Favourite Radio Presenters (sister thread to "Pet Hate Radio DJ")

fandango

I have happy memories of listening to Capital Radio (when it was younger London-only station) and cite these three presenters as worthy of the Hall of Fame:

Peter Young (aka PY the Pork Pie) - who's I think is still broadcasting somewhere - I loved his enthusiasm for what he played, and he got that it was all about the music, so no inane chatter, but ensuring that whatever was said contributed to well-informed listening experience. Brian Matthew came close to this on his Sounds of the Sixties before he passed away. 

Roger Scott - consumate professional, great voice, good music (although that was helped by the musical era) and if I'm right in saying that introduced the "Six of the Best" feature - which took a current public affair situation and asked listeners to suggest suitable songs to match that situation - something which he handled very well.

Alan "Fluff" Freeman - "welcome back my friends to the show that never ends" - great presenter gruffish Aussie voice who kept the pace of his shows fairly upbeat. Played a fantastic variety of rock music on the Rock Show that one just doesn't hear these days.

Phil_aka_Pip

Ozzie Sibley (ex of Ipswich Community Radio, and Radio Caroline before that IIRC). Partly because he's a good bloke and I used to co-present with him before doing my own show, and partly because of his love for 1960s-1970s Dutch prog rock. His knowledge was encyclopaedic and his store of this stuff on vinyl was vast. He opened my ears to such bands as Kayak, and Supersister.

chillidoggy

+1 for Fluff. What a great show that was.

I used to like Adrian Juste on R1, found his show funny.

Paul Jones - Nuff said.

Jalapeno

R2 - Whispering Bob, Jamie Cullum, Jo Wiley, and late-night Jonathan Ross (ctotal pro, and non-knobber shock !) & Jools (much better than TV)

Frank Skinner on Absolute is also good, love his soft and self-deprecating style

proggy

I used to look forward to Richard Skinner's Saturday afternoon show on Radio 1 back in the day.

Lodious

Possibly not a popular choice, but I really like Katie Puckrik. Cerys, Giles Peterson (sometimes), Gideon Coe, Marc Riley are all really good, and have a genuine love of music. 

I hated him as a kid, but from what I can remember, Gary Crowley plays some decent stuff. 

Iggy Pop and Henry Rollins are both great. 

Matt Everitt is a pretty decent interviewer. 

Although I can't stand her accent, I think Mary Anne Hobbs plays some decent music. 

Funkfingers

Peel

Ravenous

Rock with Tommy Vance!

(Yes I know that wasn't his real name.)

fob

I'm not a big fan of Huey Morgan but he's not that intrusive on his R6 Saturday morning show and plays a great selection of music.

Mark and Lard on the graveyard shift and later in the afternoons was probably my favourite show. Adam and Joe (Buxton and Cornish) on R6 a close second.

scrumhalf

Wasn't Peter Young known as the Rocking Rabbi?

Going back to the days when Capital wasn't shit (long, long time ago) Nicky Horne was usually worth a listen. Kenny Everett, with the World's Worst Record Show (which would now take up the entire schedule).

Peel, Fluff and Vance without question.

Going back even further, people like Emperor Rosko and Stuart Henry had so much, for want of a better word, pizzazz compared to the likes of Noel Edmonds and Jimmy Young.

munckee

fob said:

I'm not a big fan of Huey Morgan but he's not that intrusive on his R6 Saturday morning show and plays a great selection of music.

Mark and Lard on the graveyard shift and later in the afternoons was probably my favourite show. Adam and Joe (Buxton and Cornish) on R6 a close second.

I don't mind Huey, quite like Iggy Pop when I've heard him too.  Whispering Bob is probably tops.

Quite a weird one but Scott whatsisname on Radio 1 used to do an hour shuffle of 80's/90s tunes at 5pm and he was alright.  I would never normally listen to R1 otherwise.

Simon Mayo is good too enjoy his show,

EricTheWeary

The Kermode and Mayo show on R5 is the only radio show I try to get to listen to now. 
I'm okay with Ken Bruce, he's a fairly straightforward radio person rather than a transplanted celeb. 
I used to listen to Tommy Vance regularly when radio was still steam powered and I went through a long Paul Jones period.
I occasionally catch Levi Roots when he does his R2 thing. I quite wanted to dislike him ( due to the celeb thing) but he comes across well, knows his stuff and has a legit history on the British reggae scene working on sound systems. 

fandango

Ravenous said:

Rock with Tommy Vance!

(Yes I know that wasn't his real name.)

Ha! looked it up - Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston. I don’t know anyone with a longer name.

Funkfingers

fandango said:
I don’t know anyone with a longer name.

How about Brian Eno?

boogieman

John Peel was the best, ever. Great combination of dry wit and innovative choice of music. How many bands wouldn’t have got their break without JP?

I also like Robert Elms on BBC London. Firstly he’s a fellow QPR fan and NW London geezer born and bred. Secondly his show is a nice mix of things and he’s got good taste in music. I’ve never got bored of listening to his show in over 25 years. 

siremoon

Fluff, Wogan and, during my West Midlands sojourn donkey's years ago, Les Ross.

EricTheWeary

boogieman said:

John Peel was the best, ever. Great combination of dry wit and innovative choice of music. How many bands wouldn’t have got their break without JP?

I also like Robert Elms on BBC London. Firstly he’s a fellow QPR fan and NW London geezer born and bred. Secondly his show is a nice mix of things and he’s got good taste in music. I’ve never got bored of listening to his show in over 25 years. 

Peel also did a good job on R4 in his latter years. He interviewed my friend Frank. 

rlw

My favourite was Roger Scott - as good if not better than Peel in bringing in new music - who brought us Bruce Springsteen before the first album was out.  I well remember him interviewing Walter Trout in the eighties and teasing out his first proper job - in Hank Williams Junior's band....

Tracey Macleod and Mary Costello were both brilliant on GLR many moons ago.

Clare Teal on Radio 2 Sunday nights is well worth a listen.   She loves her music - swing, jazz and big band, and is very very knowledgeable about al aspects of it including making it.

And Danny Baker was a great DJ too.

Neil

Red hot Roger Scott and Fluff of course.

Going back to the pirates, Emperor Rosko. Great voice - great tracks.

richardhomer

Mark Radcliffe - used to listen to him on local radio in the ‘80s, loved Mark & Lard on Radio 1 and still enjoy him with Stuart Maconie on BBC6 Music.

Philly_Q

TV on the Radio, Tommy Vance back in the late 70s and 80s. 

I liked Mark & Lard although I didn't share their musical tastes, likewise with John Peel.

I listened to Radio 1 all the time between 1977 and 1981 so I remember all those DJs very well but I can't say I particularly liked any of them.

Nowadays it's 5 Live, as I've mentioned many times.... I'd say I tolerate the presenters, a lot of them annoy me occasionally.  I do really like Tony Livesey but his show's at the wrong time of day for me to hear it.  Peter Allen and Jane Garvey did a Sunday evening show for a while recently and I thought she was excellent, but she's now moved on (something to do with the BBC equal pay dispute, perhaps?)