Richard Skinner

Richard Skinner (b. 26 December 1951) is a British broadcaster known mainly for his work with BBC Radio 1, BBC 1 TV and later with Capital FM and Virgin Radio. He started working for the BBC on the Newsbeat news programme in 1973 which he presented until 1980 before moving on to music based programmes.

For his newly assigned regular slot on Radio 1 beginning on 22 July 1980 he stated in Radio Times: 'They say playing records on the radio is like riding a bicycle - once you've learned how to do it, you never forget. It's seven years since I last " disc-jockeyed " for a living, so I'm as keen as anyone to discover exactly how this show will sound! But one thing is certain, good music takes first place, so I'll be continuing where Peter Powell left off, spinning some sounds you're sure to enjoy, and presenting the New Album Chart each Thursday at 6.0 pm."

From 1981 he presented the Rock On magazine show on Saturday afternoons and Round Table on Friday evenings. From 1983 he also presented Saturday Live, and in August 1984 was one of the presenters of the 15-hour Rock Around the Clock marathon, which included presenting New Order playing live for Saturday Live in a TV and FM radio simulcast. In September 1984 Skinner took over the Sunday afternoon Top 40 show from David Jensen who had moved over to commercial radio.

On BBC television, he presented both Top of the Pops (December 1980 - August 1985) and the re-vamped Whistle Test (1984-1986), and also opened the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium in July 1985. Bob Geldof had previously announced the creation of the Band Aid project for the first time on Skinner's Radio 1 show in 1984.

He moved to Capital Radio in 1986, but returned to Radio One in 1988, eventually hosting Saturday Sequence until 1991. In 1993 he joined the newly founded Virgin Radio and hosted the station's first programme in April of that year. He also hosted the opening show for Absolute Radio 70s in November 2011.