A shock jock is a radio broadcaster or DJ who entertains listeners and attracts attention using humor or melodramatic exaggeration that may offend some portion of the listening audience. The term is used pejoratively to describe provocative or irreverent broadcasters whose mannerisms, statements and actions are typically offensive to much of society. It is a popular term within the radio industry. A shock jock is the radio equivalent of the tabloid newspaper in that both consider entertaining their audience to be as important as—if not more important than—providing factual information. A radio station that relies primarily on shock jocks for programming has what is called a hot talk format.
28-664: Colin Lamont (born 20 June 1956), better known by his shock jock on-air radio persona of Scottie McClue , is a broadcaster and former newscaster. Lamont was educated at Greenock Academy , the University of Glasgow , the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ) and Jordanhill College of Education , where he trained as a secondary school teacher. He started his career working as
56-445: A building with fellow GMG Radio stations, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio . The station was originally called Century Radio, before changing its name to Century FM then reverting to the original name in 2008. The station was set up by Border Television , with John Myers as managing director and John Simons as programme director. Myers presented the breakfast show under the pseudonym of John Morgan. The first song played on air
84-592: A gradual transition to the Heart branding on 24 March 2014. The Real Radio branding was phased out a month later ahead of a full relaunch as Heart North East on 6 May 2014. Around the time of the rebrand, the station's audience share was 3.8% (as of June 2014). Gary Philipson and Lisa Shaw presented their final breakfast show in December 2014 after almost five years at the station. Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott were promoted from
112-684: A late night phone-in show which aired three nights a week. Since his absence from the radio, McClue has been live streaming daily on TikTok . He started throughout the COVID-19 outbreak . Shock jock The term is used in two broad, yet sometimes overlapping, contexts: The idea of an entertainer who breaks taboos or who is deliberately offensive is not a new one: Blue comedians have existed throughout history; take, for example, offensive performers such as George Carlin , Petronius , Benny Bell , Le Pétomane , Redd Foxx and Lenny Bruce . Petey Greene , who started broadcasting in 1966, has been called
140-877: A new late night phone in. He was fined by the Radio Authority on three occasions for breaching the 1990 Broadcasting Act on taste and decency, in comments made about single mothers and gay people. In January 1997 McClue left the station after talks about a new contract broke down and moved to Hallam FM in Sheffield and by April 1998, his show was syndicated across TFM in Middlesbrough and all Magic stations then owned by EMAP in Liverpool , Yorkshire and North East England . McClue also presented on Border Television -owned stations including 100-102 Century FM in Newcastle becoming
168-530: A simulcast of The James Whale Show from London on sister station Talk Sport . In July 2008 McClue participated in a special edition of BBC Radio's Fighting Talk at the Radio Academy's Radio Festival in Glasgow. McClue also presented on many mainstream Scottish radio stations including Radio Forth & Radio Clyde . From 2008, he worked on L107 where he also served in a shareholder and management role at
196-412: A stint co-hosting with Lesley Riddoch sitting in for Fred MacAulay on BBC Radio Scotland. McClue had, as analyst Mary Talbot observes, achieved "a degree of infamy as a highly confrontational talk radio host". Scottie joined Q96 in 2006, before moving to its 24-hour talk radio sister station of Talk 107 , later that year. He remained as a presenter until March 2008 where Talk 107 replaced him with
224-763: A trainee manager for the Clydesdale Bank before joining Scottish Opera in 1980. His roles including Touring Manager, Marketing Officer and Director of Education Programmes, working alongside directors John Cox and Graham Vick . In 1981 he became Assistant General Manager at Pitlochry Festival Theatre . In 1984 he became a continuity announcer and newscaster for Grampian Television in Aberdeen , before moving to Scottish Television in Glasgow (1985–88) and Border Television in Carlisle (1985–89) In September 1989 Lamont set up
252-724: Is a regional radio station owned and operated by Global as part of the Heart network. It broadcasts to North East England from studios in Newcastle . Century Radio was the first regional station for North East England and also was the first to use the Century brand, which followed a 'personality' format, mixing speech and music. The station was originally based beside the Tyne Bridge in Gateshead , before relocating to Team Valley in 2008 to share
