Richard John McNeill Allinson (born 12 October 1958) is an English broadcaster with

Greatest Hits Radio Greatest Hits Radio is a classic hits radio network in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer. Overview The network launched on 5 January 2015 as the "Bauer City 2 Network", and rebranded on 7 January 2019 due to the success of Ra ...

and

Scala Radio Scala Radio is a classical music digital radio station in the United Kingdom, owned and operated by Bauer Radio since its launch in March 2019. The station broadcasts nationally on DAB via the Sound Digital multiplex and online through websites ...

and is Creative Director of Magnum Opus Broadcasting. Between 1997 to 2014 he was a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

for

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

Early career

Allinson was born in

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west of B ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He attended Tudor Grange Grammar School for Boys in Solihull. He started his

broadcasting Broadcasting is the distribution (business), distribution of sound, audio or video content to a dispersed audience via any electronic medium (communication), mass communications medium, but typically one using the electromagnetic spectrum (radio ...

with a 3-year stint at

Bailrigg FM Bailrigg FM (formerly known as University Radio Bailrigg (URB) and Radio Bailrigg) is a student radio station at Lancaster University. It operates in a music format predominantly featuring pop, but also broadcasts news, drama, comedy, and enterta ...

, known at that time as University Radio Bailrigg (URB), whilst studying for a BA Hons in Economics at

Lancaster University Lancaster University (legally The University of Lancaster) is a public university, public research university in Lancaster, Lancashire, Lancaster, Lancashire, England. The university was established in 1964 by royal charter, as one of several pla ...

. He was firstly Treasurer and then became President of URB. He rejected a career in the legal profession and, in August 1980, took up broadcasting on London's

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. I ...

, presenting their Chart Show. He also presented the Early Breakfast show for some of this period. Following on from Capital's Chart Show, in 1984 he took over the late-night 10pmmidnight slot. In 1987 he took over the weekday 24:30pm slot, followed by the weekday Early Breakfast show 46:30am in 1990. In addition to this, in around 1994 he worked alongside

Julia Carling Julia Stringer (; born 28 February 1965) is a British journalist and television presenter. She is the ex-wife of former England rugby captain Will Carling. Career Her television credits include: * ''VH1 UK'' ( VJ) *''The Big Breakfast'' (Channel ...

on the satellite music television channel VH1, where they hosted a live show together.

Radio 2

Allinson joined

in 1997, presenting the MondayThursday late night show from 10:30pm to midnight, which included a mix of music and guests. In early 1999, Allinson took over the weekday drivetime show from 5pm to 7pm whilst regular presenter

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 ...

was off air due to health-related issues. He presented the programme for several months, with

Lynn Parsons Lynn Margaret Parsons (born 27 June 1961) is a British disc jockey. Career Having graduated from college with an OND in electronic principles, Parsons started her career working in the television industry, where she was a sound engineer and l ...

taking over the late show; in December 1999, Allinson returned to the late night show. In addition to his late night show, in 2000, Allinson also took over a Saturday afternoon show from 3:30 to 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. Allinson stepped down from the late night slot in June 2004, so he could concentrate on fronting Radio 2's 'Live & Exclusive' series and 'Sold on Song' projects. With record producer Steve Levine he formed Magnum Opus Broadcasting to "create programming and content we wanted to hear – but could not find – on the radio. Alongside this, he still continued with his Saturday afternoon show, which was cut down to 2 hours in September 2004 and went out from 4 to 6pm every Saturday. It was also during this period that he became the main stand-in for many weekday presenters when taking their holidays, such as Chris Evans,

Simon Mayo Simon Andrew Hicks Mayo (born 21 September 1958) is an English radio presenter and author who worked for BBC Radio from 1982 until 2022. Mayo has presented across three BBC stations for extended periods. From 1986 to 2001 he worked for Radio ...

Paul O'Grady Paul James O'Grady Order of the British Empire, MBE Deputy Lieutenant, DL (born 14 June 1955) is an English comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and former drag queen. He achieved notability in the London gay scene during the 1980s with his d ...

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

Ken Bruce Kenneth Robertson Bruce (born 2 February 1951) is a British broadcaster who is best known for hosting his long-running weekday mid-morning show on BBC Radio 2 from 1986 to 1990, and then again since 1992. Early life and career Bruce was born a ...

