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Richard Skinner | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1951-12-26)26 December 1951 (age 73) Portsmouth,Hampshire, England |
| Occupation(s) | Presenter and radio DJ |
| Years active | 1970–2012 |
Richard Skinner (born 26 December 1951)[1][2] is a British radio and television presenter.
He was the opening announcer and TV anchor at theLive Aid concert in 1985, and is the only presenter to have fronted all three of the BBC's leading pop music programmes,The Old Grey Whistle Test andTop of the Pops on television and the Radio OneTop 40 show.[3][4]
Skinner grew up inPortsmouth where he attendedPortsmouth Grammar School.[5] In 1970, while still at school, he co-founded Portsmouth Hospital Broadcasting, a radio station servingSt Mary's Hospital, Portsmouth.[6] He later became a newspaper reporter forThe News in Portsmouth and a newspaper inKent before joiningBBC Radio Medway as a music presenter.[7][4] Later in 1971, Skinner joinedBBC Radio Solent as a station assistant; he would later present weekly pop showBeat 'n Track on Solent.[8][4]
In October 1973, Skinner joinedBBC Radio 1 as one of the original presenters ofNewsbeat.[4][9] He continued in this role until 1980, when he became a regular presenter of music programmes for Radio 1, taking over the Monday-Thursday evening show fromMike Read in December 1980. At the same time Skinner continued withNewsbeat as a studio producer and also worked as an in-vision continuity announcer forThames Television. According to Skinner, during his time working onNewsbeat he broke the news of thedeath of John Lennon toPaul McCartney's household by phone in the early hours of 9 December 1980.[9]
In late 1981, Skinner became presenter of Radio 1'sRock On magazine show on Saturday afternoons andRoundtable on Friday evenings, on which he and guests would review the week's new releases. He continued with the programme until late 1985. In addition toRoundtable, from 1983 Skinner presented theSaturday Live show from 4 to 6:30 pm alongsideAndy Batten-Foster.
On 30 September 1984, 17 years to the day after Radio 1 began, Skinner took over the Sunday afternoonTop 40 show, also broadcast on FM. That same dayDavid Jensen, who had just left Radio 1, started presentingThe Network Chart Show oncommercial radio in competition.
On BBC television, Skinner presentedTop of the Pops from 1980 to 1985 and 1988 to 1989, andThe Old Grey Whistle Test from 1984 to 1986.[10][11][12][13] He also played two roles in theBand Aid andLive Aid phenomenon of the 1980s. Instead of publicising a newBoomtown Rats release as planned,Bob Geldof announced the creation of the Band Aid project on Skinner's Radio 1 show in 1984.
Then on 13 July 1985, Skinner made the opening announcement atLive Aid ("It's twelve noon in London ...") as the event got underway. He also fronted the first hours of BBC TV's Bafta Award-winning coverage.[4]
Richard Skinner left Radio 1 in Spring 1986 to joinCapital Radio, becoming the first presenter to leave the BBC Top 40 show of his own accord, and was succeeded byBruno Brookes. At Capital, he presented on its FM Album Rock station CFM and hostedThe Way It Is – Capital's equivalent of Radio 1'sNewsbeat.
In October 1988, when Radio 1 – which had acquired its own FM transmitters – extended its hours, Skinner rejoined the station to host a midnight show to play a mix of album-orientated music. In late 1989, Skinner took over the Saturday afternoon Radio 1 show the 'Saturday Sequence' fromRoger Scott following the latter's early death from cancer. In 1991 Skinner also took over the helming of Scott's seriesClassic Albums.
In April 1990, he left the midnight show to be replaced byBob Harris, but continued with theSaturday Sequence, where he remained until 1991, whenJohnnie Walker took over.
From the turn of the 1990s, while still at Radio 1, Skinner also presented a daily show onBBC GLR, an eclectic mix of music, recorded and live, and live interviews from pop to politics. This continued until the end of December 1992.
On 30 April 1993, he hostedVirgin Radio's first programme playing two exclusive premiere cover tracks: "Born To Be Wild" byINXS and "Purple Haze" byThe Cure.[14] His weekday morning show ran from then until the autumn of 1996.
After a short spell at London'sLiberty Radio as breakfast presenter alongsideCarol McGiffin, in 1997 Skinner joined London'sMelody FM, which later becameMagic 105.4, presenting the mid-morning show for six years until September 2003. In August 2013 Skinner returned to Magic 105.4 to provide cover for holidaying presenters. Skinner also continued to provide cover in 2014.
In late 2003, Skinner was freelancing at the south-coast stationWave 105. Then in early 2004 he rejoinedVirgin Radio on the London digital stationVirgin Radio Classic Rock, where he hosted the mid-morning show, which was initially recorded, but broadcast live from 27 June 2005.[15] During this period, he provided holiday cover on Virgin Radio. He left when live programming on Virgin Radio Classic Rock was abandoned in December 2005.
After freelancing on theClassic Gold network, in April 2006 Skinner joinedBBC Radio Berkshire to host the Saturday and Sunday mid-morning programmes.[16] During this time he also covered for holidaying presenters. He left on 6 January 2008.
In January 2008, Skinner joinedOriginal 106 presenting weekday mid-mornings and the showRichard Skinner's Original Album Chart on Sunday afternoons.[17]
Skinner joined Xfm, now known asRadio X, in January 2009 to present the station's networked mid-morning show in London and Manchester.[18] Skinner left Xfm in August 2011.[19]
In October 2011, Richard Skinner was announced to host the opening show for the stationAbsolute Radio 70s on 29 November.[20] Skinner presented afternoons on Absolute Radio 70s until March 2012.[21][22] Afterwards,Martyn Lee replaced Skinner as afternoon host.[23]
Richard Skinner, 41, formerly of Radio Solent, Radio 1, Capital and GLR, has been a DJ for more than 20 years...
When radio and TV presenter Richard Skinner was 19, he was offered a job as a reporter at Newsbeat. . . . Newsbeat started in October 1973...
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| Preceded by | BBC Radio 1 chart show presenter 30 September 1984 – 23 March 1986 | Succeeded by |
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