Emma Louise Boughton (born 27 November 1970), better known as Emma B, is a radio presenter in the UK.

Early career

Boughton's childhood was spent in Canada before she moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, England as a teenager. She graduated from the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a public university , public research university in Exeter, Devon, England, United Kingdom. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of Min ...

with a BA in English and Drama, staying on as a sabbatical officer organising all the live events and skiing competitively for the university. She came seventh in the giant slalom in the British university championships. Her first experience with radio was at the age of seven as part of a drama on

BBC Radio Oxford BBC Radio Oxford is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Oxfordshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Summertown area of Oxford. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audienc ...

with

Timmy Mallett Timothy Luke Mallett (born 18 October 1955) is an English TV presenter, broadcaster, and artist. He is known for his striking visual style, colourful glasses, loud shirts, and giant pink foam mallet, known as "Mallett's Mallet", as well as hi ...

. She worked at

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

(at Bristol dock) before writing articles for media magazines, which included ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

''. She also presented a daily children's show along with Timmy Mallet at Radio Oxford, where she was called ''Susan Zinc''.

Personal life

Boughton got married on 8 November 2003. She has two children who were both born in London, one being an actress and musician and the other a dancer.

BBC

Boughton joined

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

in April 1998, presenting an early Saturday morning show from 4am to 7am. In 1999, she took over the Saturday afternoon show from 1pm to 3pm alongside

Sara Cox Sara Joanne Cyzer (née Cox; born 13 December 1974) is an English broadcaster. She presented ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 from 3 April 2000 until 19 December 2003. Since January 2019 she now hosts the BBC Radio 2 drivetime show, Monday ...

and the Sunday night/Monday morning overnight slot from 1am to 4am. In addition to that, in January 2000, she co-presented the ''Sunday Surgery'' show, alongside

Dr. Mark Hamilton Mark Hamilton (born 30 October 1970) is a physician and broadcaster. He is presenter of '' How Long Will You Live?'' on RTÉ One and former presenter of ''The Surgery'' on BBC Radio 1. Education and medical training Hamilton graduated from medic ...

every Sunday evening from 9pm to 11pm. ''Sunday Surgery'' has dealt with social and health problems including sex, drugs, poverty and crime. She won four Sonys for the show and has been singled out as having saved lives through the show. In September 2001, Boughton took over Saturday Breakfast from 7am to 10am as well as the ''Sunday Surgery'' show. She continued with Saturday Breakfast until late 2003. From 2004 to 2005, she also presented on

BBC Radio 6 Music BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...

, filling in for various presenters such as

Liz Kershaw Elizabeth Marguerita Mary Kershaw (born 30 July 1958) is an English radio broadcaster. She is the second longest serving female national radio DJ in the UK (after Annie Nightingale), celebrating 30 years on national BBC Radio in 2017. Career A ...

Gideon Coe Gideon Jon Quantrill Coe (born 22 September 1967 in Canterbury, Kent) is a radio DJ, presenter, sportscaster, voiceover artist and journalist. Early career He began his broadcasting career in 1976 as a child presenter on the BBC One TV program ...

, Vic McGlynn and

Jane Gazzo Jane Gazzo is an Australian television presenter, radio presenter, performance and club DJ, television personality, voice artist, author, and music journalist. Early life and education Gazzo was born and raised in Melbourne and is the daughter ...

. She has also presented

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

for the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is an international broadcasting, international broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC, with funding from the Government of the United Kingdom, British Government through the Foreign Secretary, Foreign Secretary's o ...

Heart 106.2

Boughton eventually quit

Radio 1 Radio 1 or Radio One most commonly refers to: *BBC Radio 1, a music radio station from the BBC ** BBC Radio 1Xtra, a digital radio station broadcasting black music *CBC Radio One, a talk radio station operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporatio ...

in early 2005 and in August 2005 joined London's Heart 106.2, presenting a Sunday evening show from 7pm to 10pm. She then took over the weekday drivetime show alongside fellow DJ Greg Burns, and then moved to the 4pm7pm slot alone. Her show was the first female solo show to ever take the number one spot on the drivetime slot in the London area. During her time at Heart she also occasionally presented shows for its sister station LBC as well as the BBC's Five Live service. She left Heart at the end of July 2009 to move with her family to

Ibiza Ibiza (natively and officially in ca, Eivissa, ) is a Spanish island in the Mediterranean Sea off the eastern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It is from the city of Valencia. It is the third largest of the Balearic Islands, in Spain. Its l ...

Other work

Boughton was the voiceover for the safety video of former British charter airline

Thomsonfly Thomsonfly was a British charter and scheduled airline. Thomsonfly was the first stage of TUI AG's plans to expand its business within TUI UK prior to September 2007. After TUI UK merged with First Choice Holidays in September 2007, it beca ...

. She joined

Magic Radio Magic Radio is a British digital radio station owned and operated by Bauer. The station is available on 105.4 FM in London and across the UK on Digital Radio, on the Magic Radio app, television and online. It had previously been a part of a ...

to cover

Angie Greaves Angie Greaves (born in London) is a British radio presenter. Radio career Greaves started her media career in 1982 as a BBC Administrator at Television Centre. In 1986 she moved to London's Capital Radio, where she began working on the radio afte ...

' afternoon show in November 2016. She hosted her own show on Saturday 10-1pm in addition to taking over from Greaves for the host of the weekday afternoon slot 1-5pm

. In February 2020, Boughton began hosting

Macmillan Cancer Support Macmillan Cancer Support is one of the largest British charities and provides specialist health care, information and financial support to people affected by cancer. It also looks at the social, emotional and practical impact cancer can have, a ...

's podcast, Talking Cancer.

TV career

Boughton has presented various youth programmes on television including ''The Base'' on

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

and "Hype" on

BBC Choice BBC Choice was a British digital television channel which was owned by the BBC and was launched on 23 September 1998. It was the first British TV channel to broadcast exclusively in digital format, as well as the BBC's second non-analogue-terres ...

. She also occasionally appears on

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

. She narrated a few series of

's ''

Club Reps ''Club Reps'' is a factual entertainment programme made for ITV by STV Studios (''then known as "SMG TV Productions"''). It ran from 2001 to 2004. The programme has been repeated on Sky Real Lives, Pick and STV local channels STV Edinburgh ...

'', which was made by

STV Productions STV Studios (previously STV Productions, SMG Productions, and originally known as Scottish Television Enterprises) is the television production arm of the STV Group plc. Headquartered in Glasgow, Scotland, and with an office in London, England ...

References

External links

Afternoons with Emma B on Magic RadioAn Interview with Emma BEmma B: my greatest mistake
{{DEFAULTSORT:Emma B 1970 births English radio personalities English television presenters Living people People from Oxford British radio DJs Alumni of the University of Exeter People educated at King Edward VI Handsworth