acefmpresenters
Dave Wakelin
Dave first appeared live on stage at the Westminster Hospital in London - now sadly no longer with us (the hospital, not Dave) aged zero. Born to parents of both sexes, he grew up in the Midlands - the land of Tiswas and Crossroads - but that didn't seem to affect him too much.
Having moved back to London when 17 to answer the call of the BBC, Dave began a successful career in both milk and newspaper deliveries in between times entertaining at weddings and bar mitzvahs across the capital. A chance meeting with Diana Ross led to a dance routine on Top of the Pops (which, oddly enough, was never aired in the UK) and may have made Dave the first ever reality star... but his heart was still in DJ-ing, at the time to hospitalised people and young children - a captive audience, and people too young to know better.
After relocating to Devon and the land of the clotted cream, Dave and family moved to Spain to enjoy some sun and work in the illustrious business that is radio broadcasting. Dave remains a legend in his own lunchtime, even though he now presents Ace FM's morning show!
Simon Trevallion
Simon was born clutching a radio and an extensive jingle collection at St Johns Hospital in the town of Chelmsford, Essex, UK which incidentally is the town where Marconi operated the very first radio station in the world, earning the town the title "birthplace of radio" so it was fitting that after years of growing ever bigger he should decide that radio should be his calling ... With experience in hospital radio, community radio, internet radio and several years spent producing and presenting on a unique radio station based at the UK's Channel Tunnel, Simon has always had his hand in radio somewhere and was "chuffed to bits" to nip over to Spain and join the team at Ace FM ...
Currently Simon can be heard with the "Feelgood Weekend" on Ace FM, Fridays & Saturdays from 4pm for old songs, new songs but always feelgood songs, also popping up elsewhere on Ace FM when the mood (or the management) allows !!!
Jules Little
Jules is our resident dance presenter here on Ace FM. He has been a club DJ for over 20 years (he says he doesn't look old enough) and has worked all over the UK & has occasionally ventured into Europe. Highlights along the way included being a semi-finalist in the DMC / Technics UK DJ championships in 1990 and DJing "Party In The Park" in 1996. Other than dance, Jules has a real love of soul music, especially that from the 80's (we've seen his taste in clothes). He first ventured into radio in 2004 with a local hospital radio station (the same one that Dave was on) and from there progressed to community & commercial radio specialising in dance.
Away from all of this radio stuff, it's a heady mix of family & cars. His wife keeps him in check when he gets cheeky and sends him off to clean the cars. Talking of which, if he mentions his Avenger Tiger walk away quickly!
You can catch Jules here on Ace FM every Friday at 10pm with a chance to listen again on Saturday night at 10pm. Every week the show includes a guest mix from local DJs as well as from some of the biggest names on the dance music circuit.
Mark Bennett
Proprietor (or is that perpetrator) of the afternoon show every weekend here on Ace FM, Mark (or "Mr B") has been on the wireless in one form or another based in the UK for over 11 years playing the hits, the misses and notably a variety of tunes from far flung places he has come across on his travels. All in all a delightfully eclectic experience with quite a cult following!
As far as the Afternoon Show goes it's still mainly the 70s and 80s that feature most, and you might even think (as Mark likes to - he even runs two cars one from each of those decades) that era has never really gone away, with a period phrase or two emerging. During the year you might even be treated to a few live appearances here on Ace FM as Mark embarks on his famed 'State Visits' to inland Andalucia. Certainly worth keeping an ear out for.
In real life Mark works in the UK railway industry, a career spanning just about 30 years, and these days touring the country on special test trains presiding over various forms of track recording which suits his passion for travelling far and wide really. Excellent stuff!
Nigel Waymark
Nigel is a DJ of over 25 years experience and a confirmed "soul man", with 70s and 80s soul his particular favourite. He still works as a gigging disco DJ, offering specialist soul evenings where you can re-live those great days, and loves nothing more than making a crowd happy!
A popular favourite on UK community radio, Nigel also produces a syndicated show which airs on a number of internet and FM stations around the world, and he remains a firm fixture on the Ace FM schedule with his "Smooth Classics" show.
This week you can hear him in the daytime too, as he's sitting in for Steve Kay on the drivetime show until 6 November. That's if we can tear him away from the pool!
Paul Moore
Paul got his first taster for radio at BFBS Cyprus in 1976, when his father was stationed there in the Army, and he used to be allowed to sit in with the DJs. Paul then got into the mobile disco business, firstly on the island and then more in depth back in the uk, and eventually started his own radio station in 1994.
Paul now works freelance for many stations around the globe presenting his very popular 80's show and Mystery Years show, as well as a drive time show on a local community station, which is expected to start later this year.
Apart from radio, Paul also has a partner to keep him well looked after and has 3 cats and 1 german shepherd dog at home. And he enjoys the odd trip out in his brand new softtop car... talk about being a poser - the shades and sunhat come out on every trip !!
Simon Yates
Simon's passion for disco music is evident from his vast music collection dating back to 1975. He loves playing the disco tracks that were popular on the dance floors of the 70's and 80's, as well as the more hard to find rare grooves that you no longer hear on the radio.
Today, listeners can continue to hear those discotastic sounds on the show where disco lives forever... Disco Days. Simon digs out the glitter ball, the vinyl 45 and 12 inch single to bring back that good dancing feeling on Ace FM.
Disco Days features the classic disco songs, some hard to find disco tracks and the best 80's euro disco. Think of Donna Summer, Thelma Houston, Shalamar, Earth, Wind and Fire, The Brothers Johnson... the list goes on.
