Nick Abbot
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| Nick Abbot | |
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| Show | Planet Rock with Nick Abbot |
| Station(s) | Planet Rock |
| Time slot | 2 - 6pm GMT Saturdays & Sundays |
| Show 2 | 'Nick Abbot' |
| Station 2 | LBC 97.3 |
| Time slot | 10pm - 1am GMT Saturdays |
| Style | Music Radio and Talk Radio/Phone-in |
| Country |  England |
| Previous show(s) | 102.2 Smooth FM Real Radio talkSPORT (then Talk Radio) Virgin Radio (then Virgin 1215) BBC GLR Radio Luxembourg |
| Website | lbc.co.uk: Nick Abbot official nickabbot.com unofficial |
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, and eventually a 'straight to air' format was settled upon, where Abbot would take calls live and unscreened. This format quickly became a hit with listeners, which Abbot would call "Screenless". At the time, the absence of the delay system to supposedly 'dump' bad language resulted in callers saying swear words just before they were cut off. It is believed that Abbot was one of the first (if not the first) to take calls straight to air.
Later in October 1988, Abbot launched the new BBC service for London BBC GLR. He presented the breakfast show for a year, however his contract was not renewed. He then returned to VMR, where he stayed until 1993.
[edit] Virgin and Talk Radio
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.
January 1995 saw Abbot returned to the late-night slot for four 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.
It was during Abbot's time at Virgin did his Lightning Round become such a popular feature amongst callers. The format involved whereby Abbot would come up with a sentence starter, for example "I love" or "I wish", and callers would come straight to air in quick succession to finish the sentence with their suggestions. Not surprisingly, callers would take advantage of this format, just like his Luxemburg show, and ignore the Lightning Round rules and do their own piece.
[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] The return on the radio
On Saturday, 3 September 2005, Abbot was heard on London's 102.2 Smooth FM, presenting a morning show. Since then he has stood in for various presenters, including weekend breakfast, and has also been heard covering shows on digital station Planet Rock, which became a regular gig from 17 December 2005 onwards, presenting on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-7pm.
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 and being replaced by Wendy Lloyd. He was also unable to present the following evening's show, but returned on 17 February for the final three shows of his reappearance.
Abbot now has a regular weekly slot on the station every Saturday night from 10pm-1am. Abbot also tends to fill in for absent presenters, particularly for colleague Iain Lee, who is also a fan of Nick's.
Abbot's show has a clear unique style amongst other LBC presenters. It becomes normal for an amusing summary of the week's news at the start of the show during his opening jingle, Boogie Woogie by Liberace. Throughout the show, Nick plays various sound clips including a partial happy birthday jingle or amusing quotes from films such as The Terminator.
[edit] Trivia
- Abbot has claimed that he had, as he describes, a 'near death experience' where he suffered from high cholesterol levels.
- Abbot occasionally mentions that he has porridge for breakfast (apparently to reduce his cholesterol levels) followed by toast for 'second breakfast', whilst watching BBC's Breakfast show or the sunrise on his Sky+ service.
- Abbot enjoys art exhibitions, reading and valuable vinyl records.
[edit] Memorable quotes
The following are some quotes that Nick would often say on his radio career:
- I am not Iain Lee!
- You're rubbish at this!
- 1,2,3...testing...can you hear me?
- Shall I just leave now?
- Mmmmm mmmmmm
- Ta-ta!
- We're dooooomed!
- Here is a mobile...
- Ohh sorry we have run out of time on that call
- Pressing and pressing and pressing and pressing...
- That is the correct answer!
- That is the incorrect answer, but thanks for playing!
- Ehhh it were grand when I was a lad! (In northern accent)
- What a nice lady!
- Haven't heard that in a dogs age
- The masses are asses
- Woodwork squeeks - Out come the freaks
- Yeah hello? (When answering calls during straight to air)
- Heeeeeeeey DJ
[edit] External links
- NickAbbot.com - Directory of Nick Abbot fan sites
- Nick Abbot forums - Unofficial discussion forums
- [1] - Nick Abbot's LBC premium podcasts (requires subscription)
