Nick Abbot
Nick Abbot | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 22, 1960 United Kingdom |
| Occupation | Radio broadcaster |
| Years active | 1987–present |
| Known for | Hosting The Late Show on LBC |
Nick Abbot (born 22 August 1960) is a British radio broadcaster currently presenting The Late Show on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays for LBC.
Early life and career
Abbot received his education at George Heriot's School in Edinburgh and later studied psychology at Brunel University of London, where he achieved a lower-second class honours degree. His initial experience in broadcasting began as a DJ at Virgin Megastores, alongside hosting student radio while at Brunel University.
In early 1987, Abbot joined Radio Luxembourg to present an overnight music programme. He innovated the format by converting it into a phone-in show, inspired by American host Neil Rogers. He was among the first to implement the 'straight to air' approach, accepting live calls without prior screening, which rapidly attracted a loyal audience despite the absence of delay technology. This style influenced other presenters such as Iain Lee, who credited Abbot’s approach as a source of inspiration.
In October 1988, Abbot began hosting the breakfast show on BBC GLR, but after one year his contract was not renewed. Subsequently, he returned to Virgin Megastores Radio until 1993.
Virgin Radio
Abbot was included in Virgin Radio’s launch team in April 1993, taking charge of a late-night phone-in from Sunday to Thursday, airing between 10 pm and 2 am. His programme blended music with interactive caller segments. Known for his forthright critiques of competing stations and presenters, Abbot attracted reprimands from both the Broadcasting Complaints Commission and the Radio Authority due to some contentious on-air comments.
He occasionally connected live to rival stations’ phone-ins while callers were on hold, including a memorable incident on the Colin Lamont show. In June 1994, he transitioned to the weekday 7–10 pm slot with a milder format that emphasized music requests.
By January 1995, Abbot returned to late-night broadcasting (11 pm–2 am), then shifted to drivetime (4–7 pm) in April. His tenure at Virgin Radio ended with his dismissal in September 1995.
Talk Radio UK
During summer 1996, Abbot filled in for various programmes on Talk Radio UK and secured a regular Saturday afternoon show in 1997 alongside Carol McGiffin. This later moved to Saturday evenings from 7:30 pm to 10 pm.
Return to Virgin
At this time, Virgin Radio brought Abbot back under new management for cover duties. In summer 1997, he hosted an evening slot for six weeks and provided holiday cover. Early in 1998, he assumed the weekday afternoon show (1 pm–4 pm) while maintaining his Saturday evening programme on Talk Radio UK. In May that year, he also took over the weekday evening show on Talk Radio UK (7 pm–9 pm).
Black Thursday
On 12 November 1998—referred to as Black Thursday—Talk Radio UK underwent a management change led by former The Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie, resulting in numerous presenter dismissals including Abbot. Despite this, he continued hosting an expanded Virgin Radio weekday afternoon show six days per week from 1 pm to 4 pm.
LBC
Between March and September 1999, London-based station LBC employed Abbot and McGiffin for a Saturday evening phone-in programme resembling their Talk Radio UK format. Concurrently, Abbot remained active at Virgin Radio, presenting a Sunday morning phone-in and weekday afternoon show during summer 2000 before moving to drivetime until departing Virgin in May 2001. Additionally, he provided holiday cover for Chris Evans.
Real Radio
Towards the end of 2001, Abbot began covering holiday shifts with a late-night phone-in on Heart South Wales. By October that year, he was hosting a late-night program on Manchester's Hits Radio Manchester. In January 2002, he transitioned to Heart Scotland to present a late-night call-in show, which eventually expanded to broadcast across all three Real Radio stations (Scotland, Wales, and Yorkshire). Abbot concluded his tenure with Real Radio on 19 December 2002 before stepping away from broadcasting for more than two years.
Return to radio
Abbot made his comeback on 3 September 2005 at London's 102.2 Smooth FM, where he hosted Saturday morning slots and occasionally substituted on various programs, including the digital station Planet Rock. From December onwards, he regularly presented weekend shows from 2 to 6 p.m. on Planet Rock.
In February 2006, he briefly filled in on LBC's weekend show but experienced voice loss early during this period. After recovering, he resumed and secured a permanent Saturday night slot running from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.
His LBC program was marked by a unique approach featuring weekly news recaps set to Liberace’s "Boogie Woogie," replacing his former theme tune "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson. The show incorporated film quotations and audio segments from his former co-host Carol McGiffin.
By late 2007, Abbot assumed the weekday evening slot on LBC (7 p.m.–10 p.m.) while maintaining his weekend presence on Planet Rock until September 2008.
Current radio work
Presently, Abbot hosts an LBC show airing from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m. on Fridays through Sundays. The Friday and Saturday editions emphasize lighthearted commentary and discussions infused with humour, including clips from film soundtracks and political audio snippets. Calls during these broadcasts are generally playful. Conversely, the Sunday program adopts a more serious demeanor, focusing on weighty subjects without the use of humour or sound bites.
Additionally, he produces an annual Christmas-themed A to Z series, occasionally serves as a substitute for other LBC hosts, and maintains a blog for the LBC website. In March 2017, Abbot launched the podcast The Nick Abbot Habit, followed by a second season in September 2018. On 5 July 2019, he announced a new podcast with former co-presenter Carol McGiffin titled "What's Your Problem With Nick and Carol?" which debuted on iTunes and other platforms in January 2020.
Books
Abbot has published multiple books centered around current affairs and his written columns, including titles such as Listen to Me, I Know Everything and Do You Mind If I Say A Few Words.
Bibliography
- Abbot, Nick (2010) 2010 Wrapped Up Like a Bag of Chips
- Abbot, Nick (2012) Do You Mind If I Say A Few Words?
- Abbot, Nick (2014) I Suppose You're Wondering About What This Is All About...: Well, I Can't Tell You Because I Don't Know Myself
- Abbot, Nick (2015) Listen to Me, I Know Everything
- Abbot, Nick (2017) Well, the Whole World's Gone Crazy
- Abbot, Nick (2018) MY TREMENDOUS YEAR IN THE HUGE SHADOW OF DONALD TRUMP'S AWESOME ORANGE BIGLINESS
- Abbot, Nick (2019) The Car Crash 24 Hour a Day Multiple Newsgasm: The View from the Back Seat
- Abbot, Nick (2021) The Ups and Downs, the Cheese and Wine of 2021: Includes the Full A-Z of 2021
- Abbot, Nick (2022) What have we done to deserve this?: Includes the Full A-Z of 2022
- Abbot, Nick (2023) Perfectly normal in a well-run country: Includes the Full A-Z of 2023
- Abbot, Nick (2025) What a way to run a country: Includes the Full A-Z of 2024
External links
- Nick Abbot's profile on LBC
- LBC Plus – Premium podcasts by Nick Abbot on LBC (subscription necessary)