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Profile: Daryl Denham. Daryl's, aka 'DD', early broadcast career took in stints at Invicta FM (Kent), SGR FM (Essex), BBC Radio Kent and Chiltern FM in Dunstable. Amongst those earlier exploits, he once fell asleep whilst doing his show at Invicta, helped people talk about their feet whilst at BBC Radio Kent and met his friend and producer Trevor whilst at Chiltern FM.

Award winning Daryl Denham began his rise to widespread acclaim at Sheffield's Hallam FM - infact, it was at this station that he began collecting his collection of prizes. To date, he's now won five international radio awards, including the Sony Gold Breakfast Show Award, received whilst he was at Hallam FM. For this award, a judge summed up both the presenter and the programme heard, describing him as..."a welcome blast of fresh air....Daryl is a broadcaster who does not underestimate or patronise his audience and avoids relying on base, easy humour. He also showed a refreshing depth of understanding of the music played. An extremely rich and creative programme very worthy of a Gold Award." Whilst at the Sheffield station, Daryl also spent three years working under high-voltage power lines.

It was quite a coup then when West Midlands regional broadcast 100.7 Heart FM snapped Daryl up to join their Breakfast Show. His departure from Sheffield was an emotional one, with listeners calling in to say goodbyes, and tearful on-air farewells with station colleagues. Editor's comment: 'Daryl kept me well entertained on 100.7 Heart FM's breakfast show with his spoof sketches, off the cuff jokes and wacky competitions. His take offs of the Pepsi Chart, called 'The Poopsi Chart Update' had me laughing so much, I was having serious difficulty in retaining control of my car on several occasions. 'Going For It' was on air at around 8:45am and saw co-host Helen Wheels (who remains at Heart-FM) being pitted against a member of the public to guess whether other members of the public, interviewed on the street, would answer a trivia question correctly. I always meant to record some shows, but getting up so early to do so competently always proved difficult, so it never happened. If you have any recordings of Daryl on Heart-FM, please e-mail me - I'd love a copy to add to my archive."

After leaving 100.7 Heart FM in December 2001, Daryl Denham originally joined Virgin Radio to host the Monday to Thursday Drivetime show (5.00pm - 7.00pm) from January 2nd 2002, plus a Saturday morning show too. But as of January 28th of the same year, the sudden departure of Steve Penk led to a rapid restructure. Instead, Daryl started the Virgin breakfast show, with 'Pete & Jeff' on taking up Drivetime instead. .

On Daryl's appointment, Virgin's programme director, Paul Jackson said: "Daryl has proven he can provide excellent programming, and it's great to have him at Virgin Radio. We're sure he'll be a hit with our listeners and is a fantastic addition to the talent we already have at the station.". But less than a year after Steve Penk dramatically quit, Daryl Denham left Virgin Radio's Breakfast Show as of January 6th 2003 to be replaced by Drivetime and Sony Award winning duo Pete Mitchell and Geoff Lloyd, who themselves had been in their slot for around one year. Steve, ex Manchester's Piccadilly Key 103 amongst others, and presenter of ITV programme TV Nightmares was axed after allegedly having rows with station management over the Brekky show format and amid rumours that Daryl was being lined up to take over. And so, it would appear Steve eventually had the last laugh, as Denham suffered the same fate as a winning formula continues to elude management.

The change meant that the early slot on Virgin took it's fourth presentation team in 18 months. Daryl didn't leave the station then though, and instead, took over Pete & Geoff's Drivetime from 4pm to 8pm. He started his move to national radio having been immensely popular at Hallam-FM's Breakfast Show and then 100.7 Heart-FM's Breakfast Show for Birmingham and the Black Country. The familiar Denham format followed throughout his moves and although he wasn't hired to present breakfast at Virgin, he moved in to the slot just 23 days after joining, however, his Breakfast Show is reported to have performed poorly in the ratings despite all the usual Denham trademarks.

Virgin was reported to have lost almost one fifth of it's Medium Wave listeners in a year where it was accused of being "musically ignorant". Paul Jackson the Programme Controller at Virgin Radio said: "As with any team, you are always trying to find the perfect formation and this move offers the listener something a bit different. Drivetime seems to be the perfect home for Daryl's style of show and Pete and Geoff have gone from strength to strength across the last year." Overall ratings for both AM and London's FM services dropped from 4million to 3.3million listeners a week. Listening hours totals to the national MW service reported a drop of 40%.

Speaking on the move, Daryl Denham said: "I see this as a great opportunity to tackle something new and also get a lie in... I leave breakfast in safe hands with Pete and Geoff and am thrilled to be continuing at the best radio station in the land." Rumours stated that Daryl's show was thought as ' too laddish' with Virgin bosses saying it needed a female voice - part of the formula of Daryl's winning Hallam and Heart shows. So Virgin brought in lapdancers and page 3 girls as temporary presenters. Previously, the station had to sack shock-jock Jon Holmes. Virgin had to pay the Radio Authority £75,000 after he encouraged a 9-year old listener to repeat a rude word on air.

Denhamfacts: he...

... most recently received the 'Best Comedy/Humour Personality Show' Award at the New York Festival 2004,
... once got ejected from a shopping centre after asking Monica Lewinsky awkward questions about cigars,
... wants to be older when he grows up!
... hates paying extra for Tomato Sauce and those irritating automatic telephone option things 'press 1 for ... press 2 for...',
... once questioned Mel C's sexual orientatation,
... hates Friday 13th,
... loves auction website ebay and anything remotely IPOD related,
... would cut himself shaving if he was invisible for a day,
... once married two dogs - to each other of course,
... was once caught short - in France,
... became a self-ordained Vicar,
... raced hamsters for fun,
... has appeared on ITV show Popstars - well, three seconds of the back his neck,
... loves eating a nice juicy fillet steak,
... followed up his diploma at DJ school by holding many dull jobs ending with a month knocking on doors selling - not surprisingly...doors,
... once appeared on TV quiz show 'Keynotes' as a contestant, lasting three days, and winning a total cash prize of .... £60.00 (the decimal point IS in the right place!)
... sees Cameron Diaz as his perfect partner,
... has three points on his driving licence,
... likes watching his favourite film - Dudley Moore's 'Arthur',
... enjoys listening to his favourite album - ABC's 'Lexicon of Love',
... enjoys listening to Freddie Mercury and Billy Joel.

Whereabouts: Daryl moved away from national radio once more from Monday 2nd August 2004, taking up the 5:30-9:00am Breakfast Show for Capital Radio Group's Century 100-102 in the North East. 'The Double D Breakfast Show' is full of Daryl's usual creative humour, zipping energy and his anarchic take on day-to-day life. His co-hosts on the show are Dan Entwistle on News and Vic Ribbands with traffic and travel. Taking up the show, Daryl said: "To be asked to fill the headphones, for the biggest radio station, is an honour and I am thrilled to take on this challenge. To me the North East is a brilliant place, I've great friends here and I'm delighted to be a part of people's lives - I'm used to early mornings so gettingg up won't be a problem."

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