Pete Mitchell
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Broadcaster Pete Mitchell, was one half of duo Pete & Geoff who presented Virgin Radio's Breakfast show for 2 years.
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[edit] Early Career
In 1988, Mitchell joined Manchester's Piccadilly Radio and went on to be an enthusiastic champion of indie bands of the "Madchester" scene in the early nineties. He was introduced to Geoff Lloyd around this time. Lloyd was an aspiring comedy writer and performer, and a fellow radio presenter. In 1996 Mitchell teamed up with Lloyd & were asked by Key 103 to present their afternoon show.
The duo rapidly established a cult following with their witty and slightly risque banter, and in 1998 won a Sony radio academy award for their show.
[edit] Virgin Radio
In late 1998 They were subsequently recruited by Virgin Radio, where they took over the weekday evening show & also covered Chris Evans on the Breakfast show, and again rapidly built up a significant audience. The pair took over the Drivetime show in early 2002. By 2003 they were the most popular DJs on the station and were moved to the Breakfast Show in order to increase the audience. This they did very successfully, sticking to their well-established formula of slightly risque banter about contemporary news and culture, with Mitchell tending to play the "straight man" to the more outrageous Lloyd. Lloyd occasionally courted controversy with some of his remarks, most notoriously when he expressed willingness to eat the limbs of a dead baby to ease poverty. A complaint against the station was upheld and Lloyd was reprimanded for his comments. Nevertheless, the audience for the show remained strong, despite (or possibly because) of Lloyd's willingness to stray to the edge of acceptability with his remarks.
In addition to this, in 2002 Mitchell also took over a weekly show on his own called Razor Cuts, where he interviewed many bands & they picked their favourite tunes.
On 28 November 2005, to the dismay of their listeners, the duo announced that they were splitting up and leaving the Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio. Their final show together took place on 16 December. While Geoff Lloyd remained at Virgin Radio, Pete Mitchell left the station to pursue other projects. Christian O'Connell, from the Breakfast Show on XFM London took over the show.
[edit] Current Work
After various stints on digital station BBC 6 Music in early 2006, Mitchell now presents 2 shows for BBC Radio 2,early Saturday morning from 3-6am & early Sunday morning from 1-4am.
