Aircheck Tracker
Photo: Taken from www.thevoiceworks.com
Profile: David Hoffman: All radio presenters were bitten by the 'radio bug' at some point in their life, in order to spark their interest. David's first exploits in broadcasting came whilst at school after his school Headmaster asked him to set up a School Radio Station, which lasted a couple of years. On leaving College, he entered into negotiations with the Health Authority responsible for what was then the newly built Rotherham District General Hospital, to launch the hospital radio service Radio Nightingale where, as a volunteer, he held the post of station manager for two years.
The need to sustain a paid career took precedence, and this forced a move to East Anglia. After a few more years, he entered through the doors of Norwich station Radio Broadland for the first time to work behind the scenes as a technical operator and producer. Eventually, he was offered the weekend overnight shift on-air, and just six months into this, he was then offered a mid-morning slot at Bury St. Edmunds station Saxon Radio where he spent several more years. During his time at Saxon Radio, his ex-employer became his employer once more when Radio Broadland acquired Suffolk Group Radio (at the time this was Radio Orwell and Saxon Radio which had combined).
From the late 1980s and through the 1990s, broadcast regulations required stations who owned both an FM and AM frequency to cease simulcasting, i.e. providing the same output on two frequencies, with the threat being that if simulcasting didn't stop, the authorities would seize the licence. In 1995, Radio Broadland ceased simulcasting when it launched Amber Radio which operated on ex-Radio Broadland and ex-SGR AM frequencies - David was one of the founder presenters of the new AM service. Two years later, in the September of 1997, Ray Clark, station manager of Southend station Breeze AM, contacted David to offer him the afternoon/early evening slot on the Essex station - later, slight schedule changes saw David move to the more clearly defined 2:00pm-6:00pm afternoon slot. Additionally, he could also be heard on the 6-hour extravaganza that was the 'Sunday Music Marathon' from 6:00pm to Midnight.
In August 2000, Essex Radio Group's parent company DMG Radio Ltd, was acquired for £146m by GWR Radio Group. GWR had spent most of the 1990s making efforts to buy practically any radio station that broadcast at the time. On 1st August 2000, GWR announced presenter line-up changes at the station which would see the station take on the Classic Gold name.
Having made the acquisition, Breeze AM was reported by the local Evening Echo as having been sold for the second time in two months in what was claimed to have been a 'surprise deal which could safeguard presenters jobs' GWR sold the station along with 11 other AM stations to UBC Media Group - this was done as part of the radio industry points system whereby radio groups are allocated points for each station that they own and are not allowed to exceed that figure. With the fierce programme of purchases carried out by GWR, they'd exceeded this figure hence the 'sell-off' to UBC. Ironically, GWR own a portion of UBC anyway, and part of the sale included an option to buy back the stations 'when regulation allowed'. Breeze presenters were told it would be 'business as usual for now' by the new owners.
In 2002, David, who then lived much closer to Norwich then Southend anyway, left his Classic Gold Breeze Drivetime show to move to sister station Classic Gold Amber - he was replaced by fellow ex-Breeze AM presenter Peter Holmes.
Despite having now professional stage appearances, David has performed in many productions as a member of the South Yorkshire Theatre For Youth as well as several amateur dramatic shows as diverse as Pantomime and Shakespeare. Subsequent membership of the British Actor’s Equity Union has mean he can no longer appear in any amateur dramatic performances. Two musical facts about David:- his two favourite albums are Roxy Music's 'Siren' and Elton John's 'Captain Fantastic' and the first single he ever bought was 'The Theme From The Persuaders' by John Barry which cost him 47p from the Doncaster branch of Boots.
Whereabouts: David remains on the Drivetime slot, one of, if not the only locally broadcast element of Classic Gold Amber 1152 in Norfolk. Additionally, David is available for voiceover work through www.thevoiceworks.com where a piece of sample audio can be heard.