Peter Jarrod Poulton (born 2 January 1970), known professionally as Bam Bam and briefly as Peter Jarrod, is a British radio personality. Born in

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

, Poulton has lived in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in North London. The borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It forms part of Outer London and is the largest ...

with his girlfriend Emma and their two children - Oscar and Felix .

Career

Poulton began his radio career at the age of 16 when he joined Radio City in Liverpool, where he worked as a technician. His first full-time presenter's role was with

Marcher Sound Heart Cheshire and North East Wales (formerly Marcher Sound and previously MFM 103.4) was an independent radio station broadcasting to north east Wales and Cheshire from its Mold Road studios in Gwersyllt, Wrexham, also shared with Gold and Hea ...

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

. In 1993 he joined the now defunct

Sunset Radio Sunset 102 was an Incremental radio station, a new type of station licensed by the Independent Broadcasting Authority in 1989. It was the first of a series of licenses awarded by the IBA in areas already served by an Independent Local Radio stati ...

in Manchester as a presenter and commercial producer. By 1994 he had moved to

Atlantic 252 Atlantic 252 was an Irish longwave radio station broadcasting across Ireland and Great Britain on 252 kHz (1190 metres) from its 1988 purpose-built transmission site at Clarkstown radio transmitter, County Meath, which provided service to Atlan ...

where he presented the mid-morning show. In 1995 he moved to

Invicta FM Heart Kent (previously Invicta FM) was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Heart network. It broadcast to Kent from studios at John Wilson Business Park in Whitstable. History Invicta in the 80s Originall ...

in Kent and presented the evening show. He later went to

Kiss 105 Kiss 105 was a dance music radio station based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. It was part of a new breed of regional radio stations as opposed to independent local radio. History The station was launched at and the first track played was 'I Like ...

in Yorkshire where he launched the station as breakfast show presenter. He stayed with Kiss 105 for its entire existence, moving across the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

to its newly branded sister station

Galaxy 102 Capital Manchester was a local radio station owned and operated by Global Radio as part of the Capital radio network. The station broadcast from their studios at Global's Manchester HQ in the XYZ Building in Spinningfields, Manchester. In Apri ...

after the sale of both stations to the Chrysalis group in 1997. In March 1998 Poulton moved to

Virgin Radio Virgin Radio launched in the United Kingdom in 1993. In 2008, Virgin Radio UK was sold to TIML, a subsidiary of The Times of India group, and the name was changed to Absolute Radio; the Virgin Radio name was not included in the sale. In 2001, ...

where he stayed until September of the same year. In January 1999 he went on to present the ''Bam Bam Breakfast'' on London's

Kiss 100 Kiss is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Kiss Network. It is primarily aimed at the 15-34 age group and broadcasts nationally to the UK on DAB Digital Radio, as well as on FM in London, Bristol and ...

with co-host Rob Hayes, also known as Streetboy. He hosted the show for seven years, and was the first to achieve market leadership over the dominant

Chris Tarrant Christopher John Tarrant, (born 10 October 1946) is an English broadcaster, television personality and former radio DJ. He presented the ITV (TV network), ITV children's television show ''Tiswas'' from 1974 to 1981, and the game show ''Who Wa ...

at Capital Breakfast, in the 15–24 demographic. The show won multiple

Sony Radio Academy Awards The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

, along with New York Festival and CRCA industry awards. Poulton was fired in April 2006 whilst on annual leave, shortly before the station received a fine of £175,000 from the industry regulator,

Ofcom The Office of Communications, commonly known as Ofcom, is the government-approved regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the United Kingdom. Ofcom has wide-ranging powers acros ...

, after a series of breaches of the broadcasting code during his show. Poulton was replaced by

Robin Banks Robin Banks is a TV presenter, narrator and radio DJ originally from Kilkenny, Ireland. Career He was the narrator of the British/European version of the popular Discovery Channel show '' MythBusters'', from season 2 to the present day. He ...

