George Jerome leads Plastic Fantastic, a vinyl record focused show built around crate-digging, great records and a shared love of music on wax.

George’s fascination with radio started early. At school, he and his friends would make their own radio shows by recording vinyl onto tape, talking over the records with a microphone bought from Rumbelows, inventing characters, writing little scripts and making up features. Before long, the fun of doing the shows had become an interest in how the sound itself was made. That led to tape splicing, home-made sound effects and experiments with a borrowed 4-track recorder from the school music department - reversing sounds, manipulating tape and generally discovering how much mischief could be made with a few tracks and a bit of imagination.

George went on to spend many years playing keys in bands, but recording, production and sound engineering were always the bigger fascination. Through the ’90s and ’00s, he worked and volunteered across Manchester’s live-music scene in front-of-house and other live-sound roles, including at The Roadhouse, The Bierkeller and Band on the Wall, as well as a range of independent venues and events. He later completed an HND in Sound Engineering at Salford, building on the practical recording, production and live-sound experience he had already developed over many years.

For around 15 years, studio work remained a big part of George’s life. That included recording his own bands and collaborative projects, producing demos and working with everything from live drums, brass and vocals to loops, synths and electronic arrangements. Some of those projects were professionally mastered and released online. These days, most of that production energy has found its way into radio.

Since joining WFM, George has become increasingly involved behind the scenes as well as behind the microphone. Alongside producing and presenting Plastic Fantastic, he supports and produces other programmes, helps presenters with Myriad and serves as lead technical support for the station. That can mean anything from sorting audio and playout problems to helping with voice links, scheduling and transitions, or making sure pre-recorded programmes sound right and run as they should.

He has also produced his Rhythm & Roots series, researching, writing, presenting and editing his own programmes, while also producing and editing episodes for other presenters. It is another part of station life George particularly enjoys: taking a good idea, helping shape it and turning it into finished radio.