GLASGOW’S irreverent sense of humour – best exemplified by the traffic cone atop The Duke of Wellington statue – is a perfect fit for Channel 4 and should propel the city to pole position in the race to become the station's new HQ, a leading campaigner has said.
Stuart Cosgrove, the veteran broadcaster who is leading the city’s bid to host Channel 4’s new base outside of London, said Glasgow fulfils many of the criteria needed for the channel, including sharing its alternative and sometimes iconoclastic view of the world.
Mr Cosgrove said the city’s humour will chime with Channel 4 decision-makers, as much as its “unique” screen production industry.
READ MORE: Why Channel 4 should tune into case for Glasgow
He said the HQ, if it comes to Glasgow, would create to 600 jobs to the city, as well as major commissioning powers for new programmes.
With BBC Scotland and STV already in place, he said Glasgow would become a “substantial media hub in Northern Europe”.
Mr Cosgrove is well known to the Channel 4, serving as its first controller of arts and entertainment - – and also head of programmes for nations and regions – until 2015.
On a new BBC Podcast, he said: “Channel 4 is a broadcaster for the whole of the UK, but Glasgow curiously meets all of the key values that it represents: innovation, and the idea of having a cheeky or irreverent attitude, and Glasgow has them in spades.
READ MORE: Why Channel 4 should tune into case for Glasgow
“You just have to think of that iconic image of the statue outside the Glasgow Museum of Modern Art [GOMA] with the traffic cone on its head – it’s a very irreverent statement, but it chimes with the Channel 4 brand values.
“So in lots of ways I think Glasgow stands a very good chance.”
Alex Mahon, chief executive of the channel, said last month that Channel 4 will base 300 of its 800 staff in the new hubs.
Mr Cosgrove said competition for the new base outside London would likely come from Manchester and Birmingham.
And he added: “We are already working hard with Glasgow City Council and their excellent bid team, who we know have already won the Commonwealth Games and the MTV Awards [both in 2014].
READ MORE: Why Channel 4 should tune into case for Glasgow
“There is a really interesting part of the debate here: about what Glasgow can offer across the whole range of innovation, of education, of talent, of production based and of digital media.
“Glasgow is unique in the sense that it has all of those things in quite significant numbers.
“And the other thing, and you’ll be very, very surprised to hear is this: this bid already has extensive cross-party support, perhaps the first time in the history of Scotland that anything has cross-party support.”
Mr Cosgrove noted that the current Channel 4 plan to set up one major base outside London, plus two smaller hubs, was a shift that “I have always arguing for within Channel 4 and now there is the political will to make it happen”.
READ MORE: Why Channel 4 should tune into case for Glasgow
He noted: “I think most people that the value is job creation and the chance for Glasgow to become a substantial media hub in northern Europe.
“It would be very difficult to think of any arguments to argue against it.”
Mr Cosgrove noted although Channel 4 was a national broadcaster, and not every programme made in the city would reflect the locale, the city could also end up on screen.
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