Gary Crowley

Gary Crowley is a broadcaster and DJ who has been an important figure on the London music scene throughout his career.

When he was at school in the late Seventies Crowley started a punk fanzine titled 'The Modern World', interviewing some of the most important bands of the day including the Sex Pistols, the Clash and the Jam.

After leaving school he took up a junior position at the Decca record label in their iconic building at Lambeth Bridge in London. A short time later he moved jobs to take over from Danny Baker as the telephone receptionist for the New Musical Express at their offices in [Carnaby Street] . At the time the weekly music paper was at the very centre of the punk explosion under the editorship of Neil Spencer and featured writers such as Julie Birchill, Tony Parsons and Nick Kent.

Crowley's next employment was with Clive Bank's independent plugging and publishing company and through connections there he was offered a job as a DJ on London's independent commercial station Capital Radio. At the age of 19 he became UK radio's youngest DJ.

TV presenting soon followed, with a Saturday morning childrens show on ITV called Fun Factory and as the presenter for the fondly remembered Runaround spin-off Poparound which ran through 1985 and 86.

His TV career continued through the Nineties with the popular 'post-pub' music show The Beat ran on ITV from 1991-94 and in 2008 Gary Crowley currently presents on Rockworld TV.

Crowley's DJ broadcasting career began with his Capital Radio break and continued with an influential show called "Magic Box" on the BBC's London station.

In 1997 Crowley left the BBC on what was now Greater London Radio to join up as the star presenter on London's first "indie" station XFM, the product of a team including NME journalist Steve Lamacq, programme controller Sammy Jacobs, record industry mogul Chris Parry and also featured Ricky Gervias as "head of speech".

XFM's launch date was set for 1 September 1997. The day before launch, Princess Diana died. The broadcast test tape was discontinued and as the whole country went into mourning, Xfm’s management considered delaying the launch. But a week of promotional live events meant that financially it had to go ahead as planned.

So it was that at midday September 1 Gary Crowley opened a new radio station with the words "welcome to Xfm, broadcasting on 104.9. We find ourselves starting a radio station today in circumstances we wouldn’t have wished, following the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. As a mark of respect to someone we saw as someone going her own way… we wish to dedicate the activities ofourlaunch day to her memory.”

Crowley continued to present a mid-morning show until his old employers and XFM rival Capital Radio bought the station. He was offered an overnight "graveyard shift" show and decided to quit and reurn to the BBC London, where he continues to broadcast a two hour weekly show on Saturday evenings.

External links

* http://wwwwww.myspace.com/garycrowley

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