Tom Ravenscroft | |
|---|---|
| Born | Thomas James Dalglish Ravenscroft (1980-02-06)6 February 1980 (age 45) |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation(s) | Radio presenter, DJ |
| Father | John Peel |
Thomas James Dalglish Ravenscroft (born 6 February 1980)[citation needed] is a Britishradio presenter anddisc jockey. He currently hosts aBBC Radio 6 Music show featuring new and unsigned music. He is the son of DJJohn Peel.
Working initially in TV as a production assistant, Ravenscroft also developed as a journalist researching new music.[1]
Following the death of his father,John Peel, in 2004, Ravenscroft was involved as researcher with theChannel 4 television documentaryJohn Peel's Record Box[2] and, with his mother Sheila and other members of the family, in the completion of his father's autobiographyMargrave of the Marshes, unfinished at his death.[1]
In November 2005, to coincide with John Peel's posthumous induction into theUK Music Hall of Fame, Ravenscroft organised the production and release of a tribute single to him, a cover version of one of Peel's favourite songs,Buzzcocks'sEver Fallen in Love. Alongside the song's original vocalist,Pete Shelley, the record featured an eclectic line-up of musicians[3] hand-picked by Ravenscroft,[4] all of whom his father had played prior to their success and in some cases for the first time on radio.[3] This line-up includedRobert Plant ofLed Zeppelin,Roger Daltrey ofThe Who,David Gilmour ofPink Floyd,Peter Hook fromNew Order,Andy Gill ofGang of Four,Elton John andJeff Beck alongside newer artists includingThe Futureheads, theSoledad Brothers,El Presidente andThe Datsuns.
Peel had once described the majority of music radio output in Britain as "predictable porridge", and from 2005 Ravenscroft was involved with his brother William in developing a service for unsigned acts. By 2007 it had become a web portal,Unpredictable Porridge (now defunct but partially archived),[5] whose partnership arrangement withUniversal Music allowed new acts to submit their material online directly toA&R managers at the record label.
In August 2006, Channel 4 signed Ravenscroft to present a weekly show,SlashMusic, on its short-lived digital station4Radio. The show, interacting with a website hosting music uploaded by unsigned bands, involved Ravenscroft in research but, as media consultant Paul Robinson noted inThe Guardian, the show's scripted format stilted his developing presentation style ensuring that "he delivers his lines at breakneck speed, obviously reading, which rather loses the sense of personal recommendation and intimacy".[6] Ravenscroft also presented theNew Music Download podcast for the station's website.
After the closure of 4Radio in 2007, Ravenscroft was commissioned by Five Culture, a partnership ofChannel Five andArts Council England, to narrate four episodes in Channel 5'sMy Music strand devoted to folk musiciansSeth Lakeman,Kate Rusby,Eliza Carthy andAthena.[7]
In June 2010, having previously appeared as a fill-in presenter for absent hosts includingTom Robinson,[8] Ravenscroft took over the Friday night slot onBBC Radio 6 Music vacated[9] by musicianBruce Dickinson.[10] Paul Rodgers, then 6 Music's editor at the BBC, greeted Ravenscroft's appointment, describing him as "a great young broadcaster with all the knowledge, passion and articulacy that you might expect from someone of his lineage".[9] Ravenscroft joined the station during a threat of closure, but an audience surge,[11] alongside a campaign website hosted by theBritish Phonographic Industry, ultimately secured its survival. Since 2014 Ravenscroft has also hosted a weekly midnight slot as part of the nightly6 Music Recommends show, which features new music edited by several of the station's DJs.[12]
In 2011, Ravenscroft introduced the inaugural "John Peel Lecture" given byPete Townshend.[13] He also became presenter for Channel 4'sAbbey Road Debuts series featuring hotly tipped new acts performing at the fabled London studios.[14]
In September 2013, Ravenscroft curated a week-long series of new music events,In the Court of Tom Ravenscroft,[15] at the MAC centre in Belfast.[16] In October 2017, Ravenscroft DJed alongsideUnderworld'sRick Smith at a preshow event for an Underworld concert in the Passage of theRijksmuseum in Amsterdam.[17]
Ravenscroft is the son ofBBC Radio 1 disc jockey John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, better known asJohn Peel, and his wife Sheila Gilhooly.[18]
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