David Rider 1966-2012
It is with great sadness that we announce the death of one of the Ashbourne Radio / High Peak Radio team, David Rider.
David was a consummate sports journalist and presenter. He first worked with High Peak Radio / Ashbourne Radio founders, Steve and Paul Jenner, back in the early 80's when he operated as a live DJ with the pair.
He took over the Saturday Sports show on Ashbourne Radio in 2009 and presented it with professionalism, style, tremendous knowledge and enthusiasm until he became too ill to do so. His outstanding bravery in fighting cancer - and still carrying on with on-air duties in his characteristic, polished style - will remain an inspiration to us all.
The whole team at Ashbourne Radio, and our colleagues at High Peak Radio, and no doubt the thousands of listeners who enjoyed his show, plus the listeners who enjoyed his BBC broadcasts, will remember him with affection and high regard. We send our heartfelt sympathies to his family.
Meet the team
Click on the presenter photo below to view more information about them.
Steve Jenner
Steve Jenner is managing director of Ashbourne Radio. A founding director of High Peak Radio, he has presented the afternoon programme on that station since it began broadcasting in 2004.
He is media adviser to the Plain English Campaign, which is also based here in Derbyshire. His TV appearances include BBC1 Breakfast, BBC2, BBC 24, Sky News, ITV Central, CNN and many others in this role and he has taken part in broadcasts on 5Live, Radio 4, and the majority of the local BBC stations throughout the country.
Formerly a champion racing driver, he "enjoys" real ale and food beginning with the letters "ch". Not a good combination for the highly tuned athlete he isn't. Owns a narrow boat which is moored in Staffordshire. He presents the station's primetime programme Dales Drive on weekdays, 4pm till 7pm. Recently headed up the team organising the station's expansion into Wirksworth and the Ecclesbourne Valley.
Laura Pennington
Laura is our Head Of News. She's an experienced news journalist and one of our top newsreaders. She produces and reads news bulletins for both High Peak Radio and Ashbourne Radio.
Helen Mason
Helen Mason is one of the original presenters on High Peak Radio. She presents Drive and Late Drive, weekdays on that station.
She also works as an independent voice-over artist and is the female voice on a number of commercials heard all over the UK.
She hosts the weekday Afternoon Show, 1pm - 4pm on Ashbourne Radio.
Chris Carnegy
Chris Carnegy is one of commercial radio’s pioneers and is the founding director of Sony Award-winning Spire FM in Salisbury. It remains one of the most profitable small commercial radio stations in the UK.
He is one of the founders of Express FM, the community radio station in Portsmouth. He was also a director of High Peak Radio Ltd and currently has broadcast commitments with the BBC.
He is the host of Lovetown, the show which features some of the best love songs in the world, to bring the day to a gentle close.
This show is also featured on High Peak Radio at the same time, 10pm - midnight, 5 nights per week.
Roger Price
Roger Price is the Company Secretary and Technical Director for High Peak Radio. He occasionally presents shows on the station, particularly over Christmas when he actually gets to work with Santa, and also sometimes reads the news along with hosting his own show on Sunday afternoons on Ashbourne Radio.
Formerly a founding director of Stratford-on-Avon station The Bear, he has worked on and with various radio stations throughout the UK and has recently done important development work with the RadioCentre.
He was responsible for finding a way of solving the problem of how to broadcast right the way across the High Peak on FM, and it is largely down to him that this is now the case. He still maintains the broadcasting structure of the station and produced the technical set-up for Ashbourne Radio, and the subsequent expansion into Wirksworth on 101.8FM.
(Romantic though this may sound, what it actually means is spending a lot of your time in the mud in Wellington boots.) Roger may only be heard occasionally on the radio but his influence in terms of how the station sounds and the fact that it can be heard at all is everywhere.
John Dolby
John was one of the Ashbourne Radio presenters on our very first day of broadcasting, and since his departure to another radio station (boo-hoo!) he still produces most of our commercials, presents the Soul Show on Saturday evenings AND will appear on a number of our Outside Broadcasts.
So he's still here, really!
Helen Dennison
Ashbourne's Helen Dennison joined the team via our "search for a local radio star" campaign.
She can be heard throughout the day as our weather and local features presenter, including The Dales Diary. She handles most of our daily accounting issues and does most of the important stuff.
She also presents some holiday weekend afternoon shows.
She’s a keen horse rider and, unlike some around here, enjoys a trip to the gym.
Dave Taylor
Dave is well known amongst the musical fraternity in and around Ashbourne. He has spent time as a singer, music promoter, and local live DJ.
Dave presents his own show 10pm Saturday with top tunes for an Ashbourne Saturday night.
Heather Cairney
Almost scarily enthusiastic for her native Ashbourne, Heather is news journalist with special responsibility for Ashbourne.
She is a big fan of the Shrovetide football and covered the premiere of the film about this when it was shown in Ashbourne. When John Dolby left his daytime slot on the station, Steve moved to cover John on Dales Drive and Heather took over as presenter of the weekday Morning Show, aided and abetted at first by her partner-in-crime, Tom Hilton. She also presents The Weekend Wake-Up on Sunday mornings, 8am till midday.
She lives in Ashbourne.
Barry Jarvis
Barry Jarvis presents the Saturday Weekend Wake-up. His popular features include "Shopper's Sweep", "You Pick 'Em, We Play 'Em" and "Junior Choice Choice".
Barry has worked on several Midland radio stations and was involved in the early trial broadcasts for High Peak Radio. His studio was struck by lightning in the very first programme but he still managed to be back on air in 45 seconds.
Barry is still a very busy and popular live DJ in venues around the UK including a riverboat of all things. He previously toured with the top 70s show Disco Inferno for nearly 5 years. He runs his own production company, Everest Productions, and owns his own recording studio.
Craig Pattison
Craig Pattison is one of the most recognisable voices on commercial radio in Derbyshire. A very busy presenter on High Peak Radio, you'll find him presenting cover shifts on Ashbourne Radio as well as the weekday evening show 7 - 10, which by a remarkable coincidence goes out Monday - Friday from 7pm till 10pm! You may also hear his voice on a number of TV commercials as he is very much in demand for voice-over work.
Dave Clarke
Dave "Sparky" Clarke presents Night Ride, the midnight into early hours show, Saturday into Sunday - playing classic hit music for you on your way home after a big night out. Ashbourne born and bred, he's been playing disco gigs around the area since 1974 - only one year less than the Jenners, who can still remember playing 78s!
