Broadcasting
Alyn started as a broadcaster in the UK at the Oxford independent station Fox FM in the 1980s, and went on to make his first BBC Radio 3 documentaries in 1989, later presenting the popular late night Jazz Notes programme for two years from 1998. He is currently a presenter of the documentary Jazz File series, and presented his weekly show Jazzmatazz on the BBC World Service for six years until March 2003. Later that year, he won the Marian McPartland / Willis Conover Award for lifetime achievement in Jazz broadcasting. His jazz based programmes have included profiles of Doc Cheatham, Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane, Coleman Hawkins, Keith Jarrett, Gerry Mulligan, Shorty Rogers, and Fats Waller, a history of the AACM, the story of the Newport Jazz Festival, and a documentary in search of Django Reinhardt's roots in continental Europe. Non-jazz programmes have included a history of music publishing, a profile of John Cage, a profile of the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor, an investigation into mesmerism, the story of kites and a study of French music in the Napoleonic era. Alyn is also a regular contributor to CD Review and Jazz Legends on BBC Radio 3. His production credits include Ken Clarke's Jazz Greats for Radio 4 (co-producer), The Richard Perry Story (Radio 2), John Williams Guitar Notes, Wayne Marshall's Getting Organised and John Dankworth's Art of Arranging (Radio 3).