Richard Matthew Bannister (born 16 March 1957) is a British media executive and broadcaster.
Early career
After attending
King Edward VII School, Sheffield
King Edward VII School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.
History
King Edward VII School, named after the reigning monarch, was formed in 1905 when Wesley College was merged wit ...
, he graduated in law at the
University of Nottingham
The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...
in 1978,
and joined
BBC Radio Nottingham
BBC Radio Nottingham is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Nottinghamshire.
It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios on London Road in Nottingham city centre.
According to RAJAR, the station has ...
as a trainee reporter and subsequently the presenter of its speech-based breakfast show, ''Morning Report''. It was here that he first met
Trevor Dann
Trevor John Dann (born 6 November 1951) is an English writer and broadcaster best known for his radio and print journalism with BBC Radio, ''Q magazine'', ''Mojo'', and ''The Guardian'', and his critically praised 2006 "Darker Than the Deepest Se ...
, whom he subsequently worked with at
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, ...
.
He first worked for Radio 1 as a presenter of its news programme ''Newsbeat'' between 1983 and 1985.
He worked for Capital Radio as a journalist in the early 1980s, before returning as head of News and Talks, after leaving Radio 1.
He was also co-presenter with Sarah Ward of
Capital Radio
Capital London is a radio station owned and operated by the Global media company as part of its national Capital FM Network. As Capital Radio it was launched in the London area in 1973 as one of Britain's first two commercial radio stations. ...
's ''The Way It Is''.
Managerial career
Bannister first established himself as a name in the radio industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Managing Editor of GLR (
Greater London Radio
BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, 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 broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...
), the BBC's local radio station for London. Here he worked for the first time with
Chris Evans, who was pioneering many of the ideas which would later win him greater success and much controversy at Radio 1, and also employed a number of the more musically credible DJs from Radio 1's past, such as
Annie Nightingale,
Tommy Vance
Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (11 July 1940 – 6 March 2005), known professionally as Tommy Vance, was an English radio broadcaster. He was an important factor in the rise of the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM), a ...
,
Janice Long
Janice Berry ( Chegwin; 5 April 1955 – 25 December 2021), known professionally by her first married name Janice Long, was an English broadcaster who was best known for her work in British music radio. In a career that spanned five decades, ...
and
Johnnie Walker
Johnnie Walker is a brand of Scotch whisky now owned by Diageo that originated in the Scottish burgh of Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire. The brand was first established by grocer John Walker. It is the most widely distributed brand of blended Sc ...
. The line-up also included
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 fami ...
,
Emma Freud
Emma Vallencey Freud (born 25 January 1962) is an English broadcaster and cultural commentator.
Early life
Freud was born in London on 25 January 1962 and is the daughter of politician and broadcaster Sir Clement Freud (1924–2009) and June ...
and
Chris Morris.
After working for two years in the BBC corporate centre on projects related to the renewal of the BBC's Royal Charter, in 1993 Bannister was chosen as the new controller for BBC Radio 1, replacing
Johnny Beerling
John William Beerling (born 12 April 1937) is a British radio producer and station controller.
Early life
Beerling attended the Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent.
Career
National Service
He began his radio career during nationa ...
who had worked at the station since its inception in 1967. Many of the DJs, producers and other staff at Radio One had grown old with the station, as had the audience. Keen to return the station to its original purpose for "young listeners", Bannister overhauled the staff, resulting in many presenters either resigning or being sacked and replacing them with new presenters. Over the next few years the station lost approximately 5 million listeners.
The
Britpop
Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...
explosion proved the success of Bannister's strategy: the bands he had championed a year or two earlier, when they were comparatively obscure and marginal, were now part of the mainstream, and Radio 1 was booming again. Chris Evans, who had become a hugely popular national figure as breakfast DJ, was the figurehead of this boom, but eventually things went sour; in January 1997 Evans resigned after Bannister refused to allow him to waive his Friday show, to concentrate on his TV show ''
TFI Friday
''TFI Friday'' is an entertainment show that was broadcast on Channel 4 television in the United Kingdom. It was produced by Ginger Productions, written by Danny Baker, and hosted by Chris Evans, for the first five series. The sixth series ...
''. After
Mark Radcliffe and
Marc Riley
Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music.
Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...
had an unsuccessful stint on the breakfast show, the team of
Kevin Greening
Kevin Greening (30 December 1962 – 29 December 2007) was a British radio presenter, who co-hosted ''Radio 1 Breakfast'' on BBC Radio 1 with Zoe Ball from 13 October 1997 to 25 September 1998.
