Nick Abbot
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Nick Abbot is a British radio presenter.
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[edit] Early career
Abbot's career began at Virgin Megastore's instore radio station, VMR. In early 1988, he joined Radio Luxembourg to present an overnight music show. The show later became a phone in, accepting calls from listeners. The Luxembourg show is remembered for the lack of a time-delay system which some listeners took advantage of to utter insults and obscenities on the air before being cut off.
In October 1988, Abbot launched the new BBC service for London BBC GLR he presented the breakfast show for a year but his contract was not renewed. He then returned to VMR, where he stayed until 1993.
[edit] Making his name
In 1993, Abbot was offered a job presenting a late-night show on Virgin Radio (then Virgin 1215) by his the Virgin launch Programme Controller and former GLR colleague, John Revell. Virgin's large listener base meant that Abbot was able to make his name in British broadcasting, building up a number of regular listeners, many of which still listen today.
Following a number of complaints to the Radio Authority in 1994 which resulted in Virgin being fined, Abbot was moved to an earlier slot (7-10pm on weekdays) and was instructed to tone down his act, mainly taking music requests.
In January 1995, Abbot returned to the late-night slot for 4 months, before being moved to the 4-7.30pm drive time slot presenting a heavily music-based show. Abbot left the station in September 1995, leaving Virgin with a fine of £20,000.
In late 1996, Talk Radio (now talkSPORT) hired Abbot to provide holiday cover for various presenters, before being offered his own weekly phone in show on the station in the summer of 1997, working alongside Carol McGiffin during the close of the football season. It was also during this period that Virgin Radio's new bosses decided to re-hire him during the summer to provide holiday cover.
In late 1997, Abbot started presenting his own Saturday evening show while continuing his stand-in slots on Virgin (referred to on air at Talk Radio as "the other place").
In early 1998, while still working at Talk Radio, Abbot was offered a permanent slot on Virgin, presenting a show on weekday afternoons. Later in the year, Nick was moved to the weekday evening slot on Talk Radio, meaning that he was presenting two shows every weekday.
[edit] Black Thursday
Thursday 12 November 1998, coined Black Thursday by Talk Radio listeners, was the day that the station was taken over by a new set of bosses, headed by Kelvin MacKenzie. Abbot, along with many other presenters, was immediately axed. Following his dismissal from Talk Radio, his slot at Virgin was extended to six days a week.
[edit] Life after Talk Radio
Between March and September 1999, local London station LBC hired both Abbot & McGiffin for a Saturday evening phone in show, similar in format to the duo's earlier Talk Radio stint. During this time, Abbot continued working for Virgin as a DJ.
Throughout the summer of 2000, Abbot presented a Sunday morning phone in show on Virgin, while continuing to host the daily afternoon show. Later in the year, he moved back to the drive time slot until leaving Virgin once again in May 2001. Two months later, he joined Real Radio (Wales) to host their late night phone in show for a week as holiday cover for regular presenter Adrian Allen. October 2001 saw the beginning of a five-day stint at Manchester's Key 103, during which he presented the 10pm-2am slot.
In January 2002, Abbot moved to Real Radio (Scotland) where he again presented the late night phone in. Later in 2002, his show was networked across all three Real Radio stations (Scotland, Wales & Yorkshire).
Abbot presented his last Real Radio show on Thursday 19 December 2002, subsequently deciding to take a break from radio for what was to be a number of years.
[edit] Back on the air
On Saturday 3 September 2005, Abbot was heard on London's 102.2 Smooth FM, presenting a Saturday morning show. Since then he has stood in for various shows, including weekend breakfast, and has also been heard covering shows on digital station Planet Rock, which became a regular gig from 17th December 2005 onwards, presenting on Saturdays & Sundays from 2-6pm.
In addition to that, in 2006, Abbot returned to the FM airwaves on a brief stint sitting in for Caroline Feraday's weekend show (10pm-1am, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights) on LBC 97.3, from 10th-19th February. However, he lost his voice during his second February show, cutting the show short. He was also unable to present the following evening's show, but returned on 17 February for the final three shows of the stint. He he now has a regular weekly slot on the station every Saturday night from 10pm-1am.
Abbot's show has a clear unique style amongst other LBC presenters. It becomes normal for a summary of the week's news at the start of the show, play various little jingles and sound clips during the show such as a partial happy birthday jingle, and to end his show on a weired or funny piece of news from the next day's paper. Introducing a caller would be different than other presenters. Abbot might say "Here's one in London", and may end a good call with "What a nice man/lady!".
Occasionally, Abbot does a "Lightning Round" where he would start a sentence and callers would go straight to air to finish the sentence. For example, Nick would start of by saying "I love..." and callers would complete the sentence. Callers do take advantage of this since they are being unscreened.
[edit] External links
- NickAbbot.com - Directory of Nick Abbot fan sites
- Nick Abbot forums - Unofficial discussion forums
