Janice Long

Long became a station assistant at BBC Radio Merseyside in Liverpool in 1979.[7]

Shortly afterwards she started presenting her own show Streetlife for the station on Sunday evenings, focusing on local bands in the thriving Liverpool music scene. Frankie Goes to Hollywood did their first radio session for her show.[8] After interviewing Paul Gambaccini for her new afternoon show, the latter recommended her to BBC Radio 1.[9]

Long joined BBC Radio 1 in 1982, making her debut on 4 December with her own Saturday evening show from 7:30 pm to 10 pm, after being presented as the 'newcomer' on BBC1's chart show Top of the Pops two nights earlier. From 1984 to 1987 she presented the Monday–Thursday evenings from 7:30 pm to 10 pm, a mix of new music and current affairs, and record review programme Singled Out on Friday evenings from 5:45 pm to 7 pm. She was the first woman to have her own daily show on BBC Radio 1.[10] On television, Long was a regular presenter of Top of the Pops between January 1983 and August 1988, and was the first woman to become a regular host. She often presented it in partnership with John Peel (after the departure of David Jensen), with whom she struck up a solid friendship.[11] Long returned to co-present the final show in July 2006.[12]

In 2021, Long was among a number of ex-Radio 1 DJs hired by Viacom International Studios[13][14] to countdown the Official Charts Company's retro hits of the year on Channel 5's Britain's Favourite Songs,[15][16][17][18][19] with Long first being heard on the 1982 episode which also featured Toyah Willcox, Paul Gambaccini and Clare Grogan.

In 1989, she joined London station BBC Radio London (then known as Greater London Radio), taking over from Nick Abbot on the breakfast show.[20] At the time GLR was being run by future BBC Radio 1 controller Matthew Bannister and future Radio 1 executive Trevor Dann.[21][22] Long left the breakfast show but continued to work for the station, where she took over a weekend show.[23] In addition to this, she was heard presenting and producing occasional shows on the old BBC Radio 5.[24] Long became involved with XFM in London when it had a Restricted Service Licence (RSL), and played a crucial part in its bid for a permanent licence.[25]

In 1995, Long moved back up to Liverpool, where she set up a radio station called Crash FM with Bernie Connor. The idea for an alternative music radio station in Liverpool was thought up by Long and Connor in 1994, with the pair having the idea that the station could be the city's answer to XFM.[26] The station was launched on a Restricted Service Licence (RSL) broadcasting for a month from 5 November 1995 at Mabel Fletcher College on Greenbank, and with presenters such as Inspiral Carpets member Clint Boon[27][28][29] getting their first radio presenting jobs.

Over the next few years, the station received support from Bob Geldof, Boy George and Primal Scream amongst others, and successfully bid for a permanent licence on 107.6FM.[30][31]

In 1999, Long started appearing on BBC Radio 2, presenting a Saturday afternoon show from 3 pm to 6 pm. In April 2000, she began as a weekday presenter, hosting the show originally from Birmingham and then (from April 2008) from BBC Radio 2 studios in London.[10] Long promoted a number of acts through live music sessions on her show including Adele, The Zutons, Primal Scream, Kasabian, Amy Macdonald, Hard-Fi, Faithless, The Manic Street Preachers, Marillion, Josh Ritter, The Stranglers, Paul Weller, Moby, The Dandy Warhols, Stereophonics, Aslan and a significant number of new and unsigned bands such as Elle S'Appelle, Vijay Kishore, Damien Dempsey, Senses and Sam Isaac. Amy Winehouse performed her first radio session after Long was the first presenter to give her airtime.[32]

In January 2010, due to a reorganisation of the breakfast schedule on Radio 2, her show was cut to two hours, and ran from midnight to 2 am, Monday to Friday. At the time Long was earning £137,000 a year.[33]

With the announcement of the new After Midnight programme on Radio 2 from October 2014, the show was on Mondays to Thursdays, midnight to 3 am. Long left her regular BBC Radio 2 slot after further changes to its schedule.[34] Her final After Midnight show was on 26 January 2017.[35]

She returned to BBC Radio 2 standing in for Jo Whiley for a week commencing 10 April 2017,[36] and was given her own series called A Long Walk With...[37] which went out between 2017 and 2018.

