World Radio Day is a moment to celebrate the voices that keep communities informed, connected, and entertained. To mark the day, we’re using the opportunity to share a professional perspective from our Director, Wayne Conyers, a long-time community radio broadcaster and the Station Manager at Radio Folkestone.
In this Q&A, Wayne highlights the best of what radio teaches you: show up consistently, communicate clearly, listen properly, and earn trust through real connection (not jargon). Those same principles run through how we do business in the MSP and ITSM world, and they’re a big part of how Youcall-it.com works with clients, and how SYSTERAL was built: to remove barriers, connect pain points, and support people through open, structured conversations. At its core, it’s the same intention as community radio: Helping people and strengthening the communities we’re part of.
1. How did you first get into radio, and what made you want to start hosting in the first place?
Wayne: I think I have always been interested in radio. At primary school age, I used to record the charts with a friend of mine, and then we would record new speaking bits with a tape cassette recorder and a handheld mic.
I did hospital radio in my teens with my mate Dan at Buckland Hospital in Dover. I remember walking around the maternity ward asking the ladies if they would like a long play. Then, when I was at Canterbury Christchurch University, I spent a spell as programme manager for the university station, which led me into DJ-ing at the student union and more.
2. For anyone who has not heard about it yet, what is Radio Folkestone and what kind of shows and conversations do you focus on?
Wayne: Radio Folkestone is a CIC-based organization run entirely by volunteers. Previously, and until 2024, the station was called Academy FM. We serve the community of Folkestone and the immediate areas around. We are online and on FM locally, and we have plans to become a DAB station in the near future.
During the day we have the usual breakfast and drive time shows, mixed with community-focus shows, wellbeing shows, and shows that are presented by local presenters from the community.
Our evenings are music-focused, with a theme each night of the week. Blues, jazz, contemporary, funk, alternative, rock, 80’s, 90’s, house and dance, and the golden oldies are all catered for in our specialist nights, which generally run from 6pm most evenings. It’s a standout aim of the station to give everyone a place where the music can shine!
3. What do you love most about hosting Radio Folkestone, and what keeps you coming back to it?
Wayne: My role has changed over the years. I originally joined the station as a presenter before hosting Saturday breakfast for six years. These days I present a new house music show on Saturday evenings, as most of my time is spent working behind the scenes as station manager.
I took the role as I truly believe local radio has a power unmatched by the national stations. It lives and breathes in the heart of a community. I honestly think a town without a community station is worse off, as they lose a lot of the information and news which is specific to them.
Our offices are based in Folkestone, and the business is as much a part of the community as the station — and that is important to me.
4. Has radio changed the way you communicate in business, especially when things are moving fast or there are a lot of people involved?
Wayne: Yes. As a live presenter, often having guests on breakfast shows, you have to think fast. Sure, you have prepared the interview or topic to a point, but it’s those flashes of real that really make it exciting for me.
We have had some of the biggest moments on radio when interviewing guests from the area, or people who have achieved great things, or raising awareness.
You have to be able to communicate. Listening and letting the other person talk are key skills I have had to hone in on, as I can sometimes talk more than the guest — and that loses their message.
5. When you are live on air, you have to keep things clear and engaging. How has that influenced the way you built YouCall-it and the SYSTERAL platform?
Wayne: It’s very much how I do business. I’d rather sit down with a client to have a chat about the pain points and where they can improve and need our help, and we take it from there. I find it’s always been a better approach for me than a 20-page presentation.
With radio there is no image, just voices, and so projecting in the right way is key.
You are a lot more aware of the tone you take, or the way you ask or answer a question, when you have the radio skills alongside. Youcall-it.com works the same. If you are a MSP customer, then we work the same: let’s sit and work it out and have an open conversation in a structured way.
For SYSTERAL, it’s the essence of the platform, connect the pain points and work openly and effectively. It’s barrier-removing stuff!
6. Radio is built on trust and consistency. How do you try to build that same trust with clients and providers in the MSP and ITSM world?
Wayne: We work in unison with other community radio stations, including Dover. Our strengths are when we combine our skillsets and leverage where we are stronger and weaker to create a working balance. This is also key.
My background in community radio taught me that trust isn’t built through complex relationships but through showing up consistently, communicating clearly, and genuinely caring about the people you serve and work with. That’s exactly how we approach MSP relationships.
7. If you could have the whole MSP and ITSM community listening for one minute, what would you want to say to them?
Wayne: I’ve spent years in radio because I genuinely believe in what it does for people. It’s not about the broadcast, but rather about the connection. The trust. Being there when people need you. IT should be exactly the same.
We’re not in the ticket business. We’re in the trust business. Every system that goes down, every breach, every slowdown… That’s someone’s day falling apart. Our job isn’t to fix problems and move on. It’s to be the steady hand that lets people actually do what they’re good at.
Stop treating IT like a cost to minimize. Start treating it like the foundation that lets everything else grow. And please, stop hiding behind jargon. If you can’t explain what you do to someone who doesn’t speak tech, then you don’t really understand it yourself.
The best people I know in this space genuinely care about their clients winning. Not just hitting their own targets. They turn up. They talk. They’re honest about what they can and can’t do. They listen more than they talk.
Community matters. Whether it’s a radio station or a business, we’re all stronger when we lift each other up. Behind every ticket, every outage, every problem — there’s a person. Remember that. That’s what I’d want you to remember.