Early career
Kevin Greening grew up in Bristol whe ...
and
Zoe Ball
Zoe Louise Ball (born 23 November 1970) is a British radio and television presenter. She was the first female host of both '' Radio 1 Breakfast'' and '' The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' for the BBC, and presented the 1990s children's show ''Live & ...
were hosting the breakfast show when Bannister left Radio 1 in 1998 (Ball would subsequently host the show on her own).
In the autumn of 1996 Bannister was appointed director of Radio, a post which gave him responsibility for all the national BBC radio networks other than Five Live. He remained controller of Radio 1 alongside this until March 1998, when he was succeeded by
Andy Parfitt
Andrew John Parfitt (born 24 September 1958, Bristol) is the Executive Director of Talent for ad agency Saatchi & Saatchi. He was the Controller of BBC Radio 1 in the United Kingdom, and held that role from 1998–2011, taking over from Matthew ...
. In 1999, Bannister was appointed chief executive of BBC Production, responsible for all non-news programme-making on English television, radio and online. He oversaw production centres in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol. When John Birt announced he was stepping down as BBC director general, Bannister lost out to
Greg Dyke
Gregory Dyke (born 20 May 1947) is a British media executive, football administrator, journalist, and broadcaster. Since the 1960s, Dyke has had a long career in the UK in print and then broadcast journalism. He is credited with introducing ' ...
. After a short stint in 2000 as director of marketing and communications,
he subsequently returned to radio presenting on BBC 5 Live, Radio 4 and the World Service.
Return to broadcasting
In October 2000 Bannister resigned from the BBC to return to broadcasting.
From 2003 to 2005 he had his own late night talk show on BBC Radio 5 Live.
He also deputised for other presenters on the station as well as on programmes on Radio 4 such as ''Broadcasting House'' and ''Saturday PM''. Since 2006 he has presented an obituary programme on
Radio 4 called ''
Last Word
''Last Word'' is an obituary BBC radio series broadcast weekly on Radio 4. Each week the lives of several famous people who have recently died are summarised with narration, and interviews with people who knew them. The programme is normally p ...
''
and between 2008 and 2018 also hosted ''
Outlook
Outlook or The Outlook may refer to:
Computing
* Microsoft Outlook, an e-mail and personal information management software product from Microsoft
* Outlook.com, a web mail service from Microsoft
* Outlook on the web, a suite of web applications ...
'' on 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 ...
.
He has also sat in for
Jeremy Vine
Jeremy Guy Vine (born 17 May 1965) is an English television and radio personality, presenter, broadcaster and journalist. He is best known as the host of his BBC Radio 2 lunchtime programme which presents news, views, interviews with live guest ...
on his lunchtime
Radio 2 show.
He is chairman of the independent production compan
Wire Free Productions In August 2018, Bannister launched his own podcast, ''Folk on Foot'
in which he walks and talks with leading folk performers in the landscapes that have inspired them. The podcast won the silver award in the Arts and Culture category at the British Podcast Awards 201
''Folk on Foot'' producer Natalie Steed won gold as Best Music Producer at the Audio Production Awards 2019, when Bannister was nominated as Best Music Presente
On 20 July 2011 Bannister was awarded an honorary doctorate from his alma mater, the University of Nottingham. On 19 November 2019 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of arts from Sheffield Hallam Universit
He is a Fellow of the
Radio Academy
The Radio Academy is a registered charity dedicated to "the encouragement, recognition and promotion of excellence in UK broadcasting and audio production". It was formed in 1983 and is run via a board of trustees, with a chair and a deputy chair ...
.
Personal life
Bannister married his first wife, the radio and TV presenter Amanda Walker, in 1984. Their daughter Jessica was born later the same year. In 1988 Amanda drowned while swimming in the sea off the Spanish
Costa Blanca
The Costa Blanca (, , literally meaning "White Coast") is over of Mediterranean coastline in the Alicante province, on the southeastern coast of Spain. It extends from the town of Dénia in the north, beyond which lies the Costa del Azahar (or ...
during a family holiday.
In 1989, Bannister married Shelagh Macleod, who later became senior vice-president of Legal and Business Affairs at the record company
EMI
EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...
. Their son Joe was born in 1990. Shelagh died of breast cancer in 2005.
In 2007, he married Katherine Hood, a private equity investor. They were divorced in 2013. He now lives with his partner, Kate McGuire.
References
External links
''Last Word''(BBC Radio 4)
Wire Free Productions(includes biography, audio clip and an image)
www.folkonfoot.comMatthew Bannister launches Folk on Foot podcast
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bannister, Matthew
1957 births
Alumni of the University of Nottingham
BBC Radio 1 controllers
Place of birth missing (living people)
BBC Radio 5 Live presenters
British radio DJs
British radio personalities
Living people
People educated at King Edward VII School, Sheffield
The Times people