| Nick Barraclough | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Nicholas Barraclough ? |
| Born | 1951 Cambridge |
| Show | Various |
| Station(s) | Various |
| Time slot | Various |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Website | [1] |
Nick Barraclough (born 1951 in Cambridge) is a British radio producer, presenter, musician and writer, who is best known for hosting shows related to specialist American music. He presented the long-running Nick Barraclough's New Country show for BBC Radio 2 between 1992 and 2007, and Smooth Country for the Smooth Radio network from 2007 to 2008.
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Following several years as a musician (which included a spell as a member of a short-lived band that went on tour with Chuck Berry, with another group which won the 1975 British Country Music Association award for Band of the Year and the still-running Telephone Bill & the Smooth Operators), his career in radio began in 1982, with the launch of BBC Radio Cambridgeshire. There he hosted the breakfast show and was later a mid morning presenter.
In 1986, he moved to Manchester to work for Radios 1 and 2, where, as well as producing shows for Andy Kershaw and the Northern Dance Orchestra, he also worked on the first definitive radio documentary about Country and Western music. The programme was called Hit It Boys, and was presented by Ricky Skaggs.
After a year in Manchester, he moved to London, where he spent some time producing further documentaries, Radio 2's Gloria Hunniford Show, and Wally Whyton's Country Club.
With an upsurge of interest in the Country genre in the early 1990s, BBC Radio 2 was keen to put together a new show which would reflect the changes in the music, and its growing popularity. Nick's name was put forward. Consequently, Nick Barraclough's New Country was commissioned in 1992. An initial run of three months was planned, but the show quickly gained an audience, so became a regular feature of Radio 2's weekly schedule. It ran on a weekly basis until April 2007, when Nick left Radio 2 and joined the then newly launched Smooth Radio, where he presented the country music programme on Sunday evenings. However, he left Smooth Radio in June 2008 due to other work commitments. Since then he has produced three major series for the Guardian Media Group; on the music of the Mississippi, New York's Brill Building and the West Coast music scene between 1960 and 2000, as well as several projects for Radio 4 and Radio 2
In 2001, he was awarded the Country Music Association's International Country Broadcaster Award for his work on promoting country music in the UK.
In 2010 he was nominated for Best Music Entertainment Producer, in the Radio Production Awards, for R.E.S.P.E.C.T., the Art of Backing Vocals.
Nick Barraclough is also the founder of the radio production company, Smooth Operations, which produced his long running show, as well as that of Radio 2 colleague Mike Harding and other programmes for the Radio 2 network.
Nick now lives in the centre of Cambridge, with wife Judy and two children. His musical ventures continue with Telephone Bill & the Smooth Operators, the Della Porters and the Light Blues Band. He is also writing a novel based on the life of the artist Wesley West.