World-renowned DJs and MTV celebrities embrace Chesterfield radio station founder's drive for positive upbeat music

Greg Beckett says he is excited for the future of HITS1 Radio which he launched three years ago using £2,000 of his savings.

He said: “I’ve been a lifelong DJ and had many residencies within the Chesterfield town centre, but I’d come to a stage of my life where I was undergoing severe depression of which I spent many nights suffering in silence alone.

"It’s hard to fully acknowledge a trigger of depression, other than feeling a state of anxiety, worthlessness and loneliness for probably multiple complex reasons. I had also just come out of a really poor relationship.

"One evening I decided to try and pull myself out of it by doing something I loved. I then spent a portion of my savings and transformed my dad’s garage into a radio station studio.

"It started as a small idea with just a few evening shows presented by me and a couple of close friends who I trained. But once it got out into the open it very quickly became a serious structure which, as of today, can be listened to on 20 different platforms including our very own in-house designed app, website and Alexa devices.

“The radio station hosts 52 DJs which includes world renowned icons such as Sam Divine, Martin Garrix, Oliver Heldens, Afrojack, Nicky Romero, Paul Van Dyk, to name a few.

“More recently we are so excited to have dedicated featured shows from supremely popular celebrities such as Mia Boardman from MTV’s Teen Mom UK and Abbie Holborn from MTV’s Geordie Shore.”

The radio station model has been carefully designed to steer away from the many aspects of negativity in life. Greg said: “We have zero news bulletins, all our presenters are trained to speak positively and bright at all times and all music includes a positive upbeat energy.”

Regular interaction from more than 20,000 people makes Greg excited for the future of his station. He said: “We have an expansion plan which should see us go from 20k to well over 400k very quickly over the next 12 months.

"We are in search for national sponsorships, and once generated enough revenue to then become a DAB Digital Radio station. We have already had to upgrade our network of online streaming servers five times over the past two years to cope with the demand of listeners who join to listen to the broadcast.”

Seven months after launching on air, HITS1 Radio relocated to bigger premises in Chesterfield.

Greg, 31, said: “ We very quickly outgrew the garage studio, as many DJ visitors was slightly off-putting for my parents.

“In June 2020 we invested in a small box room in the town centre, it was compact but the sound was incredible, and still room to host a main presenter and two guest mics the opposite side of the desk. This cost a further £2k.

“In March 2021, at a further cost of 2k, we upgraded to a larger premises which hosts a triangle shaped centre console, one side for main DJ/ presenter with Pioneer DJ decks, a side for guest DJ with more DJ decks, and then the final side hosts two guest microphones for interviewing guests.

"I can’t put into words how excited I am for future of the radio station, and would like to thank the incredible friends which helped me get to this stage, some of whom have now left. Quite a number of friends are still involved in the station to date, which includes Stu Allan (produces a weekly show and helped build the studios), Jamie Bell (best friend and local DJ), Adam Bennett (commonly known as producer Tokyo54), Lee Glasby (professional radio personality and voiceover artist of the station), Ryan Clark and Ryan Wildman (who also helped build the studios and are featured on shows on the station).

Greg added: “The end to the story is the pleasure and support which came behind playing music, receiving hundreds of positive messages from fans and the hours and hours of positive energy consumed building the radio station made me fight off depression without medication.

"It also saw me gain confidence to get myself out the house, which led me to meet a beautiful supportive girlfriend, Rachel Fox, who I am still with today, a great personality of a stepson, and I now have two beautiful children of my own – Olly, 15 months, and another son, who is due to be born any day now (his due date is April 15).”