With a career spanning over a quarter century, broadcaster Harriett Scott is one of Britain’s leading radio presenters thanks in part to her contribution to the award winning Magic breakfast show alongside the great Ronan Keating. This was just the pinnacle of a successful career which has seen Harriet Scott’s ascension to one of Britain’s best loved broadcasters. Beginning her career as a production assistant at BBC Radio Humberside, Harriet quickly realised that her talent lie in front of the microphone as opposed to behind it and therefore spent the succeeding years climbing the ranks of local radio. Working predominantly on radio stations around the Birmingham area, Harriet developed an unrivalled grounding in the workings of radio on established stations including Viking FM. Yet she always knew that she was destined for bigger and better things.
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In 2002 Harriet secured the prestigious role as host of the Heart breakfast show alongside Jonathan Coleman. Breakfast radio remains a gruelling schedule for any broadcaster with unsociable hours, a requirement to be unequivocally happy and positive to start broadcasting at 6am and the stamina to maintain on air presence for sometimes hours on end. Just three years later in February 2005 Jonathan Coleman was replaced by Jamie Theakston and thus began a golden era for the Heart breakfast show. An experienced broadcaster himself following a successful tenure on Radio 1, Theakston proved the perfect compliment to Harriet’s vibrant tone. Together they made a great and popular team which was recognised when Harriet and Jamie were the recipients of a Sony Radio Silver Award for Best Entertainment Show and Radio Presenters of the Year at the Arqiva Commercial Radio Award. This was the first of many successful radio partnerships enjoyed by Harriet over her career and despite leaving Heart in 2012 remains incredibly proud of her tenure at the station which propelled her on to the next chapter of her career.
BBC radio is somewhat of a landmark for any broadcaster wanting to make waves in broadcasting and in 2012 Harriet got the opportunity to experience this unique side of radio when she joined BBC Radio London. It was here when she realised the huge differences between corporation licensed radio and presenting on a commercial station with the largest being the amount of content which BBC radio eats up. On commercial radio, by the time a broadcaster has fulfilled the commercial break format, discussed any upcoming competitions and most importantly played music, there’s little time for improvised conversation. Whereas on BBC Radio, there’s no commercials which can be very daunting for a broadcaster to fill large amounts of time with their own conversation. Sharing the station with fellow broadcasting royalty; Vanessa Feltz, Gaby Roslin and Paul Ross, Harriet was in the perfect place to learn from some broadcasting greats who each helped her to cultivate her individual voice. Although her tenure at BBC London wasn’t the longest, she left the corporation feeling a better broadcaster for it.
Leaving BBC Radio London in 2015, Harriet joined Magic for weekend breakfast; a role which she honoured for two years until she was unveiled alongside Ronan Keating for the new look Magic Breakfast Show which is live each weekday morning from 6am until 10am. Throughout her career Harriet has become acclimatised to the disciplines of early morning radio and as soon as the red button is on, any tiredness, fatigue or nerves completely disappear. Beyond his supreme talents as a singer/songwriter, Ronan Keating is also a fine broadcaster and together they have a winning formula. This is something which Harriet is immensely proud of and hopes the show can continue to grow for many years to come. The advent of social media has revolutionised the way that radio stars can reach out to their audience and Harriet uses this as an extension of the show. Now there’s a three dimensional feel to the interactive daytime radio show and for Harriet, that’s only ever a good thing.
Now into her third decade in radio, Harriet is still very much in love with the medium of radio and despite her vast contributions to the art. Whether it’s listening to it in her kitchen, on the school run or broadcasting on the airwaves, radio is a massive part of her life and to think that she has made a very successful career out of it is a real dream come true. Likewise it was an absolute pleasure to celebrate Harriet Scott’s vast radio achievements with her and it’s amazing to see where this journey shall take her next.
Beyond The Title