Meet Grace, the Wee Toon voice of radio and TV

If you have heard a familiar voice while watching television or listening to the radio, it probably belonged to Grace Nicoll.

 

The Campbeltown woman's dulcet tones have been gracing our screens and airwaves for years as her media career took off, with her landing a whole host of radio presenting roles as well as doing continuity work for Channel 4 – providing programme information between shows.

 

Soon her voice will be heard by many more people as she has been announced as the presenter of a new weekend afternoon show on Heart Scotland radio.

 

From May 6, she will be getting listeners excited for the weekend and soundtracking their Saturdays and Sundays with a 12pm to 4pm slot.

 

Grace's radio career began at Campbeltown-based station Argyll FM, where she presented shows from 2007 to 2010.

 

After leaving Campbeltown Grammar School, Grace did an honours degree in broadcast production at the University of the West of Scotland.

 

This led to travel reporting work, street team positions and presenting roles on West FM, Clyde One, Capital, Your Radio, Fix Radio and, most recently, MFR (Moray Firth Radio), where she worked for almost seven years.

 

During this time, Grace, who lives in Inverness, was also a contributor to BBC Social, a digital platform aimed at developing creative new talent.

 

In October 2022, she became a continuity broadcaster with Channel 4, something she says she “got into by accident”.

 

“Bauer Media, which owns MFR, had made lots of cuts across the UK and I was left with no job and next to no options in my field in Inverness,” she explained, “so I applied for every job in radio going, all over the UK.”

 

After getting eight “knock-backs”, Grace was sure she would be unsuccessful when applying for the Channel 4 role but, after three rounds of interviews up against hundreds of people, she was delighted to be given the job.

 

She then moved to London, leaving her boyfriend David in Inverness, but with crippling property rental prices in the UK capital, in addition to the couple's mortgage for their Inverness home, Grace found herself struggling financially.

 

It came at the perfect time when she was then head-hunted to take on the role at Heart Radio, which comes after major investment from media company Global which sees the expansion of its broadcast centre in Glasgow.

 

The only issue was that Grace was now living in London and returning to Inverness at weekends.

 

“When Global got in touch about the Scotland job, I was thrilled but also really wanted to keep doing continuity – it was really fun and so cool to be the voice to the nation – but I can’t be in two places at once,” she said.

 

“I explained the situation to Channel 4 and they were hugely accommodating and allowed me to continue working for them freelance from home in Inverness on weekdays – with the exception of live shifts where I’ll travel to London once a month – and I will travel from Inverness to Glasgow to do my Heart Scotland shows at the weekend.

 

“Channel 4 has really been a fantastic company to work for and really do push for diversity and allowing opportunities to people that are not necessarily in the central belts.

 

“And it’s the same with Heart, they have given me a show that allows me to keep my home and life in Inverness and still be able to be on air.”

 

She added: “I'd like to thank my boyfriend David for being the best support. He told me to go for it, despite it meaning I'd have to leave Inverness.”

 

Grace can't wait to start soundtracking people's weekends with legendary tunes that will get them going, motivate them and make them feel good.

 

You can listen to Heart Scotland on smart speakers, global players or via listening apps like TuneIn and, in Glasgow, on DAB and FM.

 

“I’ve learned from my work through the BBC Social, Channel 4 and now Global with Heart Scotland that, even if you’re many miles away from Edinburgh or Glasgow, you can still get huge opportunities in media,” said Grace.

 

“I'd like to encourage other people from Campbeltown to realise that there's something out there if they want to do a career in media, specifically radio.”