Ian Collins.com


Press

	EXCLUSIVE by Rosa Prince A TORY BACKBENCHER DUFFED UP A LABOUR MP IN A FURIOUS ROW AT A RADIO STATION. Labour and Tory MPs brawl over email in radio studio. New MP Philip Davies, 33, lunged at law and order spokesman Stephen Pound, 57, after he read out an embarrassing email live on air. Mr Pound, who was told at hospital that he may have a cracked rib, said “This man has a very short temper. He went for me as soon as the programme was over.” The row broke out on The Ian Collins Show talkSPORT Radio. Mr Davies insisted: “There was no grappling” but show host Ian said: They were brawling like two kids in a playground” Speaking from the red corner, Mr Pound declared: “what a pillock. He was knocking me around the control room trying to get the email. This guy has too short a temper and was virtually howling at the moon.” But in the blue corner Mr Davies insisted there was no grappling: “it’s hardly Giant Haystacks against Big Daddy – it was more like handbags at dawn. Talksport Host Ian Collins, who invited the two men to discus their party leadership issues on his show, had a ringside view of Tuesday’s scrap: “They seemed to be in some kind of bear hug. It looked serious so we tried to break it up. As they were leaving, one taunted the other, and it all kicked off again. Frankly, it looked ridiculous; two grown men in Savile Row suits scrapping in a radio studio”.


	We caught up with Late Night Radio Host Ian Collins to check out the high and lows of life behind the microphone.. So, you’re really the only late Night talk show host in the UK? Not exactly, there are one or 2 local guys who do night talk, and of course there are pure speech formats, but in terms of a national phone-in, yes, this is the UK’s only one. Surely not? Seems odd that in 2005 this should be the case – clearly some bod in the media and culture department who hands out radio licences really hasn’t got their act together. Who the hell calls a late night radio phone in? A decade ago it would have been Muppet central. The last few years has seen a totally different kind of caller. The whole media industry has opened up with the likes of Big Brother and the X Factor; everyone wants air time – from Heart Surgeon to Tree Surgeon, I get the lot. What’s a typical running order? “We’re probably the only show that somehow manages to mix pop culture and current affairs. Last week our guests were Michael Howard, Ross Noble and the bloke who played Huggy Bear in Starsky and Hutch.”


	When Ian Collins was offered the late show on talkSPORT, he saw a great opportunity. He’s now been hosting the fast-moving popular late show for a number of years. It maybe current affairs, but it’s off-the-wall and slightly irreverent: “It’s a pop culture show and we treat politics and current affairs in that way.” The national show is now the most listened to late night show of its kind. Because the programme airs on four nights a week Ian feels the generous three days off are vital to recoup on sleep and spend quality time scouring news sites around the world for news stories and new angles: “I listen or watch over 50 news bulletins a day, either locally, nationally or even internationally. I also visit about a hundred favourite web sites. I’ve no idea how anyone does this job without doing this”. When he’s on air, it’s Jeans, shirt and trainers. “I loved the Agnes B suit I wore for the OK shoot – perhaps best for a movie premiere rather than hosting a radio show”...


	The ear-opening sound of a different agenda. There’s always room for another voice, a different tone in the presentation of news and current affairs. You get that on talkSPORT. Last Thursday there was an interview and phone in with Michael Howard, leader of the Conservative Party. Conducted by Ian Collins it was well prepared, clearly constructed, showed its subject in unexpected lights, and covered a wide agenda briskly. What was unusual was its attitude. It was sympathetic. Indeed there were times when Howard almost had to retrain Collins from his blunter-than-his approach to such subjects as the European Union and the Conservative stance on immigration. Howard was actually given time to explain himself; although challenged on the big issues of the day the interviewer’s approach was thorough but not antagonistic. Yesterday it was the turn of the Shadow Chancellor George Osborne. Osborne had added his name to a web site advocating withholding tax for specific purposes like defence. Isn’t this an embarrassment; a departure from party policy? asked Collins. The best reply came not from the guest but a caller who said that withholding the defence portion of your tax reasonably means you forfeit the right to be defended. If you listen to Collins, you’re aware of an agenda - It’s about common sense. Above all, it’s different....


