That proportion is now, thanks to laptops and mobiles, completely reversed. With DAB radio sets all you have to do is hit a button and you are listening to near-CD quality - and with the latest models you can download and pause your favourite programmes." Laptop Ann Leslie, Daily Mail foreign correspondent"I began foreign corresponding in the dark ages of cable-ese, telex and copy-takers. "The idea of a print PR sitting with a bottle of chardonnay in [notorious press watering hole] El Vino's is long gone."Dylan Jones, editor of GQ magazine, who addressed a London conference on the future of PR last week, says: "Most PRs think that by sending you an email or sticking something in the post they have done their job. Gary Farrow is all about personal contact and when he calls you and says something will happen, it will."As yet Farrow doesn't have an office, although he expects to move into premises in the West End next month "I'm not going to go that big, superplush," he says.
"I'm going to keep it pretty small at the moment, but I love the name 'The Corporation' I can't believe the BBC didn't think of it.". Digital camera Digital camera Jason Fraser, celebrity news photographer "I must have been the last person to go digital, kicking and screaming, about three years ago. I still miss the smell of a fresh roll of film and the robustness of professional negative cameras. But the quality of digital is so outstanding, particularly the Canon and Nikon professional ranges, that it can't be ignored. It's quicker to use and there's no hanging around on tenterhooks in a dodgy lab on the other side of the world." Digital Radio Willber Willberforce, head of BBC digital radio station 1Xtra "In the old days you had to fiddle with an aerial for a crackly signal, and you wouldn't know you had the right station until you heard a jingle Digital radio has changed everything.
It includes businessmen, chefs, sports people..."He does not intend to run The Corporation on his own, and says that he has access to financial support that will enable him to make some significant hires from within the PR industry. "I will be looking for people who complement my thoughts and my strategy," he says. Farrow adds that he has turned down backing from venture capitalists after realising how great a share of his profits they would seek to claw back.Leading music PR Alan Edwards, of the Outside Organisation, agrees with Farrow that the PR industry needs to change with the times. "That's what it's all about."He knows the television industry partly through his work with Jonathan Ross, whom he managed (along with Paula Yates) before joining Sony.
He is also a powerful figure in the radio industry thanks to his role as deputy chairman of the Radio Academy. "I speak regularly with Jenny Abramsky, who controls all the stations on the BBC," he says. "I have been very influential over the last 10 years in bringing the radio and record industry closer together It has been hard work. We have off-the-record dinners where I make sure everyone is copied in on everybody else's news - that the radio world knows what the music industry's problems are and vice versa."Even within the world of entertainment he hopes to have clients from the business community, pointing out that Amstrad founder Alan Sugar has become a television personality. "Entertainment is a much wider genre than it ever has been before.
People will be put through the wringer and will learn from it. There are a lot of people who are pretty good at business but crap at media."Farrow claims that papers are not the first port of call for news in the way that they used to be, adding that: "It's important to strategise your campaign." With this in mind, he plans to offer his clients the chance to be interviewed in radio and television studios by well-known broadcasting personalities, so they know what to expect should they face the real thing."There are loads of people who are working in radio who would be very good in that sort of scenario," he says. "If you are on a PR tour or announcing something big you are going to be doing print, radio and television all in one day How you promote yourself in that time is very important. "I've worked so hard for 30 years building up my contacts books, being reliable and earning people's trust," he says.