Paul’s in tune with countryside (From Evesham Journal)

Paul’s in tune with countryside

11:04am Thursday 4th February 2010 in News

PAUL Aitken may have gone from punk rocker to television mogul but his love of Britain’s countryside has never wavered.

This passion is now the driving force behind The Country Channel, a TV station he runs in Oxford Road, Chipping Norton. Evesham-born Paul’s other love is broadcasting.

As a young singer/actor he chose to study drama at Rose Bruford College in Sidcup, Kent, because it had a radio studio.

By the 1970s he was the drummer/vocalist in The Banned, a punk rock/new wave band that sold 80,000 records for EMI’s Harvest label. The Banned’s biggest chart hit was the single Little Girl in 1977.

Paul and songwriting partner David Owen-Smith also wrote music for children’s TV show Take Hart in the 1970s.

Nowadays, Paul is the drummer in party band The Retros, who once played at Twickenham stadium before a rugby match between England and the All Blacks. He had minor stage and TV acting roles.

Becoming a producer/ director, Paul founded his own TV production company in Chipping Norton during the 1980s. This company eventually moved to Kiddington, Oxfordshire, where he founded Country Channel TV three-and-a-half years ago.

Paul said he launched the channel because the countryside was poorly served by national TV.

He said: “Somebody has got to tell the true stories and the real stories about the countryside and represent the farming community.

“I want to give a British voice to the countryside because there are Americans trying to muscle their way in.”

Paul sold the rest of his business three years ago but retained ownership of Country Channel TV, which he said became the first station to broadcast a reunion performance between rock stars Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood.

The station has been so successful that it moved to Chipping Norton last summer to double its floor space from 1,000 to 2,000 square feet to accommodate live programming.

Paul employs about 10 people full time, although about 40 are “closely associated” with the channel.

He also launched a trust to raise funding for educational programmes.

Country Channel TV’s shareholders include Adam Henson, Cotswold Farm Park owner and presenter of the BBC’s Country File TV programme; Tony Francis, presenter of independent television’s Heart of the Country programme; Bill Turnbull, presenter of the BBC’s Breakfast programme; Rob Bonnet, TV sports presenter; Lucinda Green, equestrian champion and Chipping Norton’s Graeme Garden, star of legendary BBC comedy TV show The Goodies.

Paul said: “The Country Channel is for those who live, work and play in the countryside. For me, it represents spirituality – what is this little blue planet doing revolving in this massive void of blackness?”

Sounds like Paul’s love of the countryside will drive The Country Channel forward for many years to come.

•l Country Channel TV broadcasts on six channels, covering 48 topics including farming, sports, food and the weather.

A seventh channel is planned for schools and colleges.

It broadcasts on line – at countrychannel.tv – and on Sky TV’s channel 171, also known as My Channel, for four hours daily from 8.30am until 9.30am, noon until 1pm and 6pm until 8pm.