	…On the night of the Oscars, while other stations laid the red carpet for some wall to wall prize giving banter, Collins and team gave the entire ceremony the heave-ho, concentrating instead on Collins’ favourite subject: monkeys. Callers and guests alike chipped in to confirm Ian’s theory: there’s nothing cooler in this world than a chimp. Superficial nonsense this wasn’t as the debate swung from the contentious issue of vivisection to the altogether more fun idea of owning your own chimpanzee. This is the programme’s greatest strength; taking serious ideas and remoulding them into digestible form. This is not an exercise in tabloid dumbing down but a reworking of the speech radio format; this is pristine middle ground that grabs you by the ears and refuses to let go…


	….while we’re on the subject of the licence fee, on Tuesday I stumbled upon Ian Collins on talkSPORT radio. Firstly, where the heck has this show been hiding? It’s brilliant. Secondly, why isn’t this show being aired across the BBC? talkSPORT, in spite of its name, is only about 60% sport; the remainder consists of phone-ins, debate and topical guests. Collins is the master of mixing all three. One minute William Hague was explaining why the Tories should form the government, the next Collins is exploring the possible outcome of energy prices by suggesting we’re 10 years away from a Mad Max Society – it was genius. All of this was cleverly sealed with a clever sketch based on The Price is Right and New Labour…


	A radio presenter has sparked outrage after he branded bikers "organ donors" riding "buffoon machines" on his live talk show last week... Ian Collins is the host of mid-morning current affairs show on TalkSport ... grew increasingly annoyed as he ranted about "these monkeys who take your wing mirror off as they squeeze through gaps between cars" in an attack that make even celebrated bike hater Jeremy Clarkson look fair and reasonable. His rage climaxed when he branded motorcycles "lean, mean killing machines" and continued that "there should be separate roads for bikes or even separate countries."... Even a commonsense appeal from guest Alan Hyde, a motorsport commentator, was not enough to calm Collins down. ...But Collins continued, saying "the only acceptable face of motorcycling is Stan from On The Buses because he had a sidecar and wasn't a poser or a boy racer." ...


	RADIO MAN SAYS LABOUR MP HAD NO INJURY AFTER TUSSLE WITH TORY Simon McGee Political Editor THE Labour MP who claimed a Yorkshire Tory backbencher injured his ribs during a supposed brawl in a radio studio was accused last night of making up the claim – by Ian Collins, the show’s host, who watched it all. Shipley's Tory MP Philip Davies was said by veteran Labour MP Stephen Pound to have "completely lost the plot" over an embarrassing e-mail he read out on a national radio station on Tuesday. The e-mail had been from one of Mr Davies' staff asking Tories to ring in to the show to support him, but it ended up being accidentally sent to a Labour activist. Mr Pound, who represents Ealing North in London, alleged Mr Davies tried to grab the e-mail off him after the show and that they ended up "wrestling", which resulted in an injured rib. But top TalkSPORT presenter Ian Collins, who invited the MPs to join him on his show, told the Yorkshire Post that although there had been an "hilarious tussle" over a piece of paper, he had no idea where the supposed injury had come from. "Naturally, off air Philip Davies wanted to know how he got it. Stephen Pound enjoyed taunting him and they started pulling on this e-mail. It was a silly, juvenile thing to do and it ended with both of them standing there holding bits of the piece of paper – and both claiming pyrrhic victories. But there's not a cat in hell's chance that he got a broken ribs. This was handbags at dawn, hardly fists.”


	The ear-opening sound of a different agenda. Current Job? Presenter of TalkSPORT’s nightly Current affairs and pop culture show. Best Moment? “Playing a monster in Doctor Who. It was awesome. Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor and I was a lizard-headed, blood-sucking Haemavore, chasing Nicholas Parsons around a graveyard. You simply don’t turn down jobs like that.” Worst moment? “Broadcasting a 5 hour phone in show when the telephone system went down." Best Moment? “Playing a monster in Doctor Who. It was awesome. Sylvester McCoy was the Doctor and I was a lizard-headed, blood-sucking Haemavore, chasing Nicholas Parsons around a graveyard. You simply don’t turn down jobs like that.” Favourite broadcasters? “I love Hawksbee and Jacobs on talkSPORT - smooth, inoffensive and totally hilarious.” Dream Job? “Mine. I have the freedom to do pretty much the show I want. I love it. That said, there’s still room to transfer a younger current affairs format into other mediums – as yet, never achieved.” Any secret skills?“I can fire eat, juggle hats and walk on broken glass – simultaneously. Ahem.”