Matthew Bannister
| Matthew Bannister | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Richard Matthew Bannister |
| Born | 16 March 1957 |
| Alma mater | University of Nottingham |
| Show | Last Word |
| Station(s) | BBC Radio 4 |
| Network | BBC |
| Show | Outlook |
| Station(s) | BBC World Service |
| Network | BBC |
| Spouse(s) | Amanda Walker m. 1984 – d. 1988 Shelagh Macleod m. 1989 – d. 2005 Katherine Hood m. 2007 divorced 2013 |
| Children | Jessica (born 1984) Joseph (born 1990) |
Richard Matthew Bannister (born 16 March 1957) is a British media executive and broadcaster.
After attending King Edward VII School, Sheffield, he graduated in law at the University of Nottingham in 1978, and joined BBC Radio Nottingham as a trainee reporter and subsequently the presenter of its speech-based breakfast show, Morning Report. It was here that he first met Trevor Dann, whom he subsequently worked with at BBC Radio 1.
He first worked for Radio 1 as a presenter of its news programme Newsbeat between 1983 and 1985. He worked for Capital Radio as a journalist in the early eighties, before returning as Head of News and Talks, after leaving Radio 1. He was also co-presenter with Sarah Ward of Capital Radio's The Way It Is.
Bannister first established himself as a 'name' in the radio industry in the late 1980s and early 1990s as Managing Editor of GLR (Greater London Radio), the BBC's local radio station for London. Here he worked for the first time with Chris Evans, who was pioneering many of the ideas which would later win him greater success and much controversy at Radio 1, and also employed a number of the more musically credible DJs from Radio 1's past, such as Annie Nightingale, Tommy Vance, Janice Long and Johnnie Walker. The line up also included Danny Baker, Emma Freud and Chris Morris.
After working for two years in the BBC corporate centre on projects related to the renewal of the BBC's Royal Charter, in 1993 Bannister was chosen as the new controller for BBC Radio 1, replacing Johnny Beerling who had worked at the station since its inception in 1967. Many of the DJs, producers and other staff at Radio One had grown old with the station, as had the audience. Keen to return the station to its original purpose for 'young listeners', Bannister overhauled the staff which led to a loss of approximately 5 million listeners.
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