JP presided over the Media and Entertainment think-tank (MENG) and produced executive briefings summits for a selected group of media executives. and is an associate member of NARAS (Grammys.) ___________________________________________________________________ Former IR Advisory Board Members
