Wes Butters
| Wes Butters | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 4 May 1979 Salford, England |
| Occupation | Writer and broadcaster |
| Website | |
| www.wesbutters.com | |
Wes Butters (born Wesley Paul Butters in Salford, Greater Manchester, 4 May 1979), is a radio broadcaster, formerly of BBC Radio 1, and writer.
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[edit] Early life
Butters attended Buile Hill High School in Salford, and studied at the University of Salford between 1995 and 1997 where he gained a National Diploma in Design & Media Communications, followed by a BA (Hons) Radio between 1997 and 1998.
[edit] Radio career
On joining AA Roadwatch he shortened his name to Wes Butters. After a year presenting traffic and travel bulletins on local North West radio stations plus periods on 96.5 Radio Wave (Blackpool), Wish FM (Wigan) and Century 105, he was offered the evening show on Century 106 in Nottingham. He left the station in 2000 to move to Newcastle as Head of Music and mid-morning presenter for Galaxy North East.
[edit] Radio 1
In December 2002, following extensive speculation in the press and online, it was announced that Butters would be taking over as host of the Official UK Top 40 show on BBC Radio 1 in February 2003, now renamed The Official Chart Show with Wes. A change in the show's format led to greater coverage of top-selling albums and an end to the need for every entry in the Top 40 singles chart to be played.
He regularly stood in for Scott Mills - first on early breakfast, then on drive-time. He also deputised for Chris Moyles on the prestigious Radio 1 breakfast show on Bank and Christmas Holidays.
Working closely with Top of the Pops he interviewed hundreds of popstars including Kylie Minogue, Destiny's Child, George Michael and The Black Eyed Peas.
In November 2004 it was revealed that Butters would leave Radio 1 the following February and the chart would undergo further changes to its format.
Butters was regularly heard on the BBC World Service as well. He sat in for Steve Wright on Wright Round the World and was used as their voice for Live 8.
[edit] After Radio 1
Soon after his final chart rundown on 30 January 2005 the press announced the launch of podshows.com, a joint venture by Butters and fellow broadcaster Daryl Denham. It was the world's first professional pod-casting company using names such as Tony Blackburn, Paul Gambaccini, Gary Davies and Terry Christian to record tailor-made programmes for MP3 players.
This coincided with the release of his Crazy Frog record (that he'd premiered on an early breakfast show the previous November). Under the guise of Pondlife the record went in at Number 11 and remained in the UK Top 40 for 5 weeks.
[edit] Wes@Breakfast
In October 2005 it was revealed that Butters had agreed a deal with Galaxy and returned to the airwaves at Galaxy Manchester, winning a Silver Sony award for Best Breakfast Show and an Arqiva nomination for Best UK Presenter in 2006.
In May 2007 he was voted North West England Presenter of the Year in the radio industry magazine X-Trax.
It was announced in June 2007 that Wes had "had enough of early starts" and that he wanted more time to focus on his other projects. Keen to keep him on the station he agreed with Galaxy to do a short afternoon show but in April 2008 he revealed that he would leave the group completely.
At the end of July 2008 Wes enjoyed another stint on breakfast, this time sitting in for Shaun Keaveny on BBC 6 Music.
[edit] Wes At The Weekend
Wes use to present a weekly show for the Real Radio network and can be heard each Sunday from 7pm. Features on the show include 'The Official Top Ten' which he asks listeners to text in for things like "The Official Top Ten Bills You Didn't Know You Had To Pay Until A Brown Envelope Turned Up This Week Saying You Had To". He will then countdown his ten favourites. Another feature is the 'Facebook Flashmob', in which he chooses a different celebrity's Facebook account each week, for listeners to add. The celeb then gets thousands of requests from nowhere! He also presents other shows either on Bank Holidays or when the normal presenter(s) is absent. He has stood in for Ditchy & Salty on Breakfast, Darren Parks, Debbie Mac and most notably David Heane on the Evening Show and High School Days. He usually presents Breakfast on Bank Holiday Mondays on Real Radio Northwest.
[edit] Radio 4 Extra
As of May 2009, Butters is a continuity announcer on digital speech network, BBC Radio 4 Extra where he introduces a range of classic comedy and drama from the BBC's archive.
[edit] BBC Radio Leeds
The Mid Morning show on BBC Radio Leeds
[edit] Television and writing
Butters has appeared on many TV programmes including Never Mind the Buzzcocks, Top of the Pops, Liquid News, Celebrity Fame Academy, Record of the Year and BBC television news, in addition to a range of children's programmes.
As a voice-over, Wes has been heard on An Audience with Take That, An Audience with Lionel Ritchie and The Brit Awards, as well as the Top of the Pops rundown and ads for Asda.
He has written for The Guardian newspaper and his first book came out in October 2008 (Kenneth Williams Unseen, HarperCollins). He also wrote the acclaimed two-part documentary The Pain of Laughter - The Last Days of Kenneth Williams for BBC Radio 4, broadcast in April 2008, which is available on his website.
His second book is entitled Whatshisname, The Life and Death of Charles Hawtrey and on its release was the number one best selling biography on Amazon. (After it had also been the number one pre-ordered biography.)
According to BBC Radio 7's website, Wes is adapting his Hawtrey biography for a TV film and is currently writing a biography of 1960's playwright Joe Orton.
[edit] Personal Life
- He lives with his girlfriend in what he describes as "a leafy part of Salford."
- He has a daughter whom both of his books are dedicated to.
- He suffers from colitis and often helps to raise awareness of the condition to help his "fellow sufferers."
[edit] Trivia
- He is a fan of Laurel & Hardy, the Carry On films, and Elton John.
- He has appeared in Love Actually, Shameless, and a Matt Goss video.
- He studied for his National Diploma in media at the same University building as Peter Kay and Christopher Eccleston.
- He admitted on his Real Radio show that he owns Freddie Mercury's leather peaked cap, sold to him by friends of DJ Kenny Everett.
| Media offices | ||
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| Preceded by Mark Goodier |
BBC Radio One chart show presenter 2003 - 2005 |
Succeeded by JK and Joel |
