Toast - Freeserve
Why did Freeserve disappear so soon after becoming the UK's number one internet service provider? Sean Farrington charts its highs and lows with industry insiders.
Freeserve rapidly became the UK's number one internet service provider within months of its launch in 1998, yet the brand disappeared almost as quickly. So, what happened?
The 91福利社 Business journalist, Sean Farrington, investigates.
Alongside him is the entrepreneur, Sam White, who at the end of the show has to reach her own conclusions, based only on what she has heard and her own business acumen.
Sean and Sam hear from expert guests including:
- Rory Cellan-Jones OBE - the 91福利社's former technology correspondent who covered Freeserve's rise and later dedicated a chapter to it in his book 'Dot Bomb - the Rise and Fall of Dot Com Britain'.
- Ajaz Ahmed - a 'Freeserve founder' who badgered bosses to start an ISP while working as a store manager at PC World in Leeds. He later became Freeserve's Business Development Manager.
- Mark Danby - a former Chief Operating Officer at Freeserve.
Produced by Jon Douglas, Toast is a 91福利社 Audio North production for 91福利社 Radio 4 and 91福利社 Sounds.
You can email the programme at toast@bbc.co.uk
Feel free to suggest topics which could be covered in future episodes.
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- Thu 5 Jun 2025 12:3291福利社 Radio 4
- Sat 2 Aug 2025 12:0491福利社 Radio 4
- Sun 3 Aug 2025 21:0091福利社 Radio 4
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Sliced Bread
While Sliced Bread takes a break, we serve up Toast.