Tarrant rival 'offered £1.2m'

Capital Radio has admitted trying to poach a rival of their star presenter Chris Tarrant with a reported £1 million-plus offer.

Tarrant, 56, has five months remaining on his contract and the London station is searching desperately for a top DJ to take on his breakfast show.

His rival Bam Bam, real name Peter Poulton, on London dance music station Kiss 100 is believed to have been offered £1.2million to move to the mainstream station. But he has turned down the offer for now.

The secretive Kiss DJ - he never gives interviews and there is only one available publicity picture - will remain in the frame for the Capital-breakfast job. His contract at Kiss, where his show is the most popular among young Londoners, runs until early next year.

Capital confirmed it had been in talks with 31-year-old Bam Bam as part of its strategy for the station's future. But London's most popular breakfast show, with 1.5 million listeners, remains up for grabs.

A spokeswoman said: "We have been in discussions with Bam Bam for quite a while now, he has expressed an interest in joining Capital. But it did not work out."

Sources said he turned down a package worth about £1.2 million to stay at Kiss for the time being.

The spokeswoman insisted Bam Bam had not been offered Tarrant's job. She said: "It was not the breakfast slot that was under discussion - it was not even a daytime slot.

"We are in discussion with lots of people. But we cannot even confirm yet if Chris Tarrant will definitely stop presenting the breakfast show."

If he does quit as expected, suggested replacements include Davina McCall, Ant and Dec and Capital's Neil Fox. Capital would welcome Bam Bam bringing some of his younger listeners with him.

He has been presenting his awardwinning Kiss breakfast show since 1999, and is a far more anarchic DJ than Tarrant. He has 854,000 listeners, latest figures show, and enjoys a 22 per cent share of the 15 to 24-year-old audience, compared to Capital's 18.1 per cent and Radio 1's 7.8 per cent share of that age range.

In 2001, Bam Bam used his rival's name to set up a website called christarrant.com, asking visitors to predict when Tarrant would retire. The Capital DJ's spokesman described it as "pathetic".

Tarrant, who is credited with bringing in 15 per cent of the station's profits, planned to quit last autumn but signed another one-year deal that guaranteed him an annual £1.3 million and a 7am start.