Shropshire Star

'I can’t wait to get back to my beloved Shropshire' - There’s no place like home for BBC DJ Chris Hawkins

He broadcasts to millions each week.

Published
Chris Hawkins

But on Christmas Day, BBC DJ Chris Hawkins will engage with his smallest audience of the year.

The BBC 6 Music and BBC R2 host will tuck into a traditional dinner with his sister and her family at Loppington, in his native Shrewsbury.

Nobody will be listening in. He won’t have to be entertaining. And he won’t go anywhere near a turntable.

“I can’t wait,” he says. “I absolutely adore my job, I genuinely think I have the best job in the world.

“But there’s nothing like a family Christmas. And I can’t wait to get back to my beloved Shropshire to catch up with family and friends.”

Shropshire is where the Chris Hawkins story began. He was born in Loppington and studied at Ellesmere College before cutting his teeth at BBC Radio Shropshire.

He then completing a degree at the University of Nottingham and at Middlebury College in the USA.

Hawkins was one of the founding BBC 6 Music DJs, having previously worked for Radio Shropshire, Radio Nottingham, the BBC World Service and GLR.

Chris Hawkins is a big Shrewsbury Town fan

During his many years at BBC 6 Music, he’s hung out with Foo Fighter Dave Grohl, been challenged by Mastermind host John Humphries – his specialist subject was Coronation Street, of all things – and created some of the most engaging and informative programmes the station has ever broadcast.

As a child, he would visit record stores in Shrewsbury, hang out at local clubs and rarely miss a match at his beloved Shrewsbury Town FC.

“Shropshire means everything to me. I’ll tell you a little story. I get to watch Shrewsbury Town FC as often as I can and I recently took my eight-year-old daughter, Sienna, to her first match.

“I had a sense of anxiety about whether she’d like it or not but she loved it and she is presently Shrewsbury’s newest fan. One of the greatest thrills about being at the game was meeting the football reporter Stuart Dunn, who used to write for the Shropshire Star and Shrewsbury Chronicle and who has covered more than 1,000 games as a commentator for Radio Shropshire.

“When Stuart and I were kids, young teenagers, we used to stand at the players’ entrance at Gay Meadow and get the players’ autographs before they left the ground. Rain or shine, week in and week out, Stuart and I would be there. As time went on, Stuart got into commentating and I followed my career path in radio. At that first game I took my daughter to, Stuart invited me on air to do post-match analysis.

“I’ve supported Shrewsbury for more than 30 years and it was one of the proudest moments of my life. Quite honestly, those 10 minutes to me on local radio talking about Shrewsbury Town meant the absolute world to me.

“We’d been kids in the rain waiting for autographs and there we were, talking about our team to all of the other fans. It was great.” Hawkins has enjoyed a slow and steady rise through the ranks of the BBC. His show has enjoyed higher and higher listener figures – despite competition from the internet and from an increased number of radio stations.

He signed up to 6 Music when it took to the air in 2002. And, like John Peel on BBC Radio 1, he’s stuck around.

Chris Hawkins and Mastermind presenter John Humphries

The station has grown exponentially since those days, despite being threatened with closure in 2010, and now attracts more than 2.5 million listeners. It is not a bad return for a broadcaster whose eclectic idea of Christmas includes everything from Slade to Bing to The Pogues with Kirsty MacColl. “I’ve been there since we did test transmissions, even before the station went on air. I’m part of the original line-up. But I would never mention what I’ve done in the same breath as what the great John Peel achieved. I am not in the same league.

“6 is a very different station and I’m proud to be among the half dozen original presenters from our present team of 21. It makes me feel very old but also incredibly proud. I absolutely love the station. There’s a great, close team and it’s a great place to work. The beauty of what we do is that we appeal to all ages. We can play classic old tracks, album tracks, whatever we like. It’s a great thrill when we connect with listeners who haven’t heard a song before, or who haven’t heard a track for ages.”

The internet has led to lower audiences across most forms of print and broadcast media. But 6 Music is one of the few stations that has bucked that trend. It has won a slew of awards and having had 700,000 listeners in 2010 now has a colossal 2.5 million. It is on an unstoppable march. The trick has been to embrace new technology and remain relevant.

“Technology has been a good thing because it has brought us closer to the audience.

“In the old days, it would take a week for a listener to write a letter and for us to respond. There was a process of writing a letter, posting it, waiting for it to be read by a producer and then waiting for it to be read on air. It would take seven or eight days.

“Now, someone can contact you instantaneously. Everything is in real time. There are no delays. Working on a station like 6 means you are constantly scrutinised by your audience. But we welcome that. The relationship we have with our listeners is incredibly close. We start with a pile of records each day and the show can meander any which way we like, based on what the audience are saying. We might be on one subject and we may go elsewhere. That’s unique.”

The Joy of Six is also that Hawkins can come up with his own ideas and create new programmes about any subject that takes his fancy. So, for instance, when he tuned into Glastonbury this year, his favourite moment was watching the drummer from Chic on the Sunday afternoon heritage slot.

He tracked him down – Ralph Rolle – and decided to make a programme about him. He discovered that Rolle had watched Michael Jackson live when he was just 10, inspiring his choice of career as a drummer. He’d gone on to play for Al Green, Stevie Wonder, Nile Rodgers, Paul Simon and Luther Vandross, among many, many others. He’d also worked with Prince, Aretha Franklin and Lady Gaga.

“I did a Christmas special and his stories were fascinating. He has his own soul food cookie company in the Bronx, a community project. He’s an incredible man with remarkable stories and it’s great that my work allows me to connect with people like that. It’s the privilege of working for 6.

“I’ve interviewed my heroes – people like Dave Grohl and Jack White – and found out so much about some of the world’s biggest rock stars. It’s the best job in the world.”

His style is one that his old friends recognise. He asks the rich and famous the same sort of questions that he would ask his mates in the pub. “I’m naturally quite curious, that’s where it all stems from.”

Hawkins lives in Cheshire, a short-ish drive from Loppington, and travels back every few weeks to reconnect. “Shropshire’s in my blood. The people, the places, the stories….” And, of course, his beloved Shrewsbury Town FC.