- Pete Price
Infobox Radio Presenter
imagesize = 150px
name = Pete Price
caption =
birthname = Peter Lloyd Price
birthdate = March 1946
birthplace =Wales
deathdate =
deathplace =
show = Pete Price
station = CityTalk 105.9
timeslot = 10:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. Monday-Thursday
show2 = Pete Price Unzipped
station2 =Radio City 96.7 , CityTalk 105.9
timeslot2 = 10:00 p.m.-2:00 a.m. Sunday, Bank Holiday Monday
style = Phone-in Talk Show
country =England ,Wales
prevshow =
web = peteprice.com, citytalk.fm|Pete Price (born Peter Lloyd Price) is a local radio presenter based inMerseyside , UK. He is best known for the Sunday night talk radio show "Pete Price: Unzipped", broadcast acrosssister station sCity Talk 105.9 andRadio City 96.7 . The show is aired live from 10pm to 2am and follows an format.Cite web|title=The Pete Price Phone In|publisher=City Talk 105.9 |url=http://www.citytalk.fm/sectional.asp?id=25486|accessdate=2008-08-27]He is also a comedian, author, patron for
Claire House Childrens Hospice and columnist for theLiverpool Echo . He is well known for being openlygay which is often the subject ofprank call s to his radio show.cite web|title=Go ahead, caller, I'm listening...|date=2004-02-02|last=Brown|first=Mick|publisher=The Telegraph|url=http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2004/02/13/bmprice13.xml&sSheet=/arts/2004/02/13/ixartright.html|accessdate=2008-08-27] He is dyslexic and often has trouble reading texts oremails on air. To compliment his radio show Price also gives out a personal phone number for listeners to talk to him inconfidence . [Cite web|title=Horses and Dogs!|url=http://www.citytalk.fm/Article.asp?id=650200&spid=22780|accessdate=2008-08-27|date=2008-04-09|author=Pete Price]Early life
Price was adopted at three months old in May
1946 by Hilda Price and David Lloyd. He was raised inWest Kirby on theWirral Peninsula . He was notably closer to his Mother than his Father, who repeatedly was violent towards Hilda Price.Citation|last = Price|first = Pete & Butler, Adrian|year = 2007|title = Pete Price: Namedropper|publisher = Trinity Mirror|pages = 23-24, 33, 41-43, 45-50, 85-86|isbn=ISBN 978-1-905266-41-8] When he was twelve he came to terms with hishomosexuality , but when consulting his doctor he was told he'd "grow out of it". Two years later Price went back to the same doctor, only be to prescribed someValium . A combination of his homosexuality, problems with school and problems socially put him into a state of despair. At the age of fourteen he attempted to overdose on child-strengthAspirin , only to wake up the next morning.At fifteen Price was working as a hairdresser at the weekend whilst studying
cookery atWirral Metropolitan College (then "Birkenhead Technical College"). He soon got a job working for the wealthy Ward family, catering for their dinner parties, as well as being a close family friend.He soon got a professional catering job, a summer at the Cavendish Hotel inEastbourne and went on to manage a Fullers Tea Shop inWorthing .Price was sent to an institution in
Chester to receiveaversion therapy when he came out to his Mother at age eighteen. He left a further day later after being exposed to people being "treated" usingelectrodes . A few days later he recognised one of thepsychiatrist s from the institution in agay bar . Price couldn't control his anger andassault ed the psychiatrist. The psychiatrist did not wish to press charges and Price kept the events in the institution, and why he assaulted him, a secret. However, in1993 , after stories been coming out of others being treated this way in hospitals he decided to go public with his story, in order to encourage more people to come forward.Cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/saturdaylive/2007/01/gay_aversion_therapy.html|title=Gay Aversion Therapy|publisher=BBC Radio 4 Saturday Live|date=07-01-05|accessdate=2008-08-27]Radio career
After several years as the cook on a cruise ship, he became a DJ for
BBC Radio Merseyside at the age of twenty-one. Shortly after, Price made his first appearance on the comedy scene at Liverpool's 'The Shakespeare', working at various venues which includeThe Palladium and theQEII .Citation|title="Official Biography"|url=http://www.peteprice.com/html_site/biog.html|accessdate=2008-08-29] In the 1980s, he became a presenter on his former station's rival, 194 Radio City, and has remained so in its various incarnations since. He continues to star inpantomimes in Liverpool and Merseyside, as well as working for national newspapers includingThe Independent andThe Times .As a broadcaster he has worked with nationalBBC Radio One andRadio City for over 20 years, and continues to host his late night talk show onCityTalk .Autobiography
In September 2007, Price launched his
autobiography (co-written byAdrian Butler ), "Pete Price: Namedropper" topped Liverpool best seller charts within its first few days of sale, also being serialised in local newspaper theLiverpool Echo .He often jokes about releasing a second autobiography entitled "The Bitch is Back". This autobiography, to be published on the day of his death, he says, would contain a list of all the men he has slept with. [Citation|title=Pete Price|url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XF5Jsv5mB-A|accessdate=2008-08-29]
how
Price's current show was originally broadcast on Magic Radio, until it garnered mass attention following controversies with callers on air.
