Aircheck Tracker
Profile: Les Ross MBE: Les got the radio bug at the age of 11 and wrote to Radio Luxembourg to get advice. There was no reply but this didn't deter him and he joined the local music scene instead. Aged 17, he won a DJ competition run by the Birmingham Evening Mail beating a local rival into third place. That local rival was a Peter Dee - you'll know him better as Johnnie Walker Part of his prize was an audition for Radio Luxembourg but this never happened!!! Organisers of the DJ competition took pity on him and offered him his first gig - at the Mecca Ballroom in Birmingham - working twice a week. After this, he moved on to the Birmingham Rollerskating Rink where he played five nights a week. This still wasn't a proper job though - his first 'proper job; was working for IBM Computers, then as an administrator at Witton Park Cemetery. Nice!
His first full time pro-DJ job came in 1970 at a new Birmingham City Centre nightclub. And this is where he was discovered! A contract was offered to him by BBC Radio Birmingham in 1970 and he joined John Henry in a unique double header. A popular man was Les, and the contract was replaced with a full time post presenting the Breakfast Show which started at 5:00am. With the advent of BRMB in 1974, one of the first ILR stations, Les applied and was rejected! So having received an offer of work from Radio Tees he joined them for the launch in the summer of 1975 and stayed there for nine months working on their Breakfast show, again to huge success and wide acclaim.
His name spoonerised by the man himself, Dead Loss started working for BRMB Birmingham on 29th March 1976. - it was a tough decision to leave RRadio Tees - but make the move he did! At this time, the country's PM was Harold Wilson and we were buying Brotherhood of Man's Eurovision-winning "Save Your Kisses For Me" by the shed load to take it to number one. Of the first 19 ILR stations licenced, not all were yet running - BRMB was, but in nearby Wolverhampton, Beacon Radio 303 was running it's test transmissions of 'sunshine music' with a looming launch of April 1976. In the 1970's, he was also asked to present a show for ATV, called 'Revolver' - a show which required Les to know a bit about cookery and music. BRMB celebrated it's second birthday in February by announcing a new breakfast show presenter. Leslie Ross. He went on to win the 'Independent Radio Personality of the Year Award 1985', 'Top Breakfast Show 1986, 1994, & 1990' and in 1997, Les received a Sony Award and an MBE for his services to broadcasting.
Radio has changed immensely since the advent of commercial radio. Serving the public was very much the main watch word then with long periods of speech, 24 hours of airtime and minimal needle time. Les has seen many changes in his time at BRMB. Needle time was abolished when the IBA was scrapped and this led to a requirement for the scrapping of simulcasting on AM and FM. County Sound in Guildford set the precedent and BRMB were closely behind, launching XTRA-AM in April 1989. Les moved from FM to AM for four years, bringing his audience with him and adding to it on Mercia Sound's AM frequency which also carried XTRA, leaving other presenters to carry out a near impossible task of replacing Les on FM breakfast.
BRMB was then owned by the much missed Midlands Radio plc which was swallowed up by GWR who then flogged the Birmingham FMer on to Capital who wanted it for their 'Capital Cities' portfolio. Once 'Capitalised', a major revamp saw Les return to 96.4 FM BRMB in August of 1993. As expected, ratings zoomed to dizzy heights and within the next 52 weeks, the station's share was well over 20%. XTRA's audience did the opposite and plummeted despite Tony Butler being poached from BBC Radio WM as a replacement.
Les has fitted in with the mould of 'double-header' breakfast shows with the likes of Suzi Becker and Tammy Gooding providing the female side. Spontaneity ruled at all times and in all ways. The 'you say something funny then I will' crap on most other stations breakfast shows is probably the reason why Les' retirement from BRMB is such a sad thing. Serials were part of our cereal with the hilarious 'Yesterday Never Comes' and the superb weekend feature of phone calls 'Round the World'.
And so just over 26 years passed and
Friday 27th September 2002 saw Les' final BRMB breakfast show not from the
studio but from Birmingham International railway station. The show built
up to Les hopping on a 9 o'clock train to symbolise the end. Chris
Tarrant once said, "He is naturally incredibly funny and the definitive
voice of Birmingham." His services to radio were rewarded
by the Queen honouring him with the MBE, and he got a Special Award in 2001's
NTL Commercial Radio
Awards too. It said "He's always true to himself, always amusing,
always professional, always popular, impossible to imitate and never
bettered."
On his retirement, BRMB Programme Controller Adam Bridge said "Les Ross
has been the voice of breakfast radio in Birmingham and BRMB for almost 27 years
which is an outstanding achievement and he is, by a considerable margin, the
longest serving breakfast presenter in one location in the UK. I have personally
worked with Les for 5 years and he is a great broadcaster - I will miss him - as
will everyone at BRMB and the listeners. His humour and wit have been an
essential part of the Birmingham scene for almost 40 years - he was a teenage
personality on the local music circuit. Over the years Les has been
recognised both by awards from the industry and accolades from his broadcast
peers as well as an MBE for his services to radio. We all wish Les the very best
for the future."
