91Èȱ¬

91Èȱ¬ Surrey today announces the station's new Breakfast show presenter.

Nick Wallis, currently weekend presenter on Five News, will launch the new-look weekday programme on 1 September 2009.

Nick, who lives in Walton-on-Thames, has been a regular voice on 91Èȱ¬Â Radio 5 Live over the last three years, standing in for Richard Bacon and Stephen Nolan.

He started his broadcasting career at 91Èȱ¬ Radio Oxford.

In 2001 he moved to 91Èȱ¬ Three to help launch its news service and pick up his first TV presenting experience on the channel's 60 Seconds.

In 2004 he moved to 91Èȱ¬ Radio 1's Newsbeat to become a reporter, specialising in entertainment news.

In 2008 he started reporting for ITN's London Tonight and Five News before landing his current role as Five's weekend news presenter.

Nick is relishing the chance to present a flagship news-based show in a county he knows and loves.

He says: "I was thrilled when the name 91Èȱ¬ Surrey was brought back and I can't wait to meet the team.

"I want to be part of a success story for the station, grow the audience and serve the listeners of Surrey with a breakfast show like no other.

"Surrey is an important county and deserves an agenda-setting programme which is entertaining and relevant to people's lives.

"I spent a large part of my formative years in Surrey, my wife grew up two miles down the road and my eldest daughter is just about to start school in Walton.

"This is a great place to live and I'm looking forward to working here."

Nick has interviewed everyone from Tony Blair to Halle Berry and covered everything from murder trials and knife crime to film premieres.

This year he's reported from Plymouth, where a nursery worker was arrested on suspicion of distributing indecent pictures of children, and from the Old Bailey at the trial of Karl Bishop, who murdered teen actor Rob Knox.

Nick's years as an entertainment journalist have thrown up some interesting situations.

He says: "One of the most surreal moments of my career came after meeting Alex James from the band Blur.

"We started talking about his interest in space and I ended up co-presenting a paper with him on media communications to a conference of rocket scientists at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory."

Welcoming Nick to the station, Managing Editor of 91Èȱ¬ Sussex and 91Èȱ¬ Surrey, Nicci Holliday, said Nick's commitment to news reporting was a significant factor in his appointment.

Nicci said: "Nick is going to bring a new dimension to the Surrey Breakfast show. We were really impressed by his news background and his impressive journalistic background as well as his affection for the area.

"I really hope our listeners will take him to their hearts and enjoy the Breakfast show.

"I also particularly want to thank Mark Carter for all his hard work on developing the Surrey Breakfast show.

"Mark will continue to drive the programme's editorial agenda as Surrey News Editor, whilst also taking on an exciting new challenge as Development Editor for 91Èȱ¬ Surrey.

"I know Mark will make a fantastic impact in this position, developing relationships and partnerships for the station and helping us grow our audiences in the county.

"Mark will also present drive every evening between 4 and 7pm – so we'll certainly keep him busy!"

91Èȱ¬ Surrey Breakfast on 104 FM and 104.6FM, weekdays, 7.00-10.00am.

HB