Pete also presents a live
phone-in programme onCityTalk (formerly Radio City 96.7). The format encompasses a two-hour topical discussion, followed by the news which is in turn followed by an 'Open Forum' where callers may talk about any topic they wish. For topical discussion sometimes guests are invited, usually representatives for organisations concerned with the topic. On occasions the show will have guests such as author and paranormal expertTom Slemen , "Dennis the Chemist" whose pharmaceutical knowledge has been described as "truly astounding", and Pheobe, an allegedpsychic and Angle Card reader, although since the transition to CityTalk, these guests may now participate in other shows throughout the schedule specifically about their profession or talent.Since the transition to CityTalk the popular show segment, 'The Peaceful Hour', a one-hour programme containing '
love songs ' and messages from listeners, has been kept on Radio City 96.7 where it is no longer presented by Price, whereas it previously followed the two discussion and reduced the Open Forum to 1 hour.Controversy
Pete was praised for abandoning his midweek show on one occasion in February 2004 to go to the aid of a 13-year-old caller who was threatening to kill himself. [Citation|title=Radio DJ 'saves boy's life'|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/merseyside/3465181.stm|periodical=
BBC News |accessdate=2008-08-29|date=2004-02-06] In hisLiverpool Echo column, Pete has claimed that he was once asked to murder someone, but declined. In January 2008 Pete tried to find his natural father by using the networking skills of an imprisoned Sicilian Mafia bossBernardo Provenzano in the hope that "The Don" can help him trace his dad. His biological mother, upon restoring contact with him, give him a photograph of his biological father: a Sicilian prisoner of war held nearWarrington . Pete himself said that the Mafia "must have the biggest information network in the world". [Citation|url=http://www.liverpooldailypost.co.uk/liverpool-news/regional-news/2008/01/03/pete-price-enlists-mafia-to-help-trace-his-father-64375-20308026/|title=Pete Price enlists Mafia to help trace his father|last=Anderson|first=Vicky|date=2008-01-03|accessdate=2008-08-29|periodical=Liverpool Daily Post ]In January 2006, Pete's show on sister station
Magic 1548 hit the headlines (in Liverpool) when a regular caller known as "Terry" stopped responding live on air during a debate. AfterMerseyside Police refused to check on the man's safety, Pete again abandoned the show (music was played after he left theSt. John's Beacon studios) to travel to the man's home. Unfortunately, as he arrived, Pete saw an ambulance outside the house. Concerned listeners had already gained entry into the man's home and found that he had died from a suspected heart attack. [Citation|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4587550.stm|title=Radio talkshow caller dies on air|date=2006-01-06|accessdate=2008-08-29|periodical=BBC News ] Soon after this, the Monday-Thursday show left Magic 1548 and was moved toRadio City 96.7 's late night phone-in.Also in September 2007, an extract from his autobiography was published in the Liverpool Echo, which revealed that Price had abused
cocaine , although he "handed himself in" to the Police shortly after through shame.Citation|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2007/09/24/pete-price-my-cocaine-shame-100252-19838860/|title=Pete Price: My cocaine shame|date=2007-09-24|accessdate=2008-08-29|periodical=Liverpool Daily Post ]In October 2007, it was reported by the Liverpool Echo that Price had received a "homophobic" death threat via text live on air. The sender was arrested shortly afterwards when police were contacted immediately after the receipt of the threatening text. They also reported that "on another occasion, a man tried to break into Radio City’s headquarters, because he had become convinced Price had tried to kill
John Lennon " and "a listener attacked the presenter’s Mercedes with a baseball bat after a phone- in show, smashing its windscreen." [Citation|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liverpool-news/local-news/2007/10/20/man-charged-over-price-death-threat-100252-19980411/|title=Man charged over Pete Price death threat|accessdate=2008-08-29|date=2007-10-20|last=Butler|first=Adrian|periodical=Liverpool Daily Post ]References
External links
* [http://www.peteprice.com Official Website]
* [http://www.peteprice.com/forum Pete Price Online Forum]
* [http://www.citytalk.fm/sectional.asp?id=25486 Presenter Profile]
* [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pete-Price-Namedropper-Adrian-Butler/dp/1905266413 Autobiography]
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