John Myers

John Myers (11 April 1959 – 1 June 2019) was a British radio executive, consultant and presenter.

He was Chairman of the UK Radio Academy Awards, The Commercial Radio Awards and owner of Myers Media.

Myers started his radio career in 1980 as a Station Assistant for BBC Radio Cumbria.

He was the station's first country music presenter while also presenting and producing a number of music programmes.

He became a presenter in 1982 for Red Rose Radio and then, Radio Tees in 1984.

While also in radio, he joined Border Television as a continuity announcer and programme presenter in 1985, and developed the long running Border Birthdays slot with a puppet called Eric the Monkey.

In 1989 he became the programme controller and breakfast presenter for Red Rose Gold

He remained in television presentation for four years returning to Red Rose Radio in 1989.

Myers developed the Century Radio brand for Border Radio Holdings in the early 1990s, launching two more stations later in the decade.

He presented programmes under the pseudonym "John Morgan".

He then became Chief executive of GMG Radio, developing the Real Radio, Smooth Radio and Rock Radio brands and overseeing GMG Radio's acquisition of the Century network from GCap Media.

He became managing director of Border Radio Holdings in 1993, launching their independent local radio station, CFM.

Myers presented the breakfast programme, the Friday night phone-in and a Sunday lunch-time programme, called 'fun on the phones'.

In September 1994, he launched Century Radio in North East England.

He again presented the breakfast show, this time under the pseudonym of John Morgan.

Myers later released a compilation cassette of the wind-ups from his show, and even a novelty single, called "Three Rosettes", under the further pseudonym of Mr Martin.

He also co-presented other shows, such as the Sunday lunch time "Fun on the Phones".

During this time he also presented segments on Tyne Tees Television's magazine show.

Ratings fell when Myers stepped down from presenting the breakfast show, and his replacement, Steve Coleman, was sacked after just three weeks.

Myers returned for another 12 months until Paul Gough replaced him in 1997.

In 1997 Myers left the North East to launch 106 Century FM in the East Midlands.

A year later the BBC television fly on the wall documentary Trouble at the Top followed the launch of 105.4 Century FM in North West England.

Myers moved to Guardian Media Group (GMG) after the group announced plans to enter the commercial radio business.

Sir Robert Phillis, the former GMG chief executive, enlisted Myers to establish GMG's radio division after seeing him on the documentary programme Trouble at the Top.

Myers became managing director of GMG Radio in 1999, winning the first licence for GMG, Real Radio (Wales), which launched in 2000.

Myers resurrected the "Fun on the Phones" presenting as John Morgan, with John Simons occasionally presenting.

The breakfast show was presented by Terry Underhill and Sarah Graham in the first few years of the station.

He became chief executive of GMGR in 2002, and joined the board of directors of the Guardian Media Group in 2006.

In October 2006, GMG Radio bought the two remaining Century stations from GCap, bringing Myers to control the brand he started in 1994.

During his nine years with the company, it was awarded four licences and made the purchase of: Scot FM from the Wireless Group; JAZZ FM; Paisley's Q96 from UTV; the two Century FM stations from GCap; and four Saga Radio stations.

In March 2007 he oversaw the launch of the Smooth Radio brand, the UK's first mainstream commercial stations to target the 40- to 59-year-old adult.

The five existing Smooth FM and Saga stations were rebranded as Smooth Radio and the group launched the sixth station under this brand in North East England in January 2008.

This was quickly followed by the launch of the group's second Rock Radio station in Manchester in May 2008.

In December '08, GMGR was awarded the North Wales licence, which will allow Real Radio to be the first national commercial station in Wales.

In 2008 Myers convinced the GMG board to invest £1m in documentaries, a first for commercial radio, which were aired across the GMG network (apart from the Scottish stations).

He stepped down from his role at GMG Radio to travel the world.

In 2009, he was asked by the Labour Government to produce a report on the future of local radio in the UK ("The Myers Report") which was published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in April 2009.

A number of his recommendations were taken up by the Digital Economy Act 2010, leading to, amongst others, mergers within the Heart and Smooth Radio networks.

He served as Chief executive of The Radio Academy from April 2011 until June 2012 and the founding Chairman of TeamRock, retiring in May 2016.

Myers reviewed efficiencies at four BBC radio stations during the first quarter of 2011 and, in late 2011, began reviewing BBC Local Radio stations in response to the Delivering Quality First cuts.