Welcome to the first of series of informal interviews here on iChesterfield. Our first guest is Dave Vickers, radio presenter with Peak FM, North Derbyshire's premier radio station.

iC - How did you get into the Radio Presenters game?

DV - Where do you start? Well, it started with a love of music really, always wanted to be a radio presenter, when I was 14 I was heavily into one of the local radio stations, to participate in that and share music that I liked, I suppose.

iC - Were you more into radio in those days as opposed to DJ-ing in clubs and pubs?

DV - It was more about the music, I never wanted to DJ locally, but I thought that was the way into radio and it wasn't but when I got into the clubs and pubs it just took off overnight and I had a lot of fun over a lot of years.

iC - So how long were you DJ-ing before you got into radio?

DV - I was into DJ-ing from when I was 16 until 2004, I didn't get into radio until 2005 - I got quite ill in 2004 and had to pack in all the DJ-ing but went back to working in an office, but I was missing DJ-ing - this was a life-changing illness and afterwards I thought "I never did that - I'd just drifted along in the clubs and pubs, I enjoyed it and it was good money as well and realised I'd never done the radio thing which was my original dream. So I started looking at how I could get in - I had contacts at Peak FM so I just started going down and hanging out and just watching basically and looking at what they were doing.

iC - It's that relaxed down there that you could just go down there and hang out?

DV - It's tightened up in recent months, but anyone with a genuine interest, especially if you are studying towards media was welcome - we always appreciated a little free help (laughs) - so it's quite easy getting in to have a look. Getting to air is a different story alltogether - it's getting harder and harder because the face of radio changes constantly, it's becoming more music based as opposed to presenter driven. The stations are doing lots of research into who's listening, and where they want their listeners to be. Peak FM for instance is aimed at a female audiance in their thirties which may seem a bit too focused - but I believe in the research that has been done to improve things all round.

iC - Is this to do with matching a demographic with the needs of the advertiser?

DV - It's moving towards that type of advertising, but don't get me wrong, we still like to appeal to all listeners, but think about it like a party, who would you want to invite to a party, who would you want to be first through the door?

iC - It's almost a community thing in as much as they don't tune in just for music..

DV - Yes...

iC - But that doesn't tally with you saying it's going towards a music-based model, not a presenter thing...

DV - The presenter will always be there, they want presenters... they don't want an X FM scenario where they got rid of all the presenters and now just play back-to-back music, but they don't want presenters waffling away, the emphasis has got to be on the music.

iC - OK, so what about your personal taste in music?

DV - Anything that's well produced, err, it would probably be easier to say the music genres what I don't like, I don't like the mass-produced, commercialised RnB rubbish that's been violating the charts for the last six or seven years, like Mystique, they really did offend me, like Eminem, sort of RnB esque rapper, great, great opening song but then just jumps on the commercial bandwagon, he wants to make money and he's done well for himself, but, do I like his music? No. Do I agree with it? No. It's just commercial tat, and the majority of music in the charts, I think, in the top 40 is bought by nine to 14 year olds, and that is where I think the mass-produced RnB music is aimed at, so basically I just don't connect with it. I'd much rather listen to stuff with guitars in it, y'know properly played instruments that are well-produced like Kaiser Chiefs, Coldplay, I think are great. I'm getting into a lot of independant small artists such as Ray Lamontagne who's not really broke into this country, err, Kate Walsh who's just about to star on Radio 2, and she will... I'm talking more contemporary folk, I think that's where I'm going to personally

iC - Do you think there's a folkie thing coming up?

