 | This old copy of the Off The Chart Radio Wikipedia Entry is archieved here for reference until I complete the new version. |
| OTC logo | |
| |
|---|---|
| Broadcast area | Across The World |
| Frequency | Dial - Up Windows Media Broadband Windows Media |
| Programming | |
| Format | Internet Radio |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | Tim Willett |
| History | |
First air date | October 2004 |
| Links | |
| Website | www.offthechartradio.co.uk |
Off The Chart Radio is an Internet radio station based in the United Kingdom which calls itself "The Internet's Number 1 Hit Music Station". The main output of the station is Top 40 music from the UK for a young audience. The Station is fully interactive and listeners can easily get in contact with live DJ's for competitions, games (which many presenters run) or just general chit chat as well as station management. Some specialist shows include music from around the world such as the show "Weekends From Jupiter Hollow" from the USA.
It can be found here. The Station Manager is Tim Willett.
Station Managers
editNicky Chappell: September 2004 - Late October 2004
Nick Berry: 2nd November 2004 - Late February 2005
Wendy T: Late February 2005 - 4th April 2005
Tim Willett: 4th April 2005 - Present
History
editThe Station origionally started in July 2004 named "Bluestone FM". the station's output was mostly prerecorded and contained only a small number of DJ's. Later that month the station re-branded as "UK Net Radio". "UK Net Radio" was unsucessful in terms of listener ratings and so plans for the station were scrapped in mid august. In September the same managment team (Nicky Chappell), opened a new station under the name of "Off The Chart Radio". Nicky Chappell remained with the station untill it was bought out by team member Nick Berry.
Off The Chart Radio originally started broadcasting with popular broadcasters Live 365 at the start of October 2004 with a 9 DJ team, 3 of the original presenters are still currently at the station: Tim Willett, Tom Holt and Sam Lupton. Shows at this stage on the station included "Late Night Hits" which aired on weekday nights and was presented by a different DJ every night. Unfortunately the original Off The Chart Radio closed down briefly at the end of October.
On November 2nd 2004, Nick Berry decided to take over and relaunch the station afresh. Tim and Tom started presenting the now very successful Tim and Tom Unleashed and many new faces joined the team, this included presenters Wendy T, Griffo, Paul Crooks as well as still common presenters Aaron Glover and Ryan Gray. New programs which started included Sports Zone that aired on a Saturday Afternoon providing you with the best in sports news and some greatest hits in between, as well as the very popular "OTC Chart Show"
Christmas 2004 saw the at the time management (Tim Willett and Nick Berry) set to work on a new image for the station, one of the things this included was a website redesign. A Christmas schedule was introduced to give listeners more variaty and presenters some time off, The People Christmas Choice also aired with Sam Lupton playing the best records listeners wanted.
The start of 2005 saw the launch of the new .co.uk website with a new schedule to finish the preparations off. Two brand new shows were introduced, "The OTC Download Chart" which Tom Holt headed and "The OTC Retro Chart" hosted by Tim Willett. Andrew Bonney also headed a new technicial team for the station as well as becoming Tim and Tom's official mascot for Unleashed.
Events over the first part of 2005 included "OTC at the Brits", the first presenter meet up during the weekend of the 12-14th February in which Tim and Tom broadcasted Unleashed and the chart show together, March was a controvesial month as the management decided to make some changes to the schedule as well as the sacking of Tim Willett from management, these changes were unpopular to many presenters so the younger presenters decided to strike between Sunday 6th and Thursday 10th. Tim Willett bought out OTC at the start of April and many new presenters joined in May. They included Mike Pelosi, Ste Briscoe and Megan King but at the same time four previous DJ's left.
Over the summer of 2005 events included the 2nd presenter meet up in June in which Tim Willett, Tom Holt and Ryan Gray presented together on the 1st of the month. The 27th June was an important day in the history of OTC as the station image was revamped and the stream server was moved from Live 365 to OTC's independent servers, the Double DJ Weekend occoured over the weekend of the 19th, 20th and the 21st of August in which two presenters team up to present their shows together and Tim and Tom Unleashed as well as The OTC Chart Show were syndicated on an AM station in Singapore.
2006 has seen many big events which included Off The Chart Radio becoming fully independently licenced with the MCPS and PPL alliance, the 2nd OTC at the Brits hosted by Tim Willett, Tom Holt, Ste Briscoe, Ryan Gray and Aaron Glover; Ste Briscoe and Megan King broadcasted their final show, the 2nd hit Double DJ Weekend which broadcasted over a four day weekend in the middle of August and Aaron Glover presenting a week of his shows on holiday in Florida.
Late 2006 had many important events which included the celebration of Off The Chart Radio's 2nd birthday with a whole week of celebrations during the October half-term week as well as a 24 hour live broadcast with different DJ's and a big presenter meet up on the Saturday with Tim Wilett, Tom Holt, Aaron Glover, Ryan Gray, Ste Briscoe, Mike Pelosi and Andy Bonney which broadcasted for 12 hours straight from 10am to 10pm. In November the station said goodbye to DJ Darren Gamblen as he hung up his microphone for the moment and as part of Children In Need night the station recorded a comedy show "The Big Guffaw Show" from Bradford on Children in Need night. It was then broadcast on the station the following Sunday. December saw many events, the Great American Weekend showcased the best in American music and the Christmas schedule kicked off with the brand new OTC Panto 2006 (A Christmas Carol) with Tim Willett as Scrooge, Scott Ashworth returned to the station and kicked started the new year with a dance marathon.
Early 2007 saw Ryan Gray leave the station just after the start of the year.
