Adam Catterall
- Adam Martin Catterall (born 22nd May 1981) is an English Radio and Television presenter best known for his work covering both Boxing and the UFC. He is the host of "Fight Night" on UK national radio station Talksport and the lead presenter of UFC "Open Mat" on BT Sport. He is the co-founder of the multi award-winning podcast brand, Fight Disciples.
Catterall's career in radio began at the age of 24 when local radio station Rock FM made him their overnight presenter. He quickly progressed through their schedule and was announced as the Breakfast show presenter in November 2006. In 2007, he was named the UK's commercial radio presenter of the year, the first of many industry accolades.
In May 2010, Catterall left Rock FM and radio presenting in general after deciding to not renew his contract with the station.
In April 2011, Catterall presented his first show on BBC Radio 1 and remained a permanent fixture on the network until the summer of 2012 when he began a role in sport, presenting at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Catterall has been a permanent fixture on Talksport since 2014 and has led their boxing and UFC coverage since 2017.
He joined BT Sport in January 2019 to front their new UFC program "Open Mat" alongside former UFC world title challenger Dan Hardy.
Before venturing into radio, Catterall was a nightclub DJ, becoming resident for Gatecrasher.
He has also won several education awards for his work with high school children in Lancashire.
Early Life[edit]
Born in Blackburn, Lancashire, Catterall attended St Bede's Roman Catholic High School, Blackburn between 1992 and 1997. He went on to study A level's at St. Mary's College, Blackburn. Whilst DJing in nightclubs up and down the country, Catterall worked at computer distribution firm in Accrington until 2001.
Career[edit]
Rock FM, Preston.[edit]
After spending almost a year providing demo's to the then program controller, Brian Paige, Adam was given his first opportunity to present his own radio show on 97.4 Rock FM on New Years Day, 2005. In April of that year, Adam provided 2 weeks of holiday cover for the over night show at the station. He made such an impression that the presenter on holiday was not asked to return and Adam was offered a contract to host the show permanently. In June, the same happened again as Adam was asked to cover the Evening show (7pm-10pm) and was promptly given the slot on a permanent basis. A change of management took place in August 2006 and by November of that year Adam was given the breakfast show in order to save its plummeting ratings. Adam became the first presenter on the station to win a major industry award for 10 years when he was named the commercial radio presenter of the year in 2007. In 2008 he went on to win 2 European radio awards, a New York award, a BRA awards and receive a nomination for Radio Personality of the year at the Sony Radio Academy Awards.
In 2010, after taking the Rock FM breakfast show from number 4 in the market place to overall commercial market leader, Adam decided to leave on a high and not renew his contract.
Voice Over.[edit]
After leaving radio for a brief period, Adam began his voice over career.
His tones have been responsible for the continuity on ITV2 and SKY 1.
He is most famous in this field though for being the original voice of the Fox on the Foxy Bingo TV and radio adverts. Adam stopped lending his voice to the animated character in 2017.
BBC Radio 1.[edit]
In April 2011, Adam was given the opportunity to become a part of the BBC Radio 1 team, a dream he held since he was young. Although Adam enjoyed his time at the national station, it was evident his own personal ambitions where unlikely to be met. A change in management promising the BBC trust a recruitment drive towards younger presenters meant Adam became stuck in a position without progression and in June 2012 he saw the opportunity to further his career elsewhere.
London Olympics, 2012.[edit]
Adam was asked to host a series of live events at the ExCeL London for the 2012 Summer Olympics. He was the in house stadium presenter for various sports including, Table Tennis, Judo, Weight Lifting and his beloved Boxing. This summer inspired Adam to leave music radio behind and pursue a career covering sport.
Absolute Radio, London.[edit]
Adam returned to radio after the 2012 Summer Olympics, taking up residence at Absolute Radio alongside Ian Wright on the Rock n Roll Football phone in.
Key 103, Manchester.[edit]
Due to family reasons Adam returned to the north west and to music radio where he was expected to take up another Breakfast show residency at Key 103, Manchester. This never materialised, and after experiencing 8 different program controllers in under 3 years, Adam negotiated seeing out the remainder of his contract in Liverpool.
Radio City Talk, Liverpool.[edit]
Moving away from music radio again, Adam set up residence in Liverpool and created a general sports show in one of the most sport mad cities in the world. He quickly became a station favourite welcoming debate from both red and blue halves of the city but with merseyside having a sensational stable of fighting talent too, Adam managed to introduce plenty of Boxing conversation into the narrative. It is here, where he first met Nick Peet. The pair would instantly hit it off and form their brand, Fight Disciples,.
TalkSPORT.[edit]
Adam began his relationship with Talksport in 2014. He would present weekday shows on KEY 103 and Radio City Talk and then shoot down to London to present for Talksport at the weekends. As his popularity grew on the network as did the demand for his time. In 2017, Adam committed full time to the Talksport network, leaving his presenting rolls elsewhere. He has been the driving force behind the stations resurgence covering fight sports with Adam being the leading voice at many live boxing and UFC events. He has covered several Anthony Joshua world title fights, both Wilder vs Fury fights in America and recently he has welcomed the UFC on to the radio as part of his commentary duties. He also hosts "Fight Night" every Saturday.
He still keeps his hand in with the football hosting his own weekly show on a Friday night with Michael Gray (footballer) and he is the main cover presenter for the weekday Sportsbar.
BT SPORT.[edit]
In January 2019, Adam was announced as the lead presenter of "Open Mat", a UFC program for TV, alongside former UFC world title challenger, Dan Hardy. Adam has quickly become the face of the UK UFC coverage with his interview style quickly becoming a favourite with the fans. His popularity hasn't gone unnoticed with his bosses as he is now being used a lot more as part of their boxing coverage too.
Fight Disciples.[edit]
In March 2016, Adam began a podcast with Nick Peet, the former editor of Fighters Only magazine. Fight Disciples aimed to talk to fight fans as if they were listening to their well informed friends in the pub. In April 2017, Fight Disciples won "Best Sports Show" at the British Podcast Awards. They won the same award in April 2018, a feat that no other podcast in any other category has managed to do before or since. In 2018, they won a Radio Academy Awards for "Best Sports Program" beating national radio broadcasters from BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Sports.
The success of the podcast has led to many other business opportunities including the brewing of their own beer.
Personal Life[edit]
He is married to Katie and they have two young children. Catterall also has another son who fathered when he was 19 years old.
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References[edit]
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