Season 1 · Episode 9
BBC Radio 1 producer for 12 years. Member of the mainstream playlist team. Led the Christmas Presenters talent development project. Left the BBC in 2022 and founded Lemon Tank - a young writers' room bringing together an international pool of Gen Z freelance creatives. It all started with hippie parents who refused to have a television and a sixteen-year-old commuting from Folkestone to make shows in the Radio 1 building.
Jacob Rickard is a creative consultant and project manager with a specialism in young audiences. He spent 12 years as a BBC Radio 1 producer, playing a key role in music strategy as a member of the mainstream playlist team - one of the most influential positions in UK music radio - and led the Christmas Presenters talent development project, which shaped some of the most recognisable voices on BBC Radio 1. His journey to that level began at sixteen in Folkestone, where he was producing the BBC Introducing show at Radio Kent - recording in the Radio One building because the presenter happened to be an assistant producer there, commuting from Kent to London while still in sixth form. He coached BBC Radio 1 presenters including Annie Mac and Zane Lowe. In 2022 he left the BBC and founded Lemon Tank - a young writers' room for fresh ideas that brings together an international pool of Gen Z freelance creatives to provide insights and campaigns across media, music and entertainment. He is a speaker at Radiodays Europe, the international radio, podcast and audio conference.
Duration: 88 minutes 9 Seconds
Season: 1 · Episode 9
Also available: Audio only on Spotify, Apple Podcasts and Acast
No TV, boredom and radio as a complete education
Jacob Rickard's hippie parents made a deliberate decision not to have a television. He is extremely grateful. Without a default screen, he had radio, and radio gave him Zane Lowe's Evening Show at fourteen, which he describes as the most exciting thing he had ever heard. Mid-2000s British indie and guitar music. A world that felt like the centre of the universe, which is the particular trick Zane always managed to pull off. "Boredom is so good for creativity," Jacob says. "It just makes you do things and makes you make things." He built a studio in his house. He became the kid at school obsessed with radio, which was not cool at the time. Looking back, he is very glad for it.
Making BBC Radio 1 shows from Folkestone at sixteen
The practical reality of Jacob's early career is remarkable and worth stating plainly: at sixteen, still in sixth form in Folkestone, he was producing the BBC Introducing show at BBC Radio Kent, the show that Abby McCarthy later took over and presented for years. By weird coincidence, the presenter at the time was an assistant producer at Radio One. They recorded the show in the Radio One building. Jacob was commuting from Folkestone to London, an arduous journey at any age, to make radio shows in Radio 1 studios before he had sat his A-levels. He did not realise this was not normal. That is probably why it worked.
12 years at BBC Radio 1, the mainstream playlist team and talent development
What Jacob built at BBC Radio 1 over twelve years goes well beyond a producing career. As a member of the mainstream playlist team he was directly involved in the music strategy decisions that shaped what tens of millions of people heard on the station. He also led the Christmas Presenters talent development project, a programme that brought new presenting voices into one of the most competitive environments in British broadcasting. He coached Annie Mac and Zane Lowe, two of the most influential figures in British radio. The consistent thread across all of it is the same thing that drew him to radio at fourteen: helping talented people do their best work, from behind the scenes.
Leaving the BBC in 2022 and building Lemon Tank
In 2022 Jacob left the BBC after twelve years and founded Lemon Tank - described as a young writers' room for fresh ideas, bringing together an international pool of Gen Z freelance creatives to provide insights and ideas for campaigns across media, music and entertainment. It is his answer to a problem he had seen building throughout his BBC career: the broadcast and music industries talking about young audiences without genuinely involving young voices in the decisions that affect them. Lemon Tank puts Gen Z creatives in the room. Jacob speaks on this specialism at Radiodays Europe, the international radio, podcast and audio conference. The consistent thread from hippie parents in Folkestone who refused to own a TV to founding an international community of young creative talent - is a belief that the best ideas come from the people who are actually living the culture you are trying to reach.
"Boredom is so good for creativity. It just makes you do things and makes you make things."
Jacob Rickard - BBC Radio 1 producer, founder of Lemon Tank
"I was making radio shows in the Radio One building at sixteen. I commuted from Folkestone. I didn't realise that wasn't normal. That's probably why it worked."
Jacob Rickard - on how he got into BBC Radio 1
"The consistent thread across everything I've done is working with talented people to help them do their best work. That's what producing is. That's what Lemon Tank is."
Jacob Rickard - founder of Lemon Tank
The Blinding Talent Music Industry Podcast is hosted by Mark Adams - founder of Blinding Talent and former Director of Music Programming at Channel 4, where he launched the Official YouTube Chart (2015) and Spotify's first ever Streaming Chart (2016). Each episode is an in-depth conversation with a senior music industry figure - equal parts campfire stories and practical insight.
If this episode resonated, Blinding Talent works with independent artists across the UK and internationally - helping them build the kind of strategic, long-term approach to their careers that Jacob describes from the inside of BBC Radio 1.
From artist management with Mark Adams to digital marketing campaigns across Spotify, Meta and YouTube, everything we do is built around getting artists closer to the music industry.
Jacob Rickard is the founder and director of Lemon Tank and a former BBC Radio 1 producer with 12 years at the station. As a member of the BBC Radio 1 mainstream playlist team he played a key role in music strategy, and he led the Christmas Presenters talent development project. He coached presenters including Annie Mac and Zane Lowe. He left the BBC in 2022 and founded Lemon Tank, a young writers' room bringing together an international pool of Gen Z freelance creatives to provide insights and ideas for campaigns across media, music and entertainment. He speaks on young audiences at Radiodays Europe, the international radio, podcast and audio conference.
Lemon Tank is a young writers' room for fresh ideas founded by Jacob Rickard in 2022. It brings together an international pool of Gen Z freelance creatives to provide insights and campaign ideas across media, music and entertainment. It was built on Jacob's specialism in young audiences, developed over 12 years at BBC Radio 1.
Jacob Rickard was a BBC Radio 1 producer for 12 years. He was a member of the mainstream playlist team, directly involved in the music strategy decisions that shaped what tens of millions of listeners heard on the station, and led the Christmas Presenters talent development project, which brought new presenting voices into BBC Radio 1. He also coached presenters including Annie Mac and Zane Lowe.
The Blinding Talent Music Industry Podcast is hosted by Mark Adams - founder of Blinding Talent and former Director of Music Programming at Channel 4. Guests include Jacob Rickard, Colin Barlow, Sol Parker, Judd Lander and many others from across the music industry.
