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The recipient of the 2020 Hands up for Trad Services to Gaelic Award is John Smith, for a career spanning four decades in Gaelic programming and broadcasting.<\/p>\nThe recipient of the 2020 Hands up for Trad Services to Gaelic Award is John Smith, for a career spanning four decades in Gaelic programming and broadcasting.<\/p>\n
John was born and brought up in \u00c0ird Dhail in the Ness district of the Isle of Lewis. He was born into Gaelic, only encountering English for the first time when he started school. Even there, Gaelic was the language of the playground, and English only the language of the classroom.<\/p>\n
His secondary school years were spent at the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway, where he became very active in the school\u2019s Gaelic and drama activities, taking part in Scottish Community Drama Association festivals and the like.<\/p>\n
Upon leaving school in 1973, he went on to the Aberdeen College of Education, to train as a teacher of speech and drama. It was over this time that the early seeds of interest in television production were planted, the college had a TV studio and department devoted to creation of educational shows.<\/p>\n
Graduating in 1977 he first worked as a teacher of speech and drama in Aberdeen, until 1979 when came an opening within the BBC\u2019s Gaelic department. He successfully applied, beginning an era which would put him at the centre of developing Gaelic broadcasting at the BBC for years to come.<\/p>\n
At that time, Gaelic television was broadcast only late at night. Working in those early days with Ken MacQuarrie (now Director of BBC Regions and Nations), an immediate priority was to make the programming both more frequent and better timed. The first step was moving Gaelic programming from the late night slots, initially as part of the BBC One Scotland daytime schedule. This was soon followed by the addition of a regular BBC Two prime-time Thursday night timeslot in the early 80s, which continued until the establishment of the dedicated channel – BBC Alba in 2008.<\/p>\n
As well as developing the what, the when, and the where Gaelic TV Programmes were broadcast, John also remains heavily involved in the development of new programming across all genres, and the sourcing of presentation talent.<\/p>\n
A big part of the job was creating shows for children. Smith instigated Bzzz in 1981, one of the very first Gaelic kids\u2019 TV shows, presented by Anne Lorne Gillies and Donnie \u2018Large\u2019 MacDonald before moving on to Mag is Mog among other programmes, although still weekly and to a large extent seasonal. An ongoing theme over the years has also been the use of versioning of cartoons and animated programmes. At first he looked to Eastern Europe, to source titles which would not have previously been broadcast in English, the effect of which was to create a sense of ownership amongst Gaelic speaking children when the Gaelic versions were broadcast. This allowed the development of a daily weekday service for pre-school children which also included the long running series Dotaman – devised, produced and directed by John.<\/p>\n
Children\u2019s programming has been at the centre of his career, since working on many titles including: P\u00e0draig Post (Postman Pat) and Sam Smalaidh (Fireman Sam) amongst others.<\/p>\n
John also produced Bodach Lochnagar, the Gaelic version of The Legend of Lochnagar written by and featuring HRH Prince Charles, The Earl of Rothesay. The Gaelic version was narrated by HRH and John was tasked with ensuring that the Gaelic pronunciation was delivered perfectly. Perhaps one can detect a hint of \u00c0ird Dhail in Prince Charles\u2019 delivery!<\/p>\n
The Gaelic language would be nothing without the surrounding culture, programming on this front has always been a huge part of his work. He led the expansion of live coverage of the Royal National M\u00f2d, and was heavily involved in the coverage of other events such as Rockness, Tiree Music Festival, Hebcelt and Celtic Connections. Entertainment and magazine programmes such as Talla a\u2018 Bhaile, Aibisidh and TNG were also part of the production slate across the years.<\/p>\n
Then there\u2019s current affairs output, starting with Cearcall and moving to Prosbaig and developing towards the E\u00f2rpa – a weekly show covering political, social and cultural issues across Europe.<\/p>\n
John has also been running a multi-camera studio directing course at Sabhal M\u00f2r Ostaig as a continual supply of these skills will be required for Gaelic broadcasting to continue to thrive.<\/p>\n
As John said: \u201cReally, the goal has been to ensure that Gaelic programming is relevant, and can stand by side with mainstream broadcasting\u201d.<\/p>\n
Alongside has run a similarly prolific career in English-language television, particularly as a director of live events. He has overseen coverage of nationally significant events including: Remembrance Sunday at the Cenotaph, much of the BBC\u2019s programming marking the centenary of World War One, and commemorations of significant anniversaries associated with The Second World War.<\/p>\n
Live multi camera TV production is where John is most at home, reflected in his involvement in the coverage of many cultural events, with: The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, T In the Park, Hogmanay Live and The Chelsea Flower Show being but a few examples.<\/p>\n
John has directed well known studio based game shows such as The Weakest Link, Fifteen to One and Richirad Osman\u2019s House of Games, and is currently looking forward to a new series of House of Games in 2021.<\/p>\n
With 2020 marking the end of his service at the BBC after 41 years, John will continue to work in the industry, overcoming the restrictions of Covid to deliver output. There is no doubting the importance of John\u2019s past and continuing contribution to the proliferation of Gaelic television, itself a huge driver of the continuing health and development of the language on the whole.<\/p>\n
In his own words: \u201cIt\u2019s been work and play, I\u2019ve loved being involved in so many great things over my career so far. Gaelic has certainly given me a lot – I wouldn\u2019t be doing what I do, had I not been from the Isle of Lewis and born into the language. Gaelic has served me very well and I am happy to receive this award as recognition of the many dedicated and talented people who have helped me along the way \u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The recipient of the 2020 Hands up for Trad Services to Gaelic Award is John Smith, for a career spanning four decades in Gaelic programming and broadcasting. John was born and brought up in \u00c0ird Dhail in the Ness district of the Isle of Lewis. He was born into Gaelic, only encountering English for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3154,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":{"0":"post-3153","1":"page","2":"type-page","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3153","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3155,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3153\/revisions\/3155"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.handsupfortrad.scot\/hall-of-fame\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}