Geoff Hobbs
Geoff was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1965 as his parents had emigrated to there in the 1950's. They all came back to England in 1968 on a ship called the Fairsky into Southampton, the same voyage which the Bee Gees made in 1967. Having had various jobs including cycle repairing, painting, and a stint on British Rail, Geoff has always hung on to his love for radio ever since listening to Radio Luxembourg and Radio One as a youngster.
He built his first disco unit when he was 18 and started gigging when he was 19, then had his big break into radio in 1989 when he joined a hospital radio station in Southampton.
A move to the East of England saw him gigging all round Cambridgeshire and Fenland until an old back injury put him firmly into retirement, but in 2003 he saw an advert on the UK Radio forums for presenters, so sent a demo and now presents a syndicated Soul and Dance show on a number of internet and FM stations around the world.
Dominic Forbes
Dominic lives and breathes rock music, and has been to most of the Monsters of Rock festivals at Castle Donington. His claims to fame are almost being run over by Sharon Osbourne and going around Soho amusement arcades with Guns & Roses just before they became famous. Dominic presents the Soft Rock Classics Show featuring some of the greatest rock music ever made, and some funny comments too.
Spencer James
Spencer started his media career on TV, working behind the scenes for ITV as a production assistant on shows such as "The Bill" and "Coming Home". He also worked as First Assistant Director on a number of short films, one of which was BAFTA nominated!
He got the radio bug at university where he worked as Programme Controller for the UK's first bilingual student radio station, and just a week after graduation found himself on a jet heading to Spain for a short-term stint on an English radio station. That short-term stint turned into just under 3 years, and he became the Drivetime presenter.
Spencer returned to the UK in November 2003 to be a "flying eye" travel reporter for stations in London and the south of England, before "landing" a job at one of the biggest radio groups in the South, where he works to this day as a presenter, as well as hosting The eXpat Chart.
Gary Jackson
Gary started his DJ career back in the days when half a dozen singles from Saturday Night Fever were guaranteed to fill the dance floor. Hospital radio beckoned in the early 1990s and he now finds himself on a Spanish station, surprised that it's the English speaking population that listens, having always thought the most suitable audience would be those who hadn't a clue what he was on about.
He fell in love with beat music in the 60s, and in 1997 he was approached by The Searchers to publish their official website which he does to this day, along with The Swinging Blue Jeans' and Troggs' official websites.
The Gary Jackson Show is packed with special features - not for the audience's benefit, but because at his age just staying awake for two hours is tough enough, and every little helps! When he's not convincing famous presenters that their jobs are safe, Gary writes a monthly sixties music column for the Hampshire Chronicle newspaper.
Chris Munday
Chris started his career as a nightclub presenter and events compere in the late 70's before branching out into commercial radio. That was in the days of vinyl... Things have moved on since then, it's only Chris who hasn't.
Each week Chris Munday and the 'Badger' team (The lovely Shashi, Little Chris and Dai Davies) bring you some of the best retro tracks spanning all aspects of rock music including punk, glam and new wave. You can catch him blowing the dust off the vinyl, cassette and eight-track to bring you the music you'd forgotten you loved from the Stranglers to Souxsie and the Banshees, The Ramones to The Rolling Stones and Bowie to Blondie.
His only brief is to raid the 20th Century for the best in rock and the roots of rock. All this is mixed up with competitions and regular features to bring you an all round rock 'infotainment' show. Listen out, Saturday lunchtimes here on 106.8 Ace FM, Chris Munday with "Sideways with a Badger" ...and no, we don't understand how the show got its name either.
James Murphy
James has loved music since he was a child. As a 3 year old, he had his first record player, and was known to be able to name the A-sides of records when just shown the B-sides - at a time when he couldn’t even read !
Building a large collection of records, he first started doing discos as a 17 year old and spent a summer in a club in Weymouth, where he started to learn about the art of DJing. After four years, and with a wife, he left DJing behind and got a "real job". This didn’t stop him collecting records, and when they arrived, CDs. We found James thanks to the wonders of Facebook where is was promoting his new series of radio shows.
"James Murphy's Weekender" is a show he wanted to do especially for Ace FM - it's all about fun - commercial hits from different genres that get you in the mood to party.
Bully (and Axel)
Bully ran a successful mobile disco road show around Essex and London for many years, working alongside local bands, artists and comedians at a number of large venues as well as organising and managing sell out soul nights at a local football club. He was a regular at Lacy's at Kings Hotel Ilford, various soul nights around Essex and London and a regular at Caister Soul Weekenders in Great Yarmouth.
He decided then to venture into local commercial radio. Still managing and running a mobile disco business, as well as presenting two radio shows per week locally, he was offered cover slots on Ten17 (the then GMAP Group) and soon after was offered four shows per week. Since then he has worked on various local radio stations, and been involved in the management of full time and RSL (restricted service licence) stations.
The Soul Sanctuary with Bully and Axel is a soul music show with a difference, with features such as "Dunk the Funk", "Rap it or Scrap it" and "Under the Duvet", you are guaranteed something out of the ordinary! Tune in every Tuesday evening 10-12 on 106.8 Ace FM.
Mike Whittingham
Mike, from Willenhall in the West Midlands, has been presenting Radio programmes for as long as he can remember. At the age of just 15 he made his debut on a Free Radio Station UK Radio, based in the West Midlands, which is where he enjoyed 10 great years.
Following on from this came the opportunity to head off to community radio where he presented the Drivetime show at Walsall based Bridge FM.
Along with other projects, April 2010 saw the start of The Classic Tracks show which now plays here in mainly Sunny Spain on Ace FM.
