Dave Pearce

Dave Pearce has a long record as a DJ on pirate, commercial and BBC radio, and in the clubs.

His first taste of radio came in 1981 as a DJ on the popular pirate station Radio Jackie in South London, while he was still at school.

Dave's passion for dance and black music saw him grab an opportunity to work behind the scenes at BBC Radio London where he persuaded bosses to give him a late night show playing all the top club tunes. He then helped create the BBC's first hip hop show, which became a cult late night show and helped launch the careers of previously unknown rap acts.

After Dave persuaded the BBC station to hook up with top New York station WBLS for live satellite shows, he was approached by BBC television to help create their first dance show 'Behind The Beat'. He went on to present a nightly show for young Londoners on BBC GLR for 3 years, focusing on dance, acid house and rap.

Dave became an A&R director for Polydor Records before moving on to set up his own record label, Reachin Records.

Then came Dave's time at Kiss, where he hooked up with Gordon Mac who was putting together a licence application for the station. Once the application was successful, Dave and Gordon presented the drivetime show. He then moved on to front Kiss 100FM's most listened to show 'The Dangerous Breakfast'.

Dave has also presented a weekly music video music guide for Mariella Frostrup's ITV networked Video View.

Dave joined Radio 1 in April 1995, initially hosting the Early Breakfast Show on weekday mornings, moving to weekend mornings in October of the same year. Dave has been presenting Dance Anthems on Sunday nights since October 1997 and now he joins us on Essentials every Friday night at 10pm for an hour of trance and dance.