DV - I think it is, I think more live music is or should I hope, thing is up and till now it's not made mainstream, but with people like Ray Lamontagne, who, alright he's not made it in the UK yet he's getting quite big in parts of America and his music is excellent, his playing is excellent, he's a brilliant lyricist, and, he started playing on the music channels, like the MTV channels, I was shocked to see his video on there, I mean, I'm thinking this could really work, we're getting more like Kaiser Chiefs stuff coming into the charts, I think it's good, OK they're commercial, but they are a proper band who started, they weren't put together by Louis Walsh or Simon Cowell, it's all too contrived, the charts, that's what I don't like about the RnB stuff.

iC - Can I just backtrack here a little, back to the radio station thing, what's you take on the sheer amount of old stuff they play, old sixties stuff, the Kinks, Rolling Stones, and of course shows that feature the different decades, do you think that's overdone at all, do you think the need's there?

DV - I don't think it's overdone, I think it's focussed on the age group we're targeting quite nicely, we've done the 70s, 80's 90s thing at night for quite some time and the research backs this up, plus old music really travels well

iC - OK, let's talk about what you do when you're not at work. Family man?

DV - Yeah, two kids, one cat, a house in Matlock, enjoy the family yeah, but over the last year with the music stuff I'm afraid the family took a back seat, I've just not had time.

iC - So when you are out and about you're just a normal guy?

DV - Yeah, absolutely, any thoughts I had before going into radio about how it was going to be, its just a, it's not just a job, it's a nice job, enjoyable, but, you know, I'm not even famous in my local Spar, when someone does recognise my voice it's really embarrassing, really odd...

iC - Now, if you could design your ideal radio station and you could chose all your playlists etc, err, what would be your ideal radio station?

DV - I hate to agree with something I read on a forum, but possibly I would play a lot more local live music, I would have at least one show a week that was there just for the live music, just to promote that, which does open the floodgates to all manner of... (laughs) demos and stuff, I've seen it before, but if it was managed well, and in my ideal radio station it would, it would be a great thing to do, err, would it gain a large audience? I don't think so, but if I did own a radio station it would be a local radio station,

iC - What about late night phone-in shows?

DV - I'd love to do that, that's what I grew up with, Dave Kilner, he did the daytime show, always worth listening to, I'm talking about when I was 14, there was Dianna Luke, she used to do the late night phone-in, it was unmissable, that's in my opinion, I used to love it, current affairs, social issues, personal issues, it did used to work but then the American shock-jock types like Howard Stern started doing it with an element of wind-up at the start and then it just... It was fun for the first year or two and then it just self-combusted and we've not heard much of it since. Yeah, I would definitely have a phone-in.

iC - OK, final question, if you could pick your DJs, who would you have?

DV - Err, Chris Evans on breakfast, radio god as far as I'm concerned

iC - Becky's not going to like that...

DV - OK Chris and Becks (laughs), Terry Wogan would have a place in the morning

iC - Really?

DV - Yep, he's a god an absolute god on the radio, his sense of humour is so sublime you do have to listen, but he's just brilliant, he's an absolute...

DV - Who would I have on drive? I wouldn't go anywhere near Moylesy, I think he's had his day, not the Ministry of Sound types either, too upfront for local... I'd have dance, but it would be 90's dance, there's still a big market for that retro stuff still. Again I can't say who I'd have, but I can say who I wouldn't, like Sarah Cox, never should have been allowed on air.. Hang on, I've got somebody for drive-time, Jonathan Ross! Obviously I'd have a newreader for the travel bulletins, but Jonathan Ross doing the music and content, fantastic...

iC - What about evenings?

DV - Evening guy? Just for the sheer fun of it I'd have this guy that was on Ram FM, He'd get teenagers ringing in with their list of problems, fallen out with their boyfriends, the dog got run over, gran's got Alzheimers and he'd just say (puts on Tony Blackburn mid-atlantic type DJ voice) like Yup, yup gotcha there, now listen to this... Like these people would pour out their hearts and there's no advice at the end of it! (laughs)

DV - To take it through the night I'd have Alan Partridge!

At this point the interview collapses into a series of jokes delivered in the style of Steve Coogan doing Alan Partridge - over and out...

MySpace - Dave Vickers - http://www.myspace.com/davidvickers2007
MySpace - Ninth Hour (Listen to Dave's music) - http://www.myspace.com/ninthhr

Peak FM