Jamie Crick, long-serving star of Classic FM who helped start Gaydar Radio – obituary

Jamie Crick, who has died aged 57, spent 20 years with Classic FM, introducing the weekday afternoon request show, hosting Opera in the Park and handling listener requests.

He cut a youthful figure, presenting standing up and pacing around the studio floor while encouraging listeners to call in. “OK, so perhaps you don’t want to call,” he told them in his radio voice, an octave lower than his off-air voice. “Well, you can email instead. Or text. Come on, don’t be shy.”

The badgering worked, bringing in suggestions from across the country. “You’ll find no snobbery here,” he promised The Independent in 2012. “We believe that classical music is for everyone, whatever their level of interest.”

What this meant, he added, was that somebody who wanted “that song off the Lloyds Bank ad” would get just that, without an accompanying lecture explaining that Bach’s Wachet auf (Sleepers, Wake) was one of the composer’s more refined works of genius.

One caller’s request for something soothing included a series of worrying gulps and yells. It soon became evident that she was in labour, but unlikely to be so for much longer. Crick wished her all the best and then faded in some Puccini. As the strings swelled, he switched off his microphone and grinned: “Never underestimate the power of a classical composer.”

On another occasion his assistance was requested by the coastguard after a musical mariner off the north Norfolk coast had left his on-board radio transmitter switched to the emergency VHF 16 channel while listening to Classic FM. For 90 minutes no other boats in the area could send out emergency signals until Crick appealed on air for the sailor to switch off his transmitter.

James Leonard Crick was born in London on August 2 1966, the son of Brian Crick, a jazz aficionado, and his wife Janet, née Pringle. He was educated at Christ’s School, Richmond, and at the age of 11 was cast in the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical Evita with Elaine Paige.

He took communication and media studies at the University of Westminster before joining County Sound Radio in Guildford, presenting the Saturday breakfast show. After three years he became a producer at Radio 3, where he learnt the inner workings of broadcasting.

In 1988 he was involved in creating the record for the world’s largest orchestra at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, when Sir Simon Rattle conducted 3,503 musicians, including a dress circle made up entirely of trumpets. It was broken 18 months later by Bramwell Tovey and a 6,452-strong orchestra in Vancouver.

Crick joined Classic FM in 1994, but was abruptly dropped in September 2014. The following month he began guest-presenting on Jazz FM and was soon given a regular slot. Two years later he founded Encore Radio, a digital station that played songs from musicals and films. He also helped to start Gaydar Radio and presented the Sunday breakfast show on Scala Radio.

Elsewhere, he was a compere at outdoor concerts, including one given by the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra for an audience of 25,000 in Sefton Park in August 2013. At home he cooked to Bach’s Double Violin Concerto, telling listeners: “As soon as I hear the first notes, I’m fired up to cut, chop, knead or mix.”

As a keen cyclist he commuted through Hyde Park, though on at least two occasions he ended up in an ambulance rather than in the studio. He also rode around the South Downs, volunteered at the South Downs Centre and was involved with the Poppy Factory in Richmond, which makes Royal British Legion poppies.

Crick, who presented his Jazz FM show the day before he died, is survived by his partner, Tim Growcott.

Jamie Crick, born on August 2 1966, died August 29 2023