280-650: Is also not uncommon for such broadcasters to be quickly rehired by another station or network. Shock jocks in the United States have been censored under additional pressure from the United States government since the introduction of the Broadcast Decency Enforcement Act of 2005 , which increased the fines on radio stations for violating decency guidelines by nearly 20 times. 100-102 Century FM FM : Fenham Tyne Valley North Yorkshire Sunderland South Shields Heart North East
308-515: The Legends Football Phone-In on weekday evenings, alongside ex- Sunderland player Eric Gates , and latterly, FA Cup Final 1973 winner Micky Horswill . Live match commentaries on Newcastle United and Sunderland matches aired until the end of the 2010–11 season. The Legends Football Phone In was dropped following the end of the 2011–12 season. The phone-in later moved to Star Radio North East and several community radio stations but
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#1732883848925336-524: The Century brand to GCap Media , and Myers left the group to head GMG Radio , where he set up the similar Real Radio network. Simons rejoined Myers to establish the Real and Smooth FM regional stations. In October 2006 GMG Radio acquired the Century brand from GCap. Wayback Machine Paul Smith , a former BBC and commercial radio producer, then joined Century as Programme Controller, and Sales Director Debbie Bowman
364-700: The North East of England, the North West of England, Yorkshire and the Midlands, including national station Talk Radio UK in London and in syndication throughout the UK over the next twenty-five years. In August 2008, he became a shareholder of the Scottish independent local radio station L107 saving it from imminent closure as the former owner, Mark Page, was on the brink of returning
392-416: The U.S.) regarding content. However, nearly all American broadcasters have strict policies against content that is likely to draw indecency forfeitures, and air personalities are often contractually obligated to avoid broadcasting such content. Many shock jocks have been fired as a result of such punishments as regulatory fines, loss of advertisers, or simply social and political outrage. On the other hand, it
420-683: The drivetime show and replaced the duo. Heart Gloucestershire presenter Tom Campbell joined inturn to takeover from Lockwood and Scott. In May 2015, Heart North East moved to new studios at new studios at Wellbar Central in Newcastle city centre, shared with sister station Capital North East and Communicorp-owned Smooth North East . In February 2019, following OFCOM's decision to relax local content obligations from commercial radio, Global announced it would replace Heart North East's local breakfast and weekend shows with networked programming from London. Breakfast presenters Justin Lockwood and Kelly Scott, alongside drivetime presenter Tom Campbell left
448-462: The film Billy Elliot as boxing coach George Watson. He was also fired in January 2000 when bosses claimed that he was intoxicated on air. However, Elliott claims that he was "stoned out of his tree" on Benylin while trying to fight off a heavy cold. He was reemployed when Capital Radio took over the station. Ex- Metro Radio presenter Steve Colman's highly marketed introduction to the breakfast show
476-509: The game with the 1994 launch of 'The Big Mal Football Phone-In' hosted by Teesside presenter Dave Roberts and ex-manager Malcolm Allison . The station then signed an exclusive radio rights deal with Middlesbrough FC with Roberts and Allison joined by local BBC broadcaster Ali Brownlee and the resultant 'Roberts & Brownlee Show' was born. Two famous ex-players for local sides, Malcolm Macdonald , who played for Newcastle United and Bernie Slaven , who played for Middlesbrough , presented
504-644: The late night phone-in presenter on its Salford Quays -based sister regional station 105.4 Century FM , when it launched in September 1998, with his show being networked to cover The Midlands on Century 106 in Nottingham in 1999. In 2001 McClue returned to Scotland on Q96 with his shows being simulcast and networked across the UK. He then returned to EMAP's Magic stations in Sheffield, Liverpool, Leeds and Hull also broadcasting for SRH on Clyde 2 Glasgow on Saturday evenings and Forth 2 Edinburgh on Sunday mornings and also
532-449: The licence to Ofcom . Businessman Alan Shields acquired the station from Page, hiring Lamont as a presenter under his Scottie McClue persona. Lamont invested more than £62,000 of his own money into the business. Lamont left the station accusing Shields of failing to contribute his share of funding. Lamont has hosted talk radio shows in the persona of Scottie McClue since the 1990s. When Lancashire independent radio station Red Rose Radio