A Long Walk With... was an hour long series of interviews initially broadcast on BBC Radio 2 from 9 August 2017 at 10pm. Each week, Long walked through the streets of a different city with a popstar from the 1980s or 1990s as they remembered the key places, characters and music that shaped their pop career. The first series featured Holly Johnson's Liverpool,[38] Alison Moyet's Basildon,[39] Richard Hawley's Sheffield[40] and a walk through west London with Gary Numan.[41] The second series was broadcast on Thursdays at 9pm in 2018 with Jim Kerr,[42] Chris Difford,[43] James Dean Bradfield,[44] and Tracey Thorn[45] being the popstars featured.

From the station's founding and launch in 2002 to 2004 Long presented Dream Ticket[46] on BBC Radio 6 Music, which aired from 10 pm to midnight five days a week, with a Saturday and Sunday early morning follow-up from 6 am to 8 am.[47]

As well as a daily show on BBC Radio 2, Long presented for a time on BBC Radio WM on Saturday mornings from 9 am to noon, but left in July 2010.[48] On 28 March 2017 the BBC announced that she would start presenting a new evening show on BBC Radio Wales from 22 May, airing Mondays to Thursdays from 7:00pm–10:00pm.[49]

She took time away from the programme from 11 December 2017 following the death of her younger brother, Keith Chegwin. Adam Walton stood in for Long during her absence.[50] She returned to the show on 18 December 2017.[51]

Long presented her final show on BBC Radio Wales on 9 December 2021 and Adam Walton presented a BBC Radio Wales's tribute show to Long on 27 December 2021.

In January 2019,[52] Long joined Bauer Radio when their 'Bauer City 2' stations were rebranded as Greatest Hits Radio. In addition to her show on BBC Radio Wales, Long started a Saturday afternoon show, 1pm-4pm, on Greatest Hits Radio, and on AM and FM across the UK as part of the Bauer Media brand. Long's show was broadcast from the Radio City Tower in Liverpool, amid schedule changes at the station that saw the hiring of a number of BBC Radio presenters like Alex Lester, Simon Mayo, Mark Goodier, Matt Williams, Richard Allinson, Pat Sharp, Ken Bruce, and Paul Gambaccini.[53]

The station's tribute show to Long (called Remembering Janice)[54] was broadcast from 1pm to 4pm on New Year's Day 2022 and was presented by Alex Lester, who also contributed his reminiscences to the show. The programme featured audio archive from Top of the Pops, BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2, and Live Aid, contributions from her husband and widower Paul and radio colleagues such as Richard Allinson, Paul Gambaccini, Mark Goodier, Jackie Brambles[55] and Simon Mayo, as well as contributions from musicians, including Stephen Duffy, Frankie Goes To Hollywood's Nasher and Carl Hunter from The Farm.[56][57] In addition to GHR's tribute on 1 January 2022, a BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio Wales and BBC Radio Merseyside simulcast tribute programme called Janice Long: A Life In Music was broadcast on 23 January 2022.[58][59]

Long appeared on The X Factor, Countdown and The Biography Channel, and provided the voiceover for the documentary Desperate Midwives on BBC Three television channel. She was one of the personalities at Live Aid in July 1985, in which she mainly interviewed the performers backstage.[60] In the mid-1990s, she presented a programme on the BBC World Service, which was a mix of science and popular music called Pop Science.[61]

Long won the DJ celebrity special of quiz show The Weakest Link, shown on BBC One on 5 September 2009.[62] She also presented The Janice Long Review Show on Vintage TV and The 2ube on local TV station Made in Liverpool.[63]