Pete Price

For the bishop, see Peter Price.

Pete Price (born Peter Lloyd Price, March 1946) is a radio personality on Merseyside, UK. He is best known for his Sunday night (10pm-2am) phone in show, "Unzipped", on Radio City 96.7 which is notorious for prank calls.[1] Some of these are arguably amusing. Many, however, become too profane for time on the air and are abruptly ended. He is also a comedian, author, patron for local area charity Claire House and columnist for the Liverpool Echo. Pete is openly gay^[1] which has led to a majority of the aforementioned prank calls [2]. Price has difficulty reading and writing due to dyslexia. He is also well known for giving out on air a mobile phone number of his for people to call off of the show, as well as having it published in the masthead of his Echo column. In June 2007 Price's show was nominated, and won The New York Festival International Radio Awards' as Best Show and Price won 'Best Talk Show Host'.[3]

Early Life

Pete was adopted at three months in May 1946, by Mary Price of West Kirby and David Lloyd from Merthyr Tydfil and was raised in West Kirby, living in Granger Avenue. He was notably closer to his mother than he was to his father, who beat his wife often. After failing his 11-plus, he was educated at Hoylake Parade Secondary Modern. It was here, he learnt how to cook, and he made a career from it for several years. He realised upon the age of twelve that he "had a crush on the lads", and his doctor sent him to Chester to receive aversion therapy when Pete had came out to his mother at age eighteen. Pete checked himself out after only a day because of his experiences there.

Career

After several years as the cook on a cruise ship, he became a DJ for BBC Radio Merseyside at the age of twenty-one. Shortly after, Price made his first appearance on the comedy scene at Liverpool's 'The Shakespeare', working at various venues which include The Palladium and the QEII.[4]. In the 1980s, he became a presenter on his former station's rival, 194 Radio City, and has remained so in it's various incarnations since. He continues to star in pantomimes in Liverpool and Merseyside, as well as working for national newspapers including The Independent and The Times.[5] As a broadcaster he has worked with national BBC Radio One and continues to host his late night talk show on Radio City[6]

Autobiography

In September 2007, Price launched his autobiography (co-written by Adrian Butler), Pete Price: Namedropper topped Liverpool best seller charts within its first few days of sale[7], also being serialised in local newspaper the Liverpool Echo.

Show

Price's current show was originally broadcast on Magic Radio, until it garnered mass attention following controversies with callers on air. Pete also presents a similar phone-in programme to the Unzipped show, Monday to Thursday (10pm -2am), again on Radio City 96.7. These shows have a different format from his infamous Sunday night show having a topic for discussion in the first two hours followed by the "Peaceful Hour" and finished off with a one-hour open phone-in. The most popular guests on Pete's show are Tom Slemen, a local author, "Dennis the Chemist" whose pharmaceutical knowledge is "truly astounding", and Pheobe, a psychic and Tarot Card reader. Pete's final hour of open forum has undergone changes and discussion between Pete, Jay and their boss, Richard. These have set up Tuesday night's "News from Hollywood" and Thursday's "Soaps with Pat". An extra hour of Peaceful Hour has been suggested along with extending the topical discussion by an hour and delaying the Peaceful Hour. As Pete will transfer to City Talk 105.9 upon its launch, the Peaceful Hour may be abolished all together, as no music is allowed on the station by virtue of their licence.

Controversy

Pete was praised for abandoning his midweek show on one occasion in February 2004 to go to the aid of a 13-year-old caller who was threatening to kill himself. [8]. In January 2006, Pete's show on sister station Magic 1548 hit the headlines when a regular caller known as "Terry" stopped responding live on air during a debate. After Merseyside Police refused to check on the man's safety, Pete again abandoned the show (music was played after he left the St. John's Beacon studios) to travel to the man's home. Unfortunately, as he arrived, Pete saw an ambulance outside the house. Concerned listeners had already gained entry into the man's home and found that he had died from a suspected heart attack. [9]. Soon after this, the Monday-Thursday show left Magic 1548 and was moved to Radio City 96.7's late night phone-in. Also in September 2007, an extract from his autobiography was published in the Liverpool Echo, which revealed that Price had abused cocaine, although he "handed himself in" to the Police shortly after through shame. [10] In October 2007, it was reported by the Liverpool Echo that Price had received a "homophobic" death threat via text live on air. The sender was arrested shortly afterwards when police were contacted immediately after the receipt of the threatening text. They also reported that "on another occasion, a man tried to break into Radio City’s headquarters, because he had become convinced Price had tried to kill John Lennon" and "a listener attacked the presenter’s Mercedes with a baseball bat after a phone- in show, smashing its windscreen."[11]

References

External links

• Pete's Website
• Pete Price's Profile on Radio City 96.7 Website
• Amazon.com's page for Pete's autobiography