Peter Johnston was appointed Controller of BBC Northern Ireland in October,
2006.
He took up the appointment a month later, following the retirement of
Anna Carragher who had held the post for six years.
Before that, he had been Head of Broadcasting for BBC Northern Ireland for
three years.
His responsibilities in this post involved overall commissioning
and scheduling of programmes and content for Northern Ireland audiences on BBC
Television, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Online.
As Head of Broadcast, Peter increased the range of local TV programmes produced
for BBC One NI and BBC Two NI including doubling the number of single
documentaries, increasing the range of music and comedy output and introducing
a number of new presenters and formats.
Programmes commissioned during this time won nine Royal Television Society awards including both
Nations and Regions categories at the awards for three years in
a row.
Peter also led a series of schedule changes to Radio Ulster which
won seven Sony Awards during this period.
Peter Johnston was born in 1966 and educated at Ballymena Academy and Imperial
College London where he completed a Master's Degree in Chemical Engineering and
Management.
After leaving university in 1988 he took up a post in the marketing division
of Shell International in London.
In 1991 he returned to Northern Ireland and
joined Coopers and Lybrand as a management consultant.
He first developed his interests in the world of broadcasting and media
management when he provided consultancy support for several of the local ITV
franchise bids and an application for a Channel 5 television licence.
He left Coopers and Lybrand in 1994 and joined BBC Northern Ireland working
first in audience research before becoming Head of Marketing and Development
three years later.
During this time he was responsible for BBC NI's strategy, marketing, press
office, audience research and new service development.
Peter established BBC
Northern Ireland's first presence on the web and developed the online service
over its first phase.
He represented the marketing and communications teams in English Regions,
Scotland, Wales and NI on the BBC's Marketing Board before becoming Head of New
Media for BBC Nations and Regions in London.
In this role he sat on the BBC's
New Media Board and the BBC's Nations and Regions Board.
Throughout this time he spent periods working on BBC strategy and policy
projects in London including leading the pan-BBC brands project, authoring the
BBC Nations and Regions submission to the Burns Panel during the Charter Review
period and co-leading the Audiences group in BBC Director-General Mark Thompson's Creative Future
project.
He is a judge on the Northern Ireland Council for Voluntary Action (NICVA) charity Oscars and the People of Ireland Awards
and is a member of the Council of the NI Chamber of Commerce.
A former rugby player, Peter enjoys watching the sport rather than taking part
any more, has a passion for the North Coast where he has spent summers since he
was a child and spends most of his free time with his two children. He is married and lives in County Down.
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