Sarah Kennedy Sarah Mary Kennedy MBE (born 8 July 1950) is a British retired TV and radio broadcaster. She presented her daily early morning radio show, ''The Dawn Patrol'', on BBC Radio 2 from 1993 to 2010. In the 2005 Queen's Birthday Honours, Kennedy ...

and Steve Wright. His Saturday show eventually ended in September 2005, but he still continued to stand in for weekday presenters on Radio 2 as well as create and present documentaries and specialist shows for the network, such as ''The Record Producers'', which is usually broadcast from 7 to 8pm on Bank Holiday Mondays. On Sunday 24 August 2008 Allinson hosted London 2012 Party Live on

from The Mall outside

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

which included the 2008 Beijing Olympics handover musical celebrations.

BBC Local Radio

From 8 January 2006 until 24 February 2007, Allinson presented a regular weekly show 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 ...

on Sunday mornings from 9am to 12 noon. The show included a mix of music, guests, competitions and a look at headlines from the Sunday papers. Since January 2007, he has presented the two-hour live show ''Allinson's Albums'' between 12 and 2pm every Saturday on

, and from 4 March 2007 is repeated on Sundays from 5 to 7pm (these are no longer broadcast). The show was also broadcast on

BBC Radio York BBC Radio York is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of North Yorkshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in the Bootham area of York. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...

on Saturday lunchtimes from 1 to 3pm, and on

BBC Radio Cumbria BBC Radio Cumbria is the BBC's local radio station serving the county of Cumbria. It broadcasts on FM, AM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios in Carlisle. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience of 71,000 listener ...

each Wednesday evening, repeated on Sunday afternoons; the last edition of this was broadcast on 6 January 2013.

Other work

Allinson has been heard on the various BFBS (British Forces) radio 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

. From October 2006 he took over a daily show for the network, going out Mondays-Fridays from 9 to 11am UK time, which he presented until March 2008. Richard has also been known to present shows 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 ...

Return to Radio 2

From 2009, Allinson returned to

on a regular basis, presenting the weekend overnight slots, replacing Pete Mitchell and

Mo Dutta Mohit Dutta (born 1971), is a television and radio presenter known for his dry sense of humour, who presented Saturday and Sunday morning shows on BBC Radio 2 between 1 July 1995 to 30 May 2009. He has also been a familiar face on BBC1's Daytime ...

's slots. The show went out on Friday nights/Saturday mornings and Saturday nights/Sunday mornings from 3 to 6am and was produced by production company Somethin' Else. He also presented an occasional series called ''The Record Producers'', which went out on Bank Holiday Mondays. In October 2014 his weekend show was cancelled due to budget cuts at Radio 2. He hasn't done any cover work for Radio 2 since moving to

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 ...

Magic Radio

From 27 October 2014 to 9 April 2021 Allinson presented the weekday drivetime show, before taking on weekend evenings on

. He presented his last show for Magic in March 2022.

Greatest Hits Radio and Scala

He joined

on 26th February 2022, and has taken over

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, s ...

's Saturday afternoon slot from 1- 5pm. In addition to that, he has taken over the Monday to Thursday evening show from 7 - 10pm on

Radio credits

Capital London 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. I ...

''Chart Show'', Sundays, 19801984 *

''Late Show'', weekdays 10pmmidnight, 19841987 *

''Afternoon Show'', weekdays 24:30pm, 19871990 *

''Early Breakfast Show'', weekdays 57am, 19901997 *

''Late Nights'', MondayThursday 10:30pmmidnight, March 1997 June 2004 *

''Saturday Afternoons'', 3:306:30pm, April 2000 September 2004; 46pm September 2004 September 2005 *

''Record Producers'', (alongside Steve Levine) Bank Holiday Mondays 78pm, 20062012 *

''Record Producers'', ( alongside Steve Levine ) New Years Day 67pm, 2007 *

''Sunday Mornings'', 9ammidday, January 2006 February 2007 *

''Allinson's Albums'', Saturdays midday2pm, January 2007 May 2009 *

''Allinson's Albums'', Saturdays 13pm, May 20072013 *

''Allinson's Albums'' Sundays, June 2008 – May 2009; Wednesdays and Sundays, June 2009 January 2013 *

''Weekend Overnights Friday night/Saturday morning and Saturday night/Sunday morning'', 36am, 2009 2014 *

''Weekday Drivetime'', 58pm MondayFriday, 2014 2021 *

''Weekend Evenings'', 710pm FridaySunday, 2021 March 2022 *

''Saturday Afternoons'', 15pm Saturday, February 2022 present *

''Monday to Thursday Evenings'', 710pm. April 2022 present.

References

External links

Richard Allinson on Scala RadioMindfulness Classics with Richard Allinson on Scala RadioRichard Allinson on Greatest Hits RadioWeekend Anthems on Greatest Hits Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allinson, Richard 1958 births English radio DJs BBC Radio 2 presenters Living people Alumni of Lancaster University Alumni of Fylde College, Lancaster People from Lichfield