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Ray Cokes

Biography

Raymond Christopher Cokes (born 24 February 1958) is an English television presenter.

Cokes' father was an officer in the Royal Navy, and was stationed at various navy bases around the world. When Cokes was fifteen, the family permanently resettled back to Britain. At age 20, Cokes moved to Belgium, where he took on various jobs, including as a DJ on a local radio station. This led to a job as a music presenter on Belgian national TV channel RTBF, on which he presented the show Rox Box in 1982. With growing reputation, more music video shows followed, on Sky Channel and Music Box.

When MTV Europe launched in 1987, Cokes became a video jockey, regularly co-presenting alongside Marcel Vanthilt.

Between 1992 and 1995, Cokes hosted MTV Europe's live television series MTV's Most Wanted, an award-winning daily show which soon became the most popular on channel with its zoo TV format. The studio crew were as big as the celebrities who appeared on the show, including Rob & Andy, the cameramen; floor manager, Nina, and Pathetic Pat. Each night (Tuesday to Friday), musical stars performed live as well as competitions and on-air phone calls to viewers. The team wanted to end the show at its peak, with the last six months with Will MacDonald as producer. MacDonald was associated with Chris Evans on many of his TV projects. The last musical act were The Cure, who let Cokes play with them on their final song. Other guests that night included Bjork and Bono from U2.

After a two-month sabbatical, MTV decided to spend money on a big once-a-week spectacular called X Ray Vision. Instead of coming from the studio, it used the first floor of the MTV building in Camden Lock.

After several weeks, the show went on location to Hamburg. It was billed to feature punk band Die Toten Hosen playing live on screen; however, a local journalist wrote that the band would be there in person. A large number of their fans turned up and were disappointed to discover the false advertising. They vented their anger by throwing glass bottles and beer at a confused Cokes and camera crew, who were unaware of what had been written in the press. For the safety of his crew, Cokes decided to end the show early. MTV used him as a scapegoat, and a week later the show went out for a final time, bringing Cokes' time at MTV to an end, after nine years.