We predicted Les would move to SAGA
or possibly Capital Gold Birmingham. The Birmingham Evening Mail reported
in it's 27th September 2002 edition that Les was to start work for SAGA. We
said it first here on AIRCHECK! It's not rocket science we appreciate but
we don't care! We still said it first! Les took over the
SAGA West Midlands Breakfast Show from David Hamilton
on 6th January 2003 when David moved to the new East Midlands sister station
SAGA 106.6, upon it's 2003 launch 11th February.
Just two years after leaving Birmingham's BRMB to join West Midlands Regional station SAGA 105.7FM, local superstar Les Ross MBE has sensationally quit the station amid claims the station management is guilty of sending "nannying" e-mails which were turning him into a "robo-jock". Les, who is probably the UK's most regular recipient of radio awards, including three Sony Golds as Breakfast DJ, decided he'd suffered enough upon the final straw - or should that be, the final coffee, when he was banned from drinking coffee during his early Breakfast show.
Les announced his departure, planned for Christmas Eve, after he was only offered a one-year contract, below half-pay, this despite doubling the show's ratings in recent audience research figures. 55 year old Les, who spent 26 years at BRMB until 2002, said: "How much would I have had to put the ratings up by just to get the same deal as I was on before? If I had been happy and felt that I had support, I might have stayed for half the money. But I wasn't happy and I feel that if you pay peanuts, you get monkeys."
It was only just before the drama unfolded that Les was the first local radio DJ to be inducted into the Radio Academy's Hall of Fame alongside fellow West Mids broadcaster Ed Doolan - both being ranked in the same list as radio greats such as Richard Dimbleby, Tony Hancock, Alistair Cooke, The Goons and John Peel. However, this recognition appears to count little with Saga Radio management who, Les said, have made him tired of being told when he could talk on-air and to whom, that he couldn't talk over the end of a record, play any rock music, or even drink coffee in the studio. "We are a people business, but it's all becoming so automated, whereby the more you try to become a personality, the less you will fit. SAGA's management just seem to want automated robo-jocks. I don't think the station knows what it's target audience. I can't play The Rolling Stones for example, yet if you go to a Stones gig these days, the crowd is just a sea of white hair! I can't say I'll be leaving SAGA on a high."
SAGA Radio director Ron Coles said: "I would like to thank Les for his hard work during the last two years with the radio station, and wish him well for the future". Sunday morning show presenter Mike Wyer was lined up to replace Les on Weekday Breakfast. Despite Les' plans to quit on Christmas Eve, it appears station bosses vetoed that move too - Les went before hand. When the news broke on 8th December 2003, Les was mysteriously absent on the following morning's breakfast show - later in the day, he was sacked by the station for talking to the local press.
Long standing colleague of Ron from the Midlands Radio plc days, current SAGA MD Phil Dixon said: "Unfortunately, Les is wrong in his claim about doubling the breakfast show audience. In fact, the show's figures have gone up by 31% in the past two years, which is in line with the growth of the station's audience as a whole. This is the type of growth we would normally expect. We are disappointed that Les chose to speak to the media about this and clearly, we couldn't leave him on-air after this breach of our rules. Roger 'Twiggy' Day hosted the show until Mike Wyer took over on a full-time basis from Tuesday 4th January 2005.
Whereabouts: The rumour mill quickly went into full swing with suggestions about where Les would turn up next - the strongest suggestion being BBC Radio WM - this was later confirmed by non other than fellow Hall Of Fame inductee, Ed Doolan on the 10th December 2004. Les will present a new Sunday morning show from 6th February 2005 from 09:00-12:00 - part of a brand new Sunday line up on the station, which sees Ed take over as presenter of Sunday Breakfast. Carl Chinn and Bob Brolly will host the afternoon shows - all four presenters have been awardedd MBEs for services to broadcasting.
Editor of BBC WM, Keith Beech said: "We feel very proud to be offering such a unique and impressive Sunday schedule to our listeners and we are delighted that Les Ross, a definitive voice of the Midlands, will be joining us. We have been working with Les to create a show that is new and exciting, but that also incorporates variations on some of his most popular features, which many listeners will remember." Meanwhile, Les commented: "I always thought I'd come back to BBC Birmingham. In my opinion, you can't do better than be on local radio in your home area. I'm very much looking forward to it." It's understood that Keith Beech originally spoke to the press stating that "initially" Les would present a weekly show - it's believed this actually forms part of future plans when the new Coventry & Warwickshire service starts. At this point, it's expected that Les will move into a weekday slot on WM whilst his predecessor switches to Coventry.