Peter James Barnard-Powell (born 24 March 1951) is an English former disc jockey, popular on

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...

in the late 1970s and 1980s, as well as a television presenter for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

music chart programme ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. He has also had a second career in talent management.

Early career

Powell was educated at Uppingham School, a boys'

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

Rutland Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Leicestershire to the north and west, Lincolnshire to the north-east, and Northamptonshire to the south-west. Oakham is the largest town and county town. Rutland has a ...

in the English Midlands. Powell began his broadcasting career as the first voice on air when BBC Radio Birmingham launched in 1970, and then had a brief spell on

in 1972. He then went to

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

before rejoining Radio 1 in 1977. Almost immediately after his arrival at the station he made his debut as a ''

'' presenter, joining Radio 1 colleagues on the roster.

BBC Radio 1 career

Powell began as a weekend presenter on the station, presenting a Sunday show from 10am to 1pm, before a move to Saturdays in October 1978, again from 10am to 1pm. In 1980 he took over the weekday afternoon show running from 3:30 to 5:30pm, before taking over the weekday teatime slot in 1981 from 5 to 7pm. The show went out from 4:30 to 7pm in 1982. His best remembered features are ''5 45s at 5.45'', where Powell played five new singles, and the ''Record Race'', in which listeners had to identify songs purely from their intros. Every Tuesday he ran through the new singles chart which had been revealed by the British Market Research Bureau (BMRB) earlier at lunchtime on BBC Radio 1 presented by Gary Davies - the first chance many young listeners got to hear the new

Top 40 In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...

. He also featured the album chart on Wednesday evenings.

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong (born 30 July 1960) is an English DJ who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio streams, for ...

– now one of Radio 1's longest-serving DJs - made his first appearance on the network on Powell's show in the early 1980s, presenting a

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded dance musi ...

feature. Powell was an early champion of a number of successful mainstream 1980s acts, including

Spandau Ballet Spandau Ballet ( ) were an English new wave band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as the house band for the Blitz Kids (New Romantics), ...

Culture Club Culture Club are an English new wave music, new wave band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (musician), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), and Mikey Craig (bass guitar), and formerly included Jon Moss ( ...

and

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English pop rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. After several early changes, the band's line-up settled ...

as well as Australian new wave band The Church. He compered Duran Duran's charity concert at Villa Park 1983 as well as the Birmingham Heart Beat Charity Concert 1986 three years later, which featured

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

. From 29 September 1984 until his departure from the station on 25 September 1988 Powell presented the weekend breakfast show from 8 to 10am. Throughout his 11-year stay at Radio 1 he became strongly associated with the ''Radio 1 Roadshow'', which he presented each summer, and other outside broadcasts. He was also known for hosting the TV coverage of the annual

Montreux Montreux (, ; ; ) is a Municipalities of Switzerland, Swiss municipality and List of towns in Switzerland, town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Swiss Alps, Alps. It belongs to the Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut (district), Riviera-Pays ...

Rock Festival, BBC2's Oxford Road Show and for his high-profile working relationship with fellow Radio 1 DJ Janice Long between October 1984 and July 1985.

Management

Since leaving radio he has concentrated on building his management company (James Grant Media Group) with his business partner Russ Lindsay and other financial activities, which have proved successful.

Personal life

Powell was married to Anthea Turner from 1990 to 1998.Whatever happened to Peter Powell?
''www.simplyeighties.com'' Retrieved 21 June 2020

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Peter 1951 births English radio personalities English radio DJs Living people People educated at Uppingham School BBC Radio 1 presenters Radio Luxembourg (English) presenters English television presenters People from Stourbridge