Comic takes over Absolute channel for a full weekend

Frank Skinner is to get his own radio station.

Absolute Radio 90s will be renamed Absolute Radio Frank to mark the comedian’s 60th birthday next weekend, and feature a weekend of shows taken from his seven years at the station.

Skinner hosts a Saturday morning show on Absolute’s main station with Alun Cochrane and Emily Dean, which will air as normal on January 28 – Skinner’s actual 60th birthday – before the digital sister station will turn over its schedules to the comic.

Highlights include a two-hour interview special with Skinner by his friend and fellow West Brom fan Adrian Chiles, which will air from 6pm to 8pm on the Saturday, and be repeated on Sunday morning.

Content director Paul Sylvester said: ‘Frank Skinner is one of the linchpins on which Absolute Radio has been built. 

‘He entertains 1million listeners every weekend and his podcast has now been downloaded 30 million times. Nobody has ever created a radio station dedicated to one of its own presenters, but Frank’s special birthday is the perfect opportunity to share some of his hundreds of finest moments.’

[Pedant alert: You don’t build things on linchpins, they hold things together]

Published: 19 Jan 2017