Gary King (radio)

Gary King (born Stevenage, England, August 4 1963) is a British radio presenter who has worked for most of the country's best-known stations.

King began his career as a mobile DJ after giving up plans to be an actor and quickly progressed to the London training ground of Radio TopShop. He then joined Radio Luxembourg before becoming the inaugural presenter on the newly-launched Atlantic 252 in 1989 - in a parody of the four-minute warning, his opening words were "mine is the first voice you will ever hear - on Atlantic 252"." Within less than a year, he had been poached by BBC Radio 1.

He presented the weekend early show on Radio 1, progressing eventually to the weekday equivalent and becoming a frequent stand-in for presenters on higher profile shows when they took holidays. In 1991, King spent a number of weeks hosting the prestigious Radio 1 breakfast show when regular DJ Simon Mayo took a period of extended paternity leave.

King left Radio 1 in March 1992 and joined Key 103 in Manchester. He then started a round-robin of stations in London - a spell at Virgin Radio (which re-introduced him to a national audience for a third time) made him the first DJ to work for all three national pop and rock stations - Atlantic 252, Radio 1 and Virgin.

This was followed by a spell at Heart 106.2 in London. He then joined Capital FM - achieving a lifetime's ambition - to host the weekend breakfast show and memorably carded a million London listeners on a number of occasions.

King then worked for Magic 105.4 in London, before leaving at the end of 2005. He then presented a weekly hour-long quiz on London's LBC 97.3, with substantial prizes, which was a success. At the same time he was co-producing a networked 1980s show for commercial radio stations around the UK, entitled "Totally 80s", and in 2006 it won the New York Festival's Gold Medal for Best Regularly Scheduled Music Programme.

Moves into television