Meet the Emmy-Nominated broadcaster Winchester born Rick Adams

Radio and TV personality Rick Adams joined the hospital radio at the Royal Hampshire County Hospital as well as launching a station at Peter Symonds College more than 30 years ago.

Since then, the Kings Worthy resident has gone on to present shows such as The Big Breakfast on Channel 4, Crazy Cottage on ITV, the National Lottery for the BBC, Amazing Animals on National Geographic and co-hosted the Kid’s Choice Awards alongside Whitney Houston.

Rick’s radio break occurred when he was working as a tea boy at a Bournemouth station while at university. He said: “One of the DJ’s was fired for being a bit slow on live phone ins and for saying some bad words on air. I was always coming in with a tray of tea and fading down the faders to save this guy’s bottom.

“Unfortunately, they let him go but I got his job. All my friends were out having parties and I was doing this radio station live across Dorset and Hampshire for four hours every night, locking up a multi-million-pound radio station at the age of 19.”

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Rick has been nominated for an Emmy twice for his show Virtually Rick on Spectrum News 1 where the TV personality characterised a mad professor to explain concepts such as why people should vote or get vaccinated.

The presenter said: “My boss thought I was really smart and knew I could draw really well so wanted to do something really radical with virtual reality to make some stories and explain things. We figured out how I could draw objects and walk around them with a crew with a camera and explain these concepts, draw them and turn them into 3D.”

Rick was Emmy nominated for an episode showing people why they should compost and for the whole Virtually Rick series itself.

Mr Adams added: “Sadly I didn’t get them but I’ll still be Emmy nominated for the rest of my life. I didn’t see it coming at all. I was filming in a swimming pool at the top of the slide and a friend of mine phoned up and said I’d been nominated. I nearly dropped the phone and fell in the swimming pool.”

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After an array of jobs in the USA, the 51-year-old has returned home to Winchester to be with friends and family. On November 4, Rick received a distinguished award from the Society of Professional Journalists LA in a virtual ceremony.

Rick continued: “It was just an affirmation that it’s nice to be home and I can still do really well out there and do really well here.

“I’m still going to go out and do shows sometimes but I’ve always been happy here in Winchester, it feels like home.”

The broadcasting star now plans to develop his own material and is currently writing a sitcom while settling back into the city. Rick can be contacted on his Instagram page @iamrickadams. For more go to RickAdamsOnline.com.