Carlos (DJ)

Carl Emms (born 31 December 1966, Swindon Wiltshire), known professionally as Carlos is a British radio presenter and disc jockey. The only child of Vernon and Elsie Emms, he spent his childhood and teenage years living in Royal Wootton Bassett.[1]

Early career

His broadcasting career began at 15 on Wiltshire Radio whilst still at school, presenting an early morning show. In November 1983 he was a guest on Russell Harty's TV chat show as the youngest radio presenter in the country. In October 1985, when WR merged with Bristol's Radio West to form GWR, Carl presented the first day of test transmissions from Bristol's Watershed.

In 1987 he joined Signal Radio in Stoke-on-Trent, where he presented the Drivetime show, still under his real name, where his vocal style was compared by many to that of the already successful BBC Radio 2 DJ Steve Wright. He went on to appear on Cardiff's Red Dragon FM, followed by a stint at the Chiltern Radio Network where he presented the late night 10pm – 2am show. After this he moved to their breakfast show. When this programme was split from being networked over all three Chiltern Radio Network stations, to local shows, he continued with the Northants 96 Breakfast show, known as Carl Emms and The Breakfast Bunch, which he presented for 4 years. In 1991 he appeared in a pantomime production of Aladdin in Northampton alongside Barbara Windsor. For a brief spell before leaving Northants 96 he presented drive time.

The Midlands

He joined Birmingham's BRMB in June 1993 following a shake up at the station, hired by Richard Park. At BRMB he initially presented the evening show before moving to drivetime. During this period he was best known for his request show; Call Carlos where listeners were invited to call in with requests for their favourite songs. He was also the host of the station's huge pop concerts. After 4 years with BRMB, he moved to 100.7 Heart FM, where he spent 8 years hosting the mid-morning show and developed the station's popular Time Tunnel ( A copy of the Radio 1 classic feature The Golden Hour), where hits from a particular year are played and listeners have to guess the year.

Wave105

Carlos was removed from the 100.7 Heart FM mid-morning show in May 2005.[2] Station bosses at the time said that they wanted younger presenters, and several of Carlos' colleagues, such as Nick Piercey were also axed that year. Carlos moved to Hampshire where he joined Wave 105 and presented a show on Saturday morning. Around this time, he was also heard on Magic 105.4, where he stood in for presenters who were away. From late 2005 he was the host of Wave 105's morning show from Mondays to Saturdays. He achieved record audience ratings for the show prior to his departure in September 2007.

Smooth Radio

Carlos joined Smooth Radio in September 2007. As a presenter on the network's 105.7 Smooth Radio in Birmingham, he fronted the weekday afternoon show from 1 to 4pm, as well as hosting a programme on Saturday between 10am and 1pm. Carlos joined the newly launched national Smooth Radio station in Manchester in October 2010 as its Drivetime and Saturday afternoon presenter.[3] In April 2012 he moved to present the weekday afternoon show swapping roles with David Jensen who took over Drivetime.[4] Carlos also presented on Smooth 70s on Bank Holiday Monday 27 August 2012.[5] In January 2013 Smooth overhauled their schedules, giving Carlos the weekday evening slot, succeeding Andy Peebles in that role.[6]

Smooth's owners, Global Radio announced a relaunch of the Smooth Brand in February 2014, taking effect from 3 March. This coincided with a return to some regional programming, and the departure of several presenters, including Carlos.[7] Carlos' last Smooth Radio networked show was on 14 March 2014. He then moved to present Drivetime and Saturday afternoons on Smooth North West in Manchester. However, it was announced via his Twitter page that he would leave the station in August 2019. His final show was broadcast on Friday 16 August of that year.

Heart 70s

Carlos, launched and presents Breakfast on new global station Heart 70s from 29 August 2019

Other Work

Carlos, under his real name Carl Emms, sat in for Keith Middleton on the Saturday late show on BBC Local Radio in the West Midlands including BBC WM, BBC Hereford & Worcester, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, BBC Radio Shropshire and BBC Radio Stoke on Saturday 15 March 2014 and on several other occasions. He took on this show permanently from 16 January 2016.[8] This show came to an end on 18 March 2017[9] and it was later announced that the new host of the show would be Alex Lester.[10] During the summer of 2014 he regularly sat in for Graham Torrington on BBC Local Radio across the Midlands. He also anchored the European Election Special on the stations on 25 May 2014.

Personal life

Carlos married former Smooth Radio and ITV newsreader Claire Lavender in October 2009 at a ceremony in Yoxall Staffordshire.[11]

Claire gave birth to their first child, named Martha on 2 May 2011. They live in Cheshire. In June 2013 Carlos revealed on his Facebook page that Claire was expecting their second child. Their son George William was born on 29 November in Cheshire.

He is known for his love of floral shirts and collects vintage fountain pens.[12]

References
  1. "Carlos of Smooth Radio".
  2. "Too old DJ given the boot". Evening Mail. 10 May 2005. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  3. "www.radio.nl/portal/home/medianieuws/010.archief/2010/08/156024.html" (in Dutch). Radio.nl. 18 August 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2010.
  4. "Smooth Radio adds Donny Osmond to line-up". Radio Today. 21 March 2012. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
  5. "Smooth Radio presenters head to Smooth 70s". Radio Today. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  6. "Pat Sharp gets daily show on Smooth Radio". Radio Today. 7 January 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2013.
  7. "Bates and Parsons out as Smooth relaunches". Radio Today. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  8. Martin, Roy. "New West Midlands Shows for Mollie & Carlos". Radio Today. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  9. "BBC Local Radio - Saturday Night with Carlos". BBC. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  10. "Alex Lester adds regional show in West Mids". Radio Today. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  11. "Injured radio presenter Carlos makes it to his big day". Birmimgham Mail. 13 October 2009. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
  12. "Carlos of Smooth Radio".
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