It's a big step to go from a haulage worker to a radio DJ but luckily, everthing turned out well for Jon Harle. Steve Pratt reports

THERE was a moment when Jon Harle must have wondered if he'd done the right thing. The former heavy haulage worker from Birtley was in his late 20s, married with two young children and had packed in his job for a career in radio with hardly any experience of working behind a microphone.

Apart from doing a bit of radio hosting through a friend, he had no qualifications for the media career he wanted. That didn't deter him. Eventually he found a job at BBC Radio Scotland and then, four years later, joined BBC Radio Newcastle. Now, after working as a producer and presenting a Tuesday night show, he's the new voice of night-time local radio with The Northern Nights broadcast on weekday nights on Radios Newcastle, Cleveland and Cumbria. Gloucestershire-born, he regards the North-East as home and was keen to return to work in Newcastle from Scotland. "There are more Harles in the North-East telephone book than anywhere else, so I feel I've found my roots," he says.

Moving to the late night slot was a difficult decision as the hours are so unsociable. He goes off to work at four in the afternoon, returning home at two in the morning. That means seeing little of his family during the week.

The previous night-time show was broadcast to ten local radio stations. Harle's is more tailored for his North-East audience and he welcomes the interaction with listeners.

"I passionately believe that our best resource is our audience," he says. "I'm getting a lot of calls saying people are enjoying the mix of entertainment, live music and chat."

It's as much their show as his, so when he discovers that a competition entrant used to be the Queen Mother's footman, he's more than happy to chat with him. He doesn't want to talk "about the Euro and dog poo on the path" as other phone-ins are prone to do.

"One of the differences with what I'm doing is that I'm offering mainstream music when most of the other radio stations are doing specialist music, like Radio One or Radio Two, or phone-ins," he says.

* The Northern Lights With Jon Harle is broadcast Monday to Friday from 10pm to 1am on BBC Radio Newcastle, Cleveland and Cumbria.