Radio CV

Jeff Cooper has been broadcasting on UK and European radio since the early 70s - over 3 decades of music- and talk-radio presentation, production, programming and training, in both the commercial and public sectors. He is also arguably the longest-running continuous broadcaster of New Music on UK radio.

Following avery brief stint as a 'Tape Jockey' at Holland's Radio Veronica (cut short by real 'pirate' activity between Veronica's owners and RNI), Jeff became one of the original line-up at Manchester's Piccadilly Radio launch in 1974, presenting an album-rock show called 'Rokzac', which boasted the first broadcast of Mike Oldfield's 'Hergest Ridge'.

He then spent a year as the youngest-ever newreader, announcer & presenter on BBC Radios 1 & 2 but missed playing rock music so much that when Radio Trent went on the air in 1975 and committed itself to a late-night free-form album show, he accepted the offer. In those 'pre-genre' days, his show played everything from rock to jazz, folk and country, with guests as varied as Ian Gillan, Robert Palmer, Mike Oldfield and The Chieftains.

Cooper moved to Glasgow in 1978 and took over Radio Clyde's mid-morning show, achieving the highest-ever half-hours for the station: no mean feat for the token sassenach! He also presented and produced 'Midnight Rock', becoming the first commercial radio DJ to broadcast local lads Simple Minds and a then unknown Sheffield band called Heaven 17. A similar accolade came a little later when his BBC Radio Manchester 'Fast Forward' show was the first local radio outlet for New Order. He then spent 18 months on the afternoon show at Liverpool's Radio City, before moving to Italy to start up LBC Music Radio.

Returning to the UK, Jeff took on weekends at Beacon Radio and freelanced at Chiltern Radio and BBC Radio WM, followed by the then-prestigious Superstation and weekends at Rock FM. While there, he also started a Sunday evening album show called 'Q-Rock'. This became 'XS' when he moved to Sheffield's Hallam FM, and was nominated for a Sony Radio Award. Cooper was the station's afternoon presenter during the mid/late 90s, also working on the AM station, Magic AM. He then moved into Consultancy and training, running Silk FM and Peak 107, and also presenting '2XS' on both stations. In 2002, 2XS became radio2XS: a full-time radio station and the only onLine-only station to record its own live sessions (the 'Barn Sessions').

Besides running radio2XS, Jeff has broadcast on Smooth Radio in both Nottingham and Manchester. He also regularly lectures on radio and digital technology at Bolton University and on programming at several European media centres.