Nick Abbot
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| Nick Abbot | |
| Born | 22 August 1960 |
| Show | Planet Rock with Nick Abbot |
| Station(s) | Planet Rock |
| Time slot | 2 - 6pm GMT Saturdays & Sundays |
| Show | 'Nick Abbot' |
| Station(s) | LBC 97.3 |
| Time slot | 1930-2200 GMT Monday-Friday |
| Style | Music Radio and Talk radio/Phone-in |
| Country |  England |
| Previous show(s) | 102.2 Smooth FM Real Radio talkSPORT (then Talk Radio) Virgin Radio (then Virgin 1215) BBC GLR Radio Luxembourg |
| Website | lbc.co.uk: Nick Abbot official nickabbot.com unofficial |
Nick Abbot is a British radio presenter, born 22 August 1960.
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Education
Abbot was educated at George Heriot's School, Edinburgh and Brunel University in Uxbridge where he gained a degree in psychology.
Early career
Abbot's career began as a Virgin Megastore DJ. Beforehand however, Abbot presented student radio at Brunel University's radio station, now known as B1000.
In early 1987, he joined Radio Luxembourg to present an overnight talk show. The show later became a phone in, and eventually a 'straight to air' format was settled upon, where calls would be taken unscreened. This format quickly became a hit with listeners. At the time, the absence of the delay system to supposedly 'dump' bad language resulted in callers saying swear words just before they were cut off. It is believed that Abbot was one of the first (if not the first) to take calls straight to air, and LBC colleague Iain Lee has often confessed that he stole some of his act from Nick (as well as Clive Bull and Tommy Boyd), perhaps hinting he got the inspiration for his "Triple M" show from Nick Abbot in addition to Boyd's "Human Zoo" show.
Later in October 1988, Abbot launched the new BBC service for London BBC GLR. He presented the breakfast show for a year, however his contract was not renewed. He then returned to VMR, where he stayed until 1993.
Virgin Radio
Abbot was part of the original line-up on Virgin Radio in April 1993. Here he presented the weekday late night phone in show Sundays-Thursdays from 10pm-2am. The programme was a mixture of music and phone-ins. However, Abbot is a presenter who is not afraid to speak his mind, he often voiced his opinions about other stations and presenters and it was this that eventually led him in to trouble.
Abbot's outbursts on air eventually led to Virgin Radio being fined by Ofcom & so in June 1994 Abbot was then moved to the Weekday 7-10pm Evening show where he had to tone down his act, mainly taking music requests.
Then in January 1995, Abbot moved back to the weekday late night show, this time from 11pm-2am, where he remained until April the same year, where he was moved to the Drivetime show from 4-7pm. He was eventually given the boot from the station in September that year, leaving Virgin Radio with a fine of £20,000.
Talk Radio
In the summer of 1996, Abbot was heard on Talk Radio UK acting as holiday cover. He was eventually offered a regular show during the summer of 1997 on Saturday afternoons, alongside Carol McGiffin. He was then moved to Saturday evenings from 7.30-10pm.
It was also during this period that Virgin Radio's new management had re-hired Abbot to cover various shows on the station. He also took over the evening show for 6 weeks during the summer of 1997.
In early 1998, Abbot took over the weekday afternoon show on Virgin Radio from 1-4pm, whilst still continuing with his Saturday evening show on Talk Radio.
In May 1998 as well as his daily show on Virgin Radio, Abbot took over the weekday evening show on Talk Radio UK from 7-9pm.
Black Thursday
Thursday 12th November was known as Black Thursday as Talk Radio UK had been taken over by new management and many presenters & staff were being fired left right & centre. Abbot was one of the many casualties. He still continued with his weekday show on Virgin Radio, which was now extended to 6 days a week & went out from 1-4pm Sundays-Fridays.
Life after Talk Radio
Between March and September 1999, local London station LBC hired both Abbot & McGiffin for a Saturday evening phone-in show, similar in format to the duo's earlier Talk Radio stint. During this time, Abbot continued working for Virgin 1215 as a DJ.
Throughout the summer of 2000, Abbot presented a Sunday morning phone in show on Virgin, while continuing to host the daily afternoon show. Later in the year, he moved back to the drive time slot until leaving Virgin once again in May 2001. Two months later, he joined Real Radio (Wales) to host their late night phone in show for a week as holiday cover for regular presenter Adrian Allen. October 2001 saw the beginning of a five-day stint at Manchester's Key 103, during which he presented the 10pm-2am slot.
In January 2002, Abbot moved to Real Radio (Scotland) where he again presented the late night phone in. Later in 2002, his show was networked across all three Real Radio stations (Scotland, Wales & Yorkshire).
Abbot presented his last Real Radio show on Thursday, 19 December 2002, subsequently deciding to take a break from radio for what was to be a number of years.
The return to the radio
On Saturday, 3 September 2005 Abbot was heard on London's 102.2 Smooth FM, presenting the Saturday morning show. Since then he has stood in for various presenters, including weekend breakfast, and has also been heard covering shows on digital station Planet Rock, which became a regular gig from 17 December 2005 onwards, presenting on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-6pm.
In addition to that, in 2006, Abbot returned to the FM airwaves on a brief stint sitting in for Caroline Feraday's weekend show (10pm-1am, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights) on LBC 97.3, from 10th-19th February. However, he lost his voice during his second February show, cutting the show short and being replaced by a recording of his friend and former Virgin and Talk colleague/sparring partner Wendy Lloyd. He was also unable to present the following evening's show, but returned on 17th February for the final three shows of his reappearance.
Abbot then took over a regular weekly slot on the station every Saturday night from 10pm-1am.
Abbot's show has a clear unique style amongst other LBC presenters. It becomes normal for an amusing summary of the week's news at the start of the show during his opening jingle, "Boogie Woogie" by Liberace, replacing the theme tune he had previously used - "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson. Throughout the show, Nick plays various amusing sound clips including amusing quotes from films such as The Terminator, and clips from his former co-presenter Carol McGiffin.
Current Work
Abbot can still be heard on Planet Rock, every Saturday & Sunday afternoon from 2-6pm. Due to Iain Lee's departure from LBC on Friday, 2 November 2007 Abbot has also taken over Lee's slot from 1930-2200, Monday to Friday on LBC.
Memorable Quotes
- The masses are asses
- The World Wide Wait - When referring to the Internet
- You can't say happiness without saying 'penis'
- It's got an Intel (bing-bong-bing-bong) Inside - "You have to make that sound every time you say Intel (bing-bong-bing-bong) - it's the law!"
- DVDVD - (Instead of DVD)
- It gets tiring being so right about everything all the time
- What a nice lady!
- Oh no, we seem to have run out of time on that call (When caller starts to sing and plays 3 second countdown)
- If this gets any bigger I am going to hang my shirt on it and put it out the window.
- YouTube, you tube
- It's a round sponge, covered in chocolate, with a smashing orangey bit in the middle! (Referring to Jaffa Cakes)
- Woodwork squeaks - out come the freaks.
- You can take all the time you need, this is a live show
- Minding my own affairs!
- "The war on drugs" - how's that going? <sarcastic tone>
- Mmmmmmmm sooooo yummy!
- Have the lights just come back on? or was I in a trance during that last call?
- As I said! The whole world's gone crazy!!
External links
- NickAbbot.com - The Unofficial Nick Abbot Site
- Nick Abbot Forums - Unofficial discussion forums
- LBC Plus - Nick Abbot's LBC Premium Podcasts (Requires subscription)