560-418: The original radio shock jock by some, although the term was not used until 1986, two years after Greene's death. Greene was an influence on Howard Stern , whose radio shows in the 1980s led to the first widespread use of the term "shock jock". Shock jocks also tend to push the envelope of decency in their market, and they may appear to show a lack of regard for communications regulations (e.g., FCC rules in
588-569: The radio station CentreSound 96.7 in Stirling - now Central 103.1 FM - as its founding managing director. In 1992 he moved to Red Rose Gold in Preston to become a senior producer and presenter for the station, creating the on-air persona Scottie McClue . McClue became a controversial but highly popular figure, attracting substantial listening audiences and subsequently presenting on a variety of UK stations across Scotland (including Scot FM and Q96 ),
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#1732883848925616-500: The station in May 2019, with the latter joining wrestling-centric YouTube channel Cultaholic. As of 3 June 2019, the station's local output consists of a three-hour Drivetime show on weekdays, alongside local news bulletins, traffic updates and advertising. All networked programming originates from Global's London headquarters, including Heart Breakfast , presented each weekday by Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden . Regional programming
644-505: The station. The station lasted just over a year until reported company debts caused an ownership dispute which led to the breakdown of the partnership, and McClue's withdrawal from the station's output. A live video, "An Audience With Scottie McClue" was released in 1996. While working with Century 105 in Salford in 1999, he also released a CD called The Best of Scottie McClue . In September 2018, McClue joined Nation Radio Scotland to present
672-717: Was "A Star is Born". A 'listener's club' was formed, with parties at locations around the region attended by the station's presenters. The Jingling Gate in Stanley, County Durham was the most common location, but other events were held at the Stadium of Light and the Dolphin Centre in Darlington . Late-night phone-in presenter Mike 'The Mouth' Elliott once caused controversy by walking out during his show. Elliot took an extended break after this controversy, during which time he appeared in
700-597: Was axed within a year. On 25 June 2012, it was announced Global (the owner of stations such as Capital and Heart ) had bought GMG Radio . The former GMG stations, including Real Radio, were placed under a hold separate company known as Real and Smooth Limited. As of 5 November 2012, the station's local programming consisted of a daily breakfast and weekday drivetime shows from Newcastle upon Tyne with most non-peak output broadcast from Salford Quays. On 6 February 2014, Global announced it would be rebranding all Real Radio stations as Heart. Real Radio North East began
728-536: Was promoted to managing director. Smith left the company after the current Programme Director Kevin Howard joined the company in September 2007. On 18 December 2008 it was announced that Century Radio would be re-branded as Real Radio from 30 March 2009. The station has previously broadcast extensively on football , a passion in the north east, and had a particularly close relationship with both Newcastle United and Middlesbrough . The station began its association with
756-675: Was split into two frequencies, Programme Director John Myers wanted distinctive programming for the medium wave service, Red Rose Gold . Myers encouraged Colin Lamont to present the station's late-night phone-in. They believed, however, that the name 'Colin' did not connote showbusiness. Inspired by Scottie Buccleugh, the host of a weekly children's film club in Carlisle known as 'Uncle Scottie', Myers suggested that Lamont's on-air identity should be 'something mad like this' that would be memorable. The pair eventually came up with Scottie McClue. In 1994 McClue moved to Scot FM in Edinburgh , to present
784-551: Was very unpopular, and he was sacked after just three weeks in August 1996. It was revealed that audiences had decreased rapidly, and businesses had threatened to pull their advertising. Colman later joined Smooth North East . Jeff Stephenson replaced Myers as managing director, and John Caine replaced Simons. Simons left the station for Talksport , and Myers left Gateshead to concentrate on setting up 105.4 Century FM in Salford and relaunching 106 Century FM in Nottingham. Border sold
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