Holly Samos
Holly Samos (born 23 December 1970 in Guildford, Surrey) is a radio broadcaster. A former member of Chris Evans's breakfast show team from the 1990s, Holly and the team released the Breaking Breakfast podcast series in 2022. After a successful music radio career Holly became the Formula 1 pit lane reporter for BBC Radio 5 Live.[1] She currently is a freelancer for Formula One.
Early life
Born to a Greek father and English mother in Surrey, Holly grew up in Oklahoma, London and Northampton. A portable radio cassette player given to her for Christmas as a child led her onto the path of broadcasting. She gained 9 O-Levels, and a BTEC National Diploma in Business & Finance at Northampton College for Further Education, before studying in London at Ealing College for a Bachelor of Arts degree in Design and Media Management.[2]
Early career
Aged 19 during her degree years in London, Holly undertook work experience for GLR (BBC Greater London Radio) as a runner and switchboard operator, where she worked on the Greenhouse radio show presented by Chris Evans. She completed her degree, and moved into the record business working for MCA Records on Piccadilly in the A&R department.
Chris Evans period - BBC1 / Virgin Radio
In 1994, Chris Evans moved to the BBC to take over the Breakfast show from Steve Wright, taking previous colleagues, producer John Revell, sound engineer Dan McGrath and radio researcher Holly Samos. The 7-month contract evolved in to seven years on the breakfast show until 2001.
In September 1997, Evans and his team made a return to Breakfast Radio, on Virgin Radio.
By the middle of the May 2001, Evans was reported to have sacked his team and the Chris Evans breakfast show was dissolved.
After Evans
When Holly left Virgin Radio she moved to the Century FM network/Century Digital presenting The Confessional and then the late night love show LoveLines.[3] As a result of Jeremy Kyle taking over the late night weekly slot with Late Night Love, Holly was moved to an earlier evening slot in the weekends presenting '‘Hairbrush Divas'’ in late 2003.[4]
Holly also undertook a lot of commercial work during her career, she presented for the Formula One Jordan team, the BBC's Holiday programme, and a number of fashion and beauty shows. She also works as a professional voice-over artist.[5]
After Capital Radio took over Century Network,[6] Holly moved to London's Heart 106.2 to present the Saturday breakfast show with Toby Anstis.[7] She also returned to Virgin Radio as a swing shift DJ.
In March 2006, it was announced by BBC Radio Five Live that Holly had joined their Formula One team, and reported the latest news live from the pit lane and the paddock at each grand prix.[8]
In January 2008 she became Virgin's presenter of Sunday Early Mornings 2 – 6 am.[citation needed]
In 2010, she featured in the Codemasters game F1 2010, alongside David Croft (5 Live commentator). She has also been the voice behind the Renault F1 Official Podcast and Force India F1 Team Podcast.
She was not part of the BBC Radio Five Live commentary team for the 2011 Formula One season.[1]
After leaving BBC Radio 5 Live in 2011 Holly has worked for Formula One Management, Fanvision, AllSport, F1.com, hosts events for Formula One, various sport, music fashion and beauty companies.
From 2011 to 2020, Holly provided the official live voiceovers for the Brit Awards. She freelance presented weekend shows on BBC Radio Oxford from 2012.
In 2021 Holly and the Radio 1 breakfast show team wrote and produced the 'Breaking Breakfast' podcast series which reached No.1 in the Apple charts.
Holly is currently creating podcasts for the BBC and Formula 1.
References
- ^ a b Twitter / BBC 5Live F1 Team: It is true, Holly is leavi ...
- ^ "Holly Samos in the Hot Seat". Radio Babes. Martin Phillp. 2004. Archived from the original on 26 January 2008. Retrieved 29 April 2020 – via Geocities.
- ^ durham21 | Staying In | Radio Headache Archived 11 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Digital Radio Development Bureau – DRDB
- ^ Absolute Radio page Archived 5 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Aircheck UK
- ^ jgpm – Latest news Archived 7 February 2005 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Radio 5 Live Puts Walker in Driving Seat
External links
![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section is empty. You can help by adding to it. (April 2020) |