Ben Burrell

Ben Burrell (born 7 May 1987) is a radio presenter from the United Kingdom, currently presenting regional drive time on Free Radio Coventry & Warwickshire (Weekdays 4-7pm) and a number of shows on Gem 106.

Career

He has previously presented Drive time on Play Radio and worked at a number of stations across the South including The Quay, Spirit FM and Galaxy FM.

In 2008, Ben won the very first ever 'Demo Idol' in a glamorous ceremony at the National Student Radio Conference, part of the Student Radio Association's annual 3 day conference^[1] in Bath. The prize for winning was a show on Galaxy FM in Leeds. Ben presented this show in the summer of 2008.

Student Radio, Pure FM

Ben begin his radio career at his student radio station at the University of Portsmouth presenting his first show "Delivering Radio Gold".

The Breeze

With The Breeze expanding to Bristol and Bath in early 2011 it was announced^[2] that his show would be broadcast across the region on FM and DAB, as well the original breeze coverage of Southampton, Portsmouth, Winchester, and the Isle of Wight.

Free Radio

In January 2013 he made a multi pound move to Birmingham to begin working with Orion Media's Free Radio. He presented the weekend evening show, from 10pm until 1am every Friday, Saturday and Sunday night for over a year. He presented his hundredth show with a special on 20 September 2013. He became known on the station for his phone-in 'Name that Caller' where Burrell attempted to guess the caller's name. He finally succeeded in guessing the name on 30 April 2014. Name That Caller returned on Burrell's new show and he succeeded for a second time in June 2014.

From 10 February 2014, Burrell moved from weekend evenings to weekday drive time on Free Radio Coventry and Warwickshire between 3 and 7pm. He has continued Name That Caller as well as a spin off called Age That Caller where he attempts to guess the caller's age. He is also known to occasionally cover other presenters throughout the Free Radio network. ^[3]

On 16 July 2015, it was announced by Orion Media that Burrell would be moving imminently to the same drivetime slot on Free Radio Birmingham. This is the station where he had spent several weeks covering both breakfast and drivetime during May and June 2015. He replaces Jo & Sparky, who move to breakfast on Free Radio Shropshire & Black Country. Burrell's previous show will be presented by Tom Newitt, moving from drivetime in the Black Country and Shropshire.^[4]

Gem 106

As well as his shows presenting on Free Radio, he also presented on Orion Media's sister station in Nottingham, called Gem 106.

Ben presented the Floor Fillers show on Fridays and Saturdays between 7PM and 12AM. He also presented on Sundays between 10PM and 12AM. Ben was also known to occasionally cover other presenters shows when they are unavailable.

Other

Burrell appeared as an industry expert at the Student Radio Conference in April 2015. He led a breakout session titled, 'Everything you always wanted to know about presenting (but were too afraid to ask)'. It was led alongside Adam Wilbourn, also of Free Radio and Capital's Christian Williams.^[5]

References