Scots will wake up to a new all-star breakfast radio show next month as Strictly Come Dancing star Vick Hope and presenter Roman Kemp launch Capital north of the Border.
Capital is more popular than BBC Radio 1 in London – lifting the Best Radio Programme 2019 gong at The Television and Radio Industries Club awards – and its presenters are hoping its formula for success will be a hit with listeners across the UK.
However, Roman – son of Spandau Ballet bassist and EastEnders actor Martin Kemp and Shirlie Holliman from Wham! and Pepsi & Shirlie fame – admits he still has a long way to go to match the fame of his parents.
He said: “I only have to Google ‘Live Aid’ or something like that to recognise I have a long way to go before I can start claiming fame on their level.
(Image: BBC)
“My family have given me all the love and support I could ever ask for in anything I do and I’ll always be eternally grateful.
“I started at the bottom. I did the 1am slots, the overnights and every show that is on that list.
“It was a constant strive to make the show better and make more people enjoy it – and it got well received.”
Capital Breakfast with Roman Kemp, Vick Hope and Sonny Jay – the former Britain’s Got Talent star who performed with boy band Loveable Rogues – goes UK-wide across Capital’s entire FM network from Monday, April 8.
Vick, who is also a TV presenter and journalist, shot to fame last year as a contestant on Strictly Come Dancing.
But she landed in controversy after she was voted off and appeared to hint that the judges’ decision may have been fixed when she said they spoke to producers beforehand.
She said: “It’s so funny that that even came out of it because we didn’t really say anything. We just had a chat on the radio. We’re like three friends down at the pub having a chat about the stuff we do.
“It wasn’t really what it was purported to be. It kind of got blown out of all proportion but, equally, it then blew over within a week, as newspaper stories do.
I don’t think anyone has any regrets, because there’s nothing to regret. Anyone who listened to what was said would know that is how we chaton radio.”
Vick admits she was shocked by the level of interest in her appearance on Strictly. She added: “It is such a huge show and it was mad to be asked to do it. I guess it was a bit of a shock to the system just how much press there is around it.
(Image: WireImage)
“As much as you’re told about it, nothing can really prepare you for every single thing that everyone does and says being meticulously scrutinised every minute of every day.
“It was a bit of a shock how many controversial bits came out of that. It was overwhelming at times how much everyone was talking about it.
“It was also an amazing position to be in. What an honour to be able to connect with a whole new audience that I had never really been able to connect with before.”
Roman’s dad Martin has popped into the station – and ended up embarrassing his son. He said: “To have him in there is really nice. He gets on with the guys and the guys like him as well.
“Unfortunately, he will tell stories about me where I just cannot defend myself.
“He told a funny one recently where he came on the show and we were raising money for charity.
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“He chose a story of when I was three months old and my mum took me outside in the pram. I was naked
because she had heard sunlight was good for childhood skin when you’re a newborn.
“However, a bee landed on me in a very unfortunate area and as my mum tried to bat the bee away, I closed my legs. And it stung me, yeah, right there!
“Imagine your own dad coming on to a radio show in front of a lot of people and telling that…”
The team are used to having celebrity guests – such as Miley Cyrus – and have fans including the Royal Family, after it was reported the Duchess of Cambridge is a listener.
Capital already has 8.3million weekly listeners and alongside the nationwide breakfast show, there’s a new schedule of bigger, enhanced local drivetime programmes planned.
Roman said: “It’s wonderful. It’s nice to know we’re in households like that – if you can call a palace a household.”
However, when the stars drop into the studios, the team admit they can become a little starstruck.
Roman said: “If you’re a fan of someone and they come in and you meet them for the first time, you are a little bit in awe.
“There’s so many people who have come into our studio and all of us have gone, ‘Oh my God, Will Ferrell is sat there’, or, ‘Mark Wahlberg is sat there’.
“You freak out a little bit and have to remember, ‘OK, breathe’. We are in such an amazing position that our show brings in these names.
“We’re so excited to be able to have those people on the radio for everyone up and down the country, and hanging out with them every morning now.”
(Image: Daily Record)
Vick added: “I’m always a bit worried if they are your hero that they’re not going to live up to it but so far everyone has been amazing. I was worried Miley Cyrus wasn’t going to be what I expected but she was everything and more.”
The new team will succeed current breakfast host Des Clarke. The stand-up star and Daily Record columnist is moving to the drivetime slot on sister station Heart.
But Sunday Mail columnist Garry Spence will continue to host Capital Scotland drive.
The team are delighted to be building on the work of their predecessors and are thrilled to bring their show to Scotland for the first time.
Roman said: “We are so excited to be given the opportunity to go national with the show, to bring the whole of the UK to Capital Breakfast and to have different voices from everywhere – not just London or Scotland but up and down the country as well.
“It is a big show and it has got big guests. It’s going to be so much fun to be able to include everyone.”
