Pete Price - Controversy

Controversy

Pete was praised for abandoning his midweek show on one occasion in February 2004 to go to the aid of a 13-year-old caller who was threatening to kill himself. In his Liverpool Echo column, Pete has claimed that he was once asked to murder someone, but declined.

In January 2006, Pete's show on sister station Magic 1548 hit the headlines in Liverpool when a regular caller known as "Terry" stopped responding live on air during a debate. After Merseyside Police refused to check on the man's safety, Pete again abandoned the show (music was played after he left the St. John's Beacon studios) to travel to the man's home. Unfortunately, as he arrived, Pete saw an ambulance outside the house. Concerned listeners had already gained entry into the man's home and found that he had died from a suspected heart attack. Soon after this, the Monday-Thursday show left Magic 1548 and was moved to Radio City 96.7's late night phone-in.

Also in September 2007, an extract from his autobiography was published in the Liverpool Echo, which revealed that Price had abused cocaine, although he "handed himself in" to the police shortly after through shame.

In October 2007, it was reported by the Liverpool Echo that Price had received a "homophobic" death threat via text live on air. The sender was arrested shortly afterwards when police were contacted immediately after the receipt of the threatening text. They also reported that "on another occasion, a man tried to break into Radio City's headquarters, because he had become convinced Price had tried to kill John Lennon"

In January 2008 Pete tried to find his natural father by using the networking skills of an imprisoned Sicilian Mafia boss Bernardo Provenzano in the hope that "The Don" can help him trace his dad. His biological mother, upon restoring contact with him, give him a photograph of his biological father: a Sicilian prisoner of war held near Warrington. Pete himself said that the Mafia must have the best information network in the world.