, who was also subsequently fired. In March 2007, Poulton joined London's Capital 95.8 and presented the station's evening show Monday to Friday with co-hosts Rob Hayes and Kat Shoob. On 6 December 2007, Radio Today reported that Poulton had left Capital. In its nine-month run, his show increased the number of listeners to Capital Radio, during its broadcast hours, by 55%. Poulton also did a network show on Gcap Media's One Network, called "Saturday Night Bam Bam". Between September 2006 and November 2007, Poulton and Rob Hayes worked together on a podcast from THESHOW.com. Originally called the "Bam Bam Daily" and later the "Bam Bam Show", the programme could be downloaded daily as an MP3 file. It included content which would have been unbroadcastable on normal radio such as "The Bam Bam Answer phone", "Kat Shoob World News",. and various pranks played by Hayes, including a number of meetings with Hari Krishnas. The show included regular input from

James Max James Max (born 20 May 1970) is a journalist, TV and radio presenter specialising in current affairs and business issues. He presents the Early Breakfast Show from 5am to 6.30am on TalkTV. He is a regular contributor to The Talk on TalkTV, The J ...

(''

The Apprentice ''The Apprentice'' is a Reality competition, reality talent game show franchise originally aired in 2004 in the United States. Created by U.S.-based British producer Mark Burnett, the show depicts contestants from around the country with variou ...

'' and

LBC LBC (originally the London Broadcasting Company) is a British phone-in and talk radio station owned and operated by Global and based in its headquarters in London. It was the UK's first licensed commercial radio station, and began to broadcast ...

) and Council Dweller Dave.

2008–2011

On 14 March 2008, he was broadcasting live on

BBC London 94.9 BBC Radio London is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM frequency, DAB, Virgin Media channel 937, Sky channel 0152 (in the Lond ...

renamed "Bam" and with a different show format, standing in for

Danny Baker Danny Baker (born 22 June 1957) is an English comedy writer, journalist, radio DJ and screenwriter. Throughout his career he has largely presented for London's regional radio and television. Baker was born in Deptford to a working-class fam ...

. That August, as Peter Jarrod, he returned to Virgin Radio to cover for

Iain Lee Iain Lee (born Iain Lee Rougvie; 9 June 1973) is an English broadcaster, writer, and former television presenter and stand-up comedian who hosts the phone-in talk show '' The Late Night Alternative'' on "pay to view" Patreon. Lee's career began ...

and

Geoff Lloyd Geoff Barron Lloyd (born 20 April 1973) is an English radio presenter, television host, podcast host and writer, best known for his talk radio and music shows. Early life Lloyd was born in Withington, Manchester, England,Barrie White"Radio's ...

. The show used the same music format as Poulton's former Capital show. The following January, Poulton presented his first breakfast show in over two years as cover for

Christian O'Connell Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British radio disc jockey, television host, writer, and comedian living in Australia. He presents ''The Christian O'Connell Show'' on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in ...

Absolute Radio Absolute Radio is a British National radio station owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Absolute Radio Network. It broadcasts nationally across the UK via Digital audio broadcasting and on 1215 kHz MW. History 1993–1997: Virg ...

. On 26 March 2011 he did a one-off evening show on

brmb Free Radio Birmingham is an Independent Local Radio station based in Birmingham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to Birmingham and the West Midlands. As of September 2022, the station has a ...

in Birmingham and across the

Orion Media Orion Media was a UK commercial radio group, founded in 2009 after a management buy-in, with backing from Lloyds Development Capital. It was created from the enforced sale of several radio stations in the English Midlands previously owned by Gl ...

network.

JACK fm SAM FM Southcoast and Virgin Radio

On 4 July 2011 Bam Bam joined a new station on the South coast of England, JACK fm (later SAM FM). He presented Bam Bam at Breakfast on weekdays from 5 am to 10 am with his co hosts Hayley and Harry. In

RAJAR Radio Joint Audience Research Limited (RAJAR) was established in 1992 to operate a single audience measurement system for the radio industry in the United Kingdom. RAJAR is jointly owned by the BBC and RadioCentre. RAJAR's predecessor was calle ...

figures announced in early 2012, it was confirmed that he had raised listening figures on Jack FM by 52%. As of 4 September 2017 Bam Bam no longer hosts the Sam FM radio show. In March 2019 Bam joined Virgin Radio UK.

References

External links

Bam Bam double win at Radio Academy Awards

Bam Bam wins CRCA Presenter of the YearBam Bam tops ad industry's Campaign Magazine list of best radio showsRecord fine for Kiss 100 Bam Bam Breakfast

Ofcom Report re Kiss FineBam Bam launches daily podcastBam Bam to join Capital RadioBam Bam fronts Capital Radio advertising campaign

Radio Today announces Bam Bam's departure from CapitalBam Bam launches JACK fm South CoastBam Bam on Jack FM's website

TV Show In Your Face clips
{{DEFAULTSORT:BAM, BAM 1970 births Living people English radio personalities People from Chester