Dr Allan Martin is the Creative Director of the Ideas Channel. Allan has worldwide experience in radio and TV. For eight years, he was a Producer/Director for Associated-Rediffusion Television, London, after which he became Chief Producer TV for the New Zealand Broadcasting Service. This followed extensive experience in radio as a producer in New Zealand, Australia and Mozambique.
Allan was subsequently recruited by ABC-TV (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) as Executive Producer for national current affairs programmes (This Day Tonight and Four Corners) and was later promoted to Federal Head of Current Affairs ABC TV. He was then contracted by the NZ Government as Director General to establish a new TV channel. He later became Director General of Television New Zealand.
Allan assisted in the development of the first subscriber TV system in NZ as Executive Director Sky TV NZ. He has been a member of the NZ Broadcasting Standards Authority, jury committee BAFTA and other international bodies and has won numerous awards for television production.
Allan has a PhD in Education from the University of Auckland. He also has a Diploma in Advanced Education and a Graduate Diploma in Language Teaching. For his services to broadcasting he was appointed in 1987 as Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).