XLR Radio
In Memoriam — Ben Chester
Founder of Countywide Radio
It is with deep sadness that we have to share the news that the amazing founder of Countywide Radio, Ben, passed away at around 10pm on Thursday 18 June 2026.
Ben was with his best friend, Waron, who had been by his side throughout the last three weeks while Ben was being cared for at Wigan Hospital.
Things had started to look more positive. Ben had suffered triple organ failure, but his heart seemed to be recovering well. Only yesterday, he was his usual chatty self. However, overnight Ben’s condition took a serious turn for the worse, and the medical team made the difficult decision to stop further interventions and focus solely on keeping him comfortable.

As the lights dimmed on the ward, Ben drifted off to sleep and peacefully passed away.
As for Countywide Radio, the Chair of the Management Committee, Mark Jones, along with the rest of the committee, will be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss the future of the station.
Ben personally funded Countywide Radio, and Mark is not currently in a position to continue doing that himself. However, Mark is hopeful that together the team can find a solution and keep Countywide Radio on the air as a lasting tribute to everything Ben built and believed in.

XLR Radio also broadcasts our Breakfast show to Countywide Radio and a number of our presenters have broadcast on Countywide when it was Wigan FM. Our thoughts are with Ben’s family, friends, and everyone whose lives he touched. He will be greatly missed.
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Wayne Russell

Wayne Russell

About Wayne Russell

Wayne is Married to Ruth for over 45 years (no parole) 4 kids, 8 grand kids and a cat ( not necessarily in that order)

He has finished his 50th show at XLR since he returned for my second stint. He tells us, "the more I get into it the more I like it. Made some great friends here and reconnected with others all over the world. "

Wayne is currently working on creating some AI generated Murder Mysteries which is taking all my time right now

You might not know but Wayne was a Detective with Derbyshire Police from 1975 - 2007 and has been a professional actor and presenter since that time.

Old hat now but he won the Best Actor Accolade at the Los Angeles Reel Film festival in 2010 for his lead role in a full length feature film "Curio" and have also been nominated 5 times for Best Supporting Actor.

Wayne was lucky enough to be a lead actor in the hugely successful Radio Drama, Pod to Pluto which topped the Apple Sci Fi Comedy charts in 5 different countries including South Korea!!!

In recent weeks he has been catching up with many friends in the industry and recorded a number of fascinating interviews which will be aired right here on XLR on the Music Box show. So keep them ears open.

Wayne really wishes he could do more for this great station but, sadly, he tells us he cant.