| John Simons | |
|---|---|
| Born | Darlington[1] |
| Occupation | Radio executive |
| Employer | GMG Radio |
John Simons is a British radio executive, the current group programming director for GMG Radio.[2]
Simons began his career in 1979,[2] before fronting the Breakfast Show on Radio Tees from 1983 to 1985 (where was also head of music), and moving to BBC Radio Nottingham.[3]
In 1994 he was invited to be part of the team who launched Century Radio in Gateshead as programme director, assisting the managing director John Myers.[4] The Century brand with a high speech content ratio became successful, with other stations subsequently launched in Nottingham and Salford.[5] At the North East Century he co-presented a Sunday lunchtime light-entertainment show called The Gardening Show with gardening experts Adam (Malcolm) Edon and Gary Philipson.
In 1997 he became programme director of national speech station Talk Radio, attracting a record 2.8 million listeners,.[5] He left when Kelvin MacKenzie took over the station after CLT sold to the Mirror Group in November 1998, and was escorted from the building by security officers on the takeover.[6] He then moved onto London's LBC programming an all talk and phone-in format with which he had become so familiar. He then returned to mainly music radio on BBC Radio 2.[5]
In 2000 he was then invited to become the group programme director for GMG Radio, the same appointment which he still holds to this day by the then chief executive, his former Century boss and colleague John Myers.[5]
GMGR's first launch, Real Radio in South Wales, became the most successful regional radio station launch in history, and its Scottish equivalent became the most listened to radio station in Scotland in just two years.[5]
In May 2004 John was awarded the Sony Radio Academy Gold Award for Programmer of the Year.[5] In October 2006, the group acquired the Century brand from GCap Media, and in December 2006 Simons received a Fellowship from The Radio Academy,[7] "an award to recognise individuals who have made outstanding contributions to the industry."[2]