Richard Allinson
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Richard John McNeill Allinson (whose name was often parodied by Terry Wogan as Alice Richardson), was born on 12 October 1958 in Lichfield, Staffordshire. Richard started his broadcasting with a 3 year stint at Bailrigg FM, whilst undertaking college courses at Fylde College, Lancaster University. He was firstly Treasurer and then became President of Bailrigg. After developing a passion for radio early on, Allinson chose a career in the industry and can now be heard on the BBC Radio network, most often on BBC Radio Two.
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[edit] Early career
Richard rejected a career in the legal profession, and in August 1980, took up broadcasting on London's Capital Radio, presenting their Chart Show. Following on from Capital's Chart Show, in 1984 Richard took over the late-night 10pm-midnight slot. In 1987 he took over the Weekday 2-4.30pm slot, followed by the weekday Early Breakfast show in 1990. In addition to this, in around 1994 Richard worked alongside Julia Carling on the satellite music channel VH1, where they hosted a live show together.
[edit] Radio 2
Richard joined BBC Radio 2 in 1997, presenting the Monday - Thursday late night show from 10.30pm-Midnight, which included a mix of music and guests.
In early 1999, Richard briefly took over the weekday drivetime show from 5-7pm whilst regular presenter Johnnie Walker (DJ) was off air due to personal problems, with various guest presenters taking over the late show, but in mid 1999, Richard returned to the late night show.
In addition to his late night show, in 2000, Richard also took over a Saturday afternoon show from 3.30-6.30pm, where he introduced the 'Radio Wall Of Sound' This was where listeners could ring in, listen to a selection of snippets of tunes until they liked one particularly, for it to play as quickly as they'd shouted 'play' or made some other noise dictated by the host after the caller had been probed about their life. They were rewarded with a CD album of their choice.
Richard also has a keen eye for behind the scenes work, which was the main reason for him stepping down from the late night slot in June 2004, so he could concentrate on fronting Radio 2's 'Live & Exclusive' series & 'Sold on Song' projects. Alongside this, he still continued with his Saturday afternoon show, which was cut down to 2 hours in September 2004 & went out from 4-6pm every Saturday.
It was also during this period that Richard became the main stand-in for many weekday presenters when taking their holidays, such as Terry Wogan, Ken Bruce, Sarah Kennedy and Steve Wright.
His Saturday show eventually ended in September 2005, but he still continues to stand in for weekday presenters on Radio 2 as well as present documentaries and specialist shows for the network.
[edit] BBC Radio Oxford
Since 8 January 2006, Richard has presented a regular weekly show on BBC Radio Oxford on Sunday mornings from 9am-12noon. The show includes a mix of music, guests, competitions and a look at headlines from the Sunday Papers.
[edit] BFBS
Richard also appears on BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) on their second channel BFBS Radio 2, every Wednesday evening, with 'Allinson's Albums', where he plays a mix of new music & album tracks. Since October 2006 he has presented a daytime show each weekday on BFBS Radio 2 from 9-11am (UK time). Unlike the Wednesday evening show, which is pre-recorded, the daytime show is presented live and invites email contributions from listeners.
[edit] Other Work
Richard has been heard on the various BFBS networks since 1980, first on Most Wanted for BFBS Radio 1, where he played mostly new music with a cutting edge, later moving to BFBS UK and others, and moved to BFBS Radio 2 in 2003 presenting in a style which the public have grown accustomed to with his shows on BBC Radio 2. Richard has also been known to present shows on the BBC World Service.