Current Presenters/Shows
editOTC Programming as of 25th February 2007:
| Day | Time | Show | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | 08:00 - 10:00 | Wake Up Call | Automated |
| 10:00 - 13:00 | OTC Select | Automated | |
| 13:00 - 14:00 | Chris Reardon | Recorded from Live | |
| 14:00 - 16:00 | Steve Flynn: The Last Show | Live | |
| 16:00 - 17:00 | Access All Areas | Automated | |
| 17:00 - 18:00 | Mike Redding | Live | |
| 18:00 - 20:00 | Aaron Glover | Live | |
| 20:00 - 22:00 | Tom Holt | Live | |
| 22:00 - 00:00 | Late Night Hits with Tim | Live |
The spring station schedule as of 25th of February 2007: NB: Sunday Night Hit-Mix Presenters cycle every week for each month, then the first presenter starts off again after all 4 have gone etc.
- Tim Willett: Late Night Hits on Monday - Thursday Nights / Tim & Tom Unleashed - Saturday Evenings / OTC Chart Show - Sunday Afternoons
- Tom Holt: Monday Evenings / Tim & Tom Unleashed - Saturday Evenings / Sunday Night Hit-Mix - Sunday Evenings
- Aaron Glover: Monday, Tuesday & Friday Evenings
- Sam Lupton: Wednesday Evenings
- Bob Eberth: Saturday & Sunday Afternoons
- Chris Reardon: Weekday Lunchtimes
- Mike Redding: Weekday Evenings
- Steve Flynn: Monday & Friday Afternoons
- Jason Townsend: Thursday Evenings & Saturday Afternoons
- Ben Quarman: Q The Beat, Friday Evenings & Saturday Nights / Sunday Night Hit Mix Presenter - Sunday Evenings
- Sally-Ann Benson: Q The Beat, Friday Evenings & Saturday Nights
- Joe Dray: Weekend Mornings
- Scott Ashworth: Tuesday & Thursday Evenings / Friday Nights & Saturday Evenings / Total Request Sunday - Sunday Evenings / Sunday Night Hit Mix Presenter - Sunday Evenings
- Brian Stephenson: Sunday Nights
- Andrew Bonney: Sunday Night Hit Mix Presenter - Sunday Evenings
Also the station has an automated playout system that broadcasts during every weekday between 10am and 3pm and 12pm - 2pm at weekends. You can choose what you want playing during weekday times with OTC Select and on a weekend you can enjoy the Sounds of the 80's on Saturday and 90's on the Sunday.
Special Programmes/Events
editFrom time to time, OTC deviates from the set schedule to bring coverage of special events. In the past, these have included:
OTC at the Brits
OTC broadcast all the latest gossip and information from the Brit Awards, live, as it happens on the night before it's broadcast on TV the following night. This has run in both 2005 and 2006 in February of each year.
OTC's Countdown to Christmas
Christmas Eve becomes the Countdown to Christmas with fun features with all the OTC DJs and special prizes. Last year, 'Dr Dr Thayer' joined the team in 2005 to give the listeners 'Santa Watch' Updates throughout the show. A Third Countdown to Christmas is to happen on Christmas Eve in 2006.
Bandemonium
Live coverage of the small_print Bandemonium Unsigned Music Festival in Durham hosted by Sam Lupton.
Double DJ Weekend
During the August bank holiday weekend, all shows presented on the station have 2 DJ's for the entirity of the weekend. The weekend has seen many weird pairings with some of the most unlikely pairings.
Long Running Programmes
editTim and Tom Unleashed:
A Saturday night entertainment show presented by Tim Willett and Tom Holt featuring the latest music, comedy, guests, funny games and competitions.
Famous competitions have included:
- "Dog or No Dog" - a take on Channel 4's Hit TV Series, "Deal Or No Deal", using animals instead of money,
- "Downcount" - with Les Dynham, Varol Corderman the 30 second countdown and numerous celebrity guests in Dictionary Corner,
- and "Andycam" - where listeners watch Andy, the station engineer on his online webcam. Previously listeners had to spot a message which was usually something topical, but now a DJ is invited to look at the webcam and tries to guess as many pictures rightly as possible with in 1 minute that Andy is drawing, then Andy draws the presenter that took part.
Tim and Tom presented the first show on OTC's official launch which acted as a guide to the upcoming schedule and lineup of presenters. Unleashed was also broadcast in Singapore across a network of University radio stations on the AM dial for a number of months. This gained a number of fans across the world.
The OTC Chart Show:
An exclusive chart show has been broadcast every week since the station's launch in October 2004. Tim Willett counts down the UK's Top 40 Singles, Top 20 Albums and Top 20 DVDs every Sunday from 4pm, playing the UK's number 1 just before 7pm.
You can view the OTC Chart Show Mini-site, with the latest charts here.
Sam Lupton:
Sam Lupton is the third member of OTC's current lineup that has been part of the station from day 1 (The other two being Tim and Tom). Over his time on air, Sam has presented a variety of shows across the schedule, including the Wednesday and Thursday drivetime slot, and is currently presenting the 8 till 10 slot on Wednesday evenings.
The Aaron Glover Show:
OTC's Tea Time king presents every Monday and Friday evening from 6-8pm and every Tuesday from 8-10pm. His show includes music and chat along with his many hit features Guess Who, Mews, Stat Attack and many more!
During his time on the station, Aaron’s outspoken views have caused trouble but he is the first and current owner of two of the station’s best awards in Funniest Presenter and Best DJ.
External links
editAaron now does: Monday 8-10pm Wednesday 8-10pm Friday 6-8pm