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Profile: Daryl Denham. WANTED: PROFILE FOR DARYL DENHAM. Please e-mail ianmsperry@hotmail.com for a credit and a site update!
He has previously hosted Birmingham's Heart 100.7 breakfast show, and has won two international awards, including the Sony Gold Breakfast Show award whilst at Sheffield's Hallam FM.
Editor's comment: Daryl has been
keeping me well entertained on 100.7 Heart FM's breakfast show with his spoof
sketches, off the cuff jokes and wacky competitions. His take offs of the
Pepsi Chart, called 'The Poopsi Chart Update' had me having serious difficulty
in retaining control of my car on several occasions. 'Going For It' was on
air at around 8:45am and saw co-host Helen Wheels (who remains at Heart-FM)
being pitted against a member of the public to guess whether other members of
the public, interviewed on the street, would answer a trivia question
correctly. I always meant to record some shows, but getting up so early to
do so competently always proved difficult, so it never happened. If you
have any recordings of Daryl on Heart-FM, please e-mail me - I'd love a copy to
add to my archive.
Whereabouts: Daryl Denham originally joined Virgin Radio to host the Monday to
Thursday Drivetime show (5.00pm - 7.00pm) with Denham scheduled to launch his first drive show on
January the 2nd 2002, and a Saturday morning show too. As of January 28th, the
sudden departure of Steve Penk led to a rapid restructure. Daryl started
the Virgin breakfast show, with 'Pete & Jeff' on drivetime.
On Daryl's appointment, Virgin's programme director, Paul Jackson said: "Daryl has proven he can provide excellent programming, and it's great to have him at Virgin Radio. We're sure he'll be a hit with our listeners and is a fantastic addition to the talent we already have at the station."
UPDATE: Less than a year after Steve Penk dramatically quit, Daryl Denham has left Virgin Radio's Breakfast Show as of January 6th to be replaced by Drivetime and Sony Award winning duo Pete Mitchell and Geoff Lloyd, who themselves have been in the slot for around one year. Steve, ex Manchester's Piccadilly Key 103 amongst others, and presenter of ITV programme TV Nightmares was axed after allegedly having rows with station management over the Brekky show format and amid rumours that Daryl was being lined up to take over. And so, it would appear Steve has had the last laugh - Denham has suffered the same fate as a winning formula continues to elude management.
The change will mean that the early
slot will have had it's fourth presentation team in 18 months. However,
Daryl isn't leaving but has instead taken over Pete & Geoff's Drivetime from
4pm to 8pm. He started his move to national radio having been immensely
popular at Hallam-FM's Breakfast Show and then 100.7 Heart-FM's Breakfast Show
for Birmingham and the Black Country. The familiar Denham format followed
throughout his moves and although he wasn't hired to present breakfast at
Virgin, he moved in to the slot just 23 days after joining, however, his
Breakfast Show is reported to have performed poorly in the ratings despite all
the usual Denham trademarks.
Virgin is reported to have lost almost one fifth of it's Medium Wave listeners
in a year where it was accused of being "musically ignorant". Paul Jackson
the Programme Controller at Virgin Radio said: "As with any team, you are always trying to find the perfect formation and this move offers the listener something a bit
different. Drivetime seems to be the perfect home for Daryl's style of show and Pete and Geoff have gone from strength to strength across the last
year." Overall ratings for both AM and London's FM services have
dropped from 4million to 3.3million listeners a week. Listening hours
totals to the national MW service have reportedly seen a drop of 40%.
Speaking on the move, Daryl Denham said: "I see this as a great opportunity to tackle something new and also get a lie in... I leave breakfast in safe hands with Pete and Geoff and am thrilled to be continuing at the best radio station in the land."
Rumours state Daryl's show was thought as ' too laddish' with Virgin bosses
saying it needed a female voice - part of the formula of Daryl's winning Hallam
and Heart shows. So Virgin brought in lapdancers and page 3 girls as
temporary presenters.
Previously, the station had to sack shock-jock Jon Holmes. Virgin had to pay the
Radio Authority £75,000 after he encouraged a 9-year old listener to repeat a
rude word on air.