- How did you first get into radio?
- I started in student radio at Leeds University. I was a character on the breakfast show called Ronald Da Shl*ng, a Dutchman who wasn't afraid to say the wrong thing. I then hosted Drivetime and, after university, worked for a station in Marbella called BFM 95.5FM. It was a real adventure and that's when I properly caught the radio bug.
- What's been your path to where you are now?
- I've been in radio for over 20 years now. After leaving Spain, I worked in Oxford hosting the breakfast show on FM107.9 before heading to Liverpool for Juice FM Breakfast. Since then, I've hosted Capital Liverpool Breakfast, Heart North West Drivetime, and now here we are.
- Did you always want to be on air?
- I sort of fell into it. From the moment I started, I realised I loved it. Am I any good at it? Well, the jury's still out on that one.
- Best moment on air so far?
- Doing live shows from Ibiza and Jamaica. They were special times with special people.
- Any interviews or moments you're especially proud of?
- We once put listeners in a coffin to find out who was the biggest Twilight fan. Whoever stayed in the longest won a set of Twilight fangs from a dentist. Hearing their families call up and plead with them to get out because they were making fools of themselves made great radio. I've also loved interviewing artists like Take That, Stereophonics, Nicole Scherzinger, Calvin Harris, Nelly, Ed Sheeran and Dua Lipa. One of my favourite moments was hypnobirthing with Will Young during an interview. I still can't remember which one of us was Mummy or Daddy.
- Toughest moment in radio?
- I once covered a weekend shift at a station called Kick FM in Berkshire. The studio had no windows, so I popped outside through the fire exit to check the weather. The door slammed shut behind me and I found myself trapped in a yard surrounded by 8-foot fences topped with barbed wire. There was nobody else in the building and I knew I only had about five minutes before the next song ended. I climbed the fence, cutting myself in the process and ripping my jeans, then had to scale a second fence to reach the front entrance. When I got there, I realised I didn't know the door code and my phone was locked inside. I remembered the four digits, just not the order. After frantically trying combinations, I finally got in and sprinted to the studio with five seconds to spare. The listeners and the bosses were none the wiser.
