Graham Liver

Graham Liver is a disk Jockey on BBC Radio Leeds currently presenting the mid-morning programme (9am-12pm)

Born in Lancashire, to the son of a milkman, early involvement in the dairy world provided him with the inspiration and opportunity to enter broadcasting; One morning whilst assisting his father on the early milk round, the programme director of the local in-house dairy radio station was trying to find someone to fill in for the early breakfast presenter who had unexpectedly called in sick. Graham, known for his gregarious and outgoing persona proved a perfect emergency replacement and duly presented his first show on Calcium FM. After an Immediately impressive performance, Graham was taken on as swing presenter covering everything from "Breakfast with Daisy" to the "Udderly brilliant drive home with Fletch".

After working at Calcium FM for several years, Graham expanded his broadcasting portfolio and moved into television, with walk-on parts in Cross Roads and as understudy to Pat Sharp on Fun House (though he never was needed due to Sharps excellent work ethic)

Graham then got his "big break" at The Bay FM, presenting shows across the day. His energetic style, peppered with humour and innuendo, proved a hit with the listener, and he was soon snapped up by BBC Radio Lancashire, where he displayed his chameleon-like-broadcasting ability by working as a sports reporter, specifically football commentating (fuelled by representing his regional scouts group at under 14 and 15 level), where he was an integral part of the Sony nominated sports team.

Bolstered by a significant rise in listeners to any output Graham was involved in, BBC Radio Lancashire made the bold decision to place Graham as the Mid-Morning presenter, introducing him and his side-kick June, as competition to Ken Bruce (of BBC Radio 2 fame). The show began well, and aside from a minor controversy surrounding Tax discrepancy's, the show continued to grow.

After several significantly improved RAJAR audience figures, BBC Radio Leeds negotiated a move across the pennines to initially present the Saturday Mid-Morning programme. Again figures began to grow, earning him the now synonymous nick-name "Mount Liver" (referring to the noticeable peak in audience figures whenever he was on air) this often lead to the witty quip, "Mount Liver; thats my name, not a order!". Fans have often been heard calling this name out in public much to the modest presenters embarrassment.

Soon after a much discussion Graham was introduced as the new weekday mid-morning host, here his battle with Ken Bruce continued, and as figures began to rise again his ability was recognised with a BBC Gillard nomination in the best presenter category, although not winning, he came in an admirable third, an accolade that was improved in 2008 by one place, officially making Graham Liver the second best presenter in BBC Local radio. Graham celebrated this award with a small tattoo above his left buttock of BBC Radio Leeds' frequency (92.4FM).

Graham is renown for building characters on air, and audiences can regularly hear the much maligned "Johnny" (Johnathan I'Anson), the fondly held "Big Mamma" (Sarah Whitham; currently on maternity leave) and "Violet" (Violet Tomason, the BBC Radio Leeds in-house chef and physiotherapist).

As of the last RAJAR ratings, Graham proved to be the most listened broadcaster on BBC Radio Leeds.

External links

* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/leeds/content/articles/2006/02/13/radio_leeds_presenter_liver_feature.shtml]