My colleague John Collard, who has died aged 72, was a former managing editor of BBC Radio Stoke and a distinguished BBC journalist for many years before that.
Born in Handsworth, Birmingham, to Lydia and Jack – his father was a delivery driver for the Birmingham Post and Mail – his early career began with the Birmingham-based Caters News Agency and on the Leicester Mercury newspaper.
He made his mark on the BBC at Radio Leicester, which he joined in 1972 amid changing times in the city and county: his newsroom reported on an influx of Asians from east Africa, the rise of the National Front, industrial unrest and pit closures. John was a stickler for accuracy and grammar, but his news team all recall his fierce loyalty to them if ever complaints were made.
A well-read lover of classical music, he shared a birthday with Elvis Presley and on the singer's death in 1977 immediately realised its significance for the Leicester audience, charging into the radio station at dawn to completely revamp the breakfast show – absolutely the right thing to do.
By the end of the 1970s John was ready for new challenges, and in 1980 he was recruited as programme organiser to launch Radio Northampton. Around that time he was sent on attachment to the Falkland Islands broadcasting service to train Patrick Watts, the station's only full-time broadcaster. Watts's subsequent memorable broadcasts during the Argentinian invasion of the Falklands were testament to a job well done.
Success at Radio Northampton made John keen to run his own station, and he achieved his goal in 1985 with Radio Stoke. The station prospered under his stewardship and achieved audience figures that were the envy of his fellow managing editors. But within a few years a new senior management took control of local radio and tried to impose a one-size-fits-all policy. John was not happy with this new direction, and stubbornly ignored the directives – a stance that inevitably led to a parting of ways.
His defiance in those latter years was typical of a growing maverick tendency. Over his years at the BBC, he morphed from a conventional suit-and-tie journalist into a richer character, taking up marathon running in middle age and acquiring a taste for colourful apparel, sporting a wispy goatee beard and sauntering the streets of the Potteries swinging a silver-topped cane.
After retiring in 2004 he gained an Open University degree in humanities with history and indulged in his many passions, which included caring for retired greyhounds, birdwatching, cricket and supporting Aston Villa. Despite his general lack of interest in pop music he adored Status Quo, and it was their music that was played at his funeral.
He is survived by his wife, Ann; daughter, Lucy; grandson, Jack; and his brother, Bob.