East Finchley musician and DJ Pat ‘Have Mercy’ Leacock is putting a smile on faces with hot97uk radio station under the tagline ‘Cheering up the Nation…together’
Pat ‘Have Mercy’ Leacock, who was once named the UK’s 16th happiest person, set up hot97uk with his DJ brother Lee “Legend” Leacock during lockdown in the summer of 2020.
Operating under the tagline ‘Cheering up The Nation..Together’ it has already gathered listeners from N2 to Dubai, Greece, and Israel with a blend of “fantastic” music, quizzes and community shout outs.
The MOBO award-winner, who also works as a mentor for special needs pupils at King Alfred’s School, co-hosted the East Finchley Festival for five years and hosted comedy nights at The Phoenix Cinema.
He had just started a tour of East Finchley’s pubs and restaurants with his band The MercyZone when everything got cancelled
“I had set up a tour to promote the local businesses at Madden’s, Five Bells, Bufi’s Pizzeria and The Two Brother’s restaurant, then the whole world went into lockdown on the second week,” he says.
“I was talking to my brother who is a DJ about how we could get some interaction, to co-ordinate the community support that was happening, and get people to join together in lockdown.
“We said ‘why don’t we get together to do our own radio station with an ethos of bringing communities together, playing great music and offering some fun. We can do that!”