Geoff Lloyd
 | This article possibly contains original research. (September 2007) |
Geoff Lloyd | |
|---|---|
 Geoff Lloyd | |
| Born | 20 April 1973 |
| Occupation | Radio personality |
| Employer | Absolute Radio |
| Known for | Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show |
| Relatives | Rob (brother) |
| Website | Profile at AbsoluteRadio.co.uk |
Geoff Lloyd (born 20 April 1973 in Withington, Manchester) is a British radio presenter. Lloyd presents Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show, Monday-Friday, 5pm-8pm on Absolute Radio. Until Autumn 2008, he presented the late night program The Geoff Show and before that, until Winter 2005 he co-presented the Virgin Radio breakfast show with Pete Mitchell (the show was known as the Pete And Geoff Breakfast Show). Occasionally he is asked to present the breakfast show with Annabel Port when Christian O'Connell is on leave.
Lloyd is known for his witty but often cynical sense of humour and speculative banter on the radio which has occasionally offended people in the past. Despite this he is often self critical of his own appearance and lack of status as a celebrity. Another facet of his humour style is the phonetic pronunciation of names and places; for instance 'David Cameron' and the band 'Placebo' become 'David Cam-er-on' and 'Place-bo', respectively.
He is a noted Beatles and 60s fan which is frequently reflected in his personal style and choice of music; Lloyd played an entire Beatles album without interval on the radio in 2006. During his radio shows Lloyd frequently makes references to John Lennon and Paul McCartney and chef Rustie Lee.
Early career
Lloyd grew up in Macclesfield, Cheshire, a South Manchester satellite town. After working as a paperboy, in 1989 he began working at a local print works after school, earning £1 an hour [1].
He began his radio career in 1994 at Signal Radio in Stoke-on-Trent, as a traffic & travel reporter, before taking over their weekday evening show. Rob, Geoff's younger brother, occasionally helps to increase the ratings of the show by his spontaneous appearances. Rob recently announced his own interest in radio work, creating a competitive edge between the brothers.
Geoff later signed up with Piccadilly Radio in Manchester, and in 1998 he teamed up with Pete Mitchell to present the afternoon show on Key 103.
The duo rapidly established a cult following with their witty and slightly risque banter, and in 1998 won a Sony radio academy award for their show[2].
Geoff has made numerous references to living some of the year in Sweden.
Absolute Radio
In late 1998 they were subsequently recruited by Virgin Radio, where they took over the weekday evening show and also covered Chris Evans on the Breakfast Show, and again rapidly built up a significant audience. The pair took over the Drivetime (late afternoon) show in early 2002. By 2003, they were the most popular DJs on the station and were moved to the Breakfast Show in order to increase the audience. This they did very successfully, sticking to their well-established formula of off-the-cuff, humorous remarks concerning contemporary news and culture, with Mitchell tending to play the "straight man" to the more outrageous Lloyd. Lloyd occasionally courted controversy with some of his remarks, most notoriously when he expressed willingness to eat the limbs of a dead baby to ease poverty. A complaint against the station was upheld and Lloyd was reprimanded for his comments. Nevertheless, the audience for the show remained strong, despite (or possibly because of) Lloyd's willingness to stray to the edge of acceptability with his remarks.
On 28 November 2005, to the dismay of their listeners, the duo announced that they were splitting up and leaving the Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio. Their final show together took place on 16 December. While Geoff Lloyd remained at Virgin Radio (presenting the late-night show), Pete Mitchell left the station to pursue other projects. Christian O'Connell, from the Breakfast Show on London indie station XFM replaced the pair as host of the breakfast show on Virgin Radio in January 2006
Geoff's show, entitled The Geoff Show started on 3 January 2006 and was broadcast from 10pm - 1am Monday to Thursday on Virgin radio, with his co-host Annabel Port and producer Nelson Kumah.
In late September 2008, Geoff began presenting the new Absolute Radio drive-time program, entitled Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show. It runs from 5pm through to 8pm each weekday evening, except on Fridays when it ends at 7pm
Television appearances
Lloyd has made several television appearances , appearing on the Channel 4 show Richard & Judy on 8 December 2005 to celebrate the life of former Beatles member, John Lennon and again on 26 March 2007 to discuss the band Slade, together with the band's frontman Noddy Holder. However, Mr Holder spoke quite extensively and Geoff did not get a chance to say anything, much to the amusement of the co-hosts on his nightly radio show. He has also appeared on a commentary show for Big Brother, Big Brother's Little Brother, with Dermot O' Leary. Geoff has also appeared as a celebrity contestant in the game shows Eggheads and Win, Lose or Draw Late.
In 2009, Lloyd and Port worked together on a Internet broadcast produced by Five on their website. Titled FlashForward Friday, it was a weekly review on the latest episode of drama series FlashForward, being broadcast on Five's television channel.
See also
- Absolute Radio
- The Geoff Show
- Pete And Geoff
- Geoff Lloyd's Hometime Show
- Annabel Port
- Tony Moorey
- Nelson Kumah
- Leslie Phillips