Aircheck Tracker
Profile: Ian Skye: A West
Midlander by birth, having grown up in Lickey End, near Bromsgrove, Ian (real
name Ian Wickens) delayed
his working life by heading off to study in Kent. Having completed a
degree in German, and a fair old amount of time on University Radio, his destiny
became radio. Along the way, he met up with a lass called Claire, whom he
married in 1997, by Loch Lomond in Scotland. Together, they have two young
daughters, and a taste for red wine.
Ian's radio roots start in University Radio but he left there to work as a
Journalist at Wyvern-FM in Worcestershire, with occasional shifts at
TFM, then
he moved to GWR group with swing shifts at Bristol, Swindon and Bath, mostly getting up early for
breakfast programming. His move around continued at GWR
Midlands station, RAM-FM where he teamed up with Joanna Russell.
Most noticeably, Ian and Joanna were seen in station publicity for the show,
sitting on a Derby City Centre bench, stark naked with strategic placing of
associated props. Capital Radio stations
Southern FM, Invicta & EMAP's
Metro-FM followed then he moved back to the Midlands.
Having suffered the nightmare of endless repeating of the phrase 'today's better music mix' Ian made the trip to Nottingham, along with his friend and RAM-FM producer, Pete Allen to start 'Morning Skye' on 106 Century FM (East Midlands) taking over from Sean Goldsmith, who himself, had only been on the breakfast show for a short time.
Both Ian and Pete were dismissed from Century during the height of the 'War Against Terror' post September 11th 2001 after airing a spoof version of the Banana Boat song reworded to suit - it was aired twice, once live and then again on the weekend highlights show. After the dismissal, they went their separate ways, albeit ending up at radio stations run by the same group. (After a short spell at Peak 107 in Chesterfield, and swing presentation work at sister station The Wolf in Wolverhampton, Pete has returned to RAM-FM where he presents Saturday Breakfast & Sunday afternoons. He's also working for Andy Miller's stage management business, Crowdpullers with Andy's brother Stuart.)
In February 2003, having been
dismissed from Century in October 2001, both Ian & Pete sought a court
hearing in front of an employment tribunal in Nottingham. However, both
received out of court settlements from Capital Radio plc and the hearing was
cancelled.
Whereabouts: Ian is now back in his native West Midlands, on Forever
Broadcasting's 107.7 The Wolf which services Wolverhampton. Ian says this
is where... "the best people in the UK live..." He presents a
show under the same title as during his stint at Century - 'Morning Skye'
which airs Monday to Friday 6:00am--9:00am, 'Music On Demand' which
follows weekdays from 9:00am-10:00am, and there's also a 'Morning Skye' 'Best
Of' show (also matching his previous shows at Century and RAM which both had
weekend highlights shows) 11:00am-2:00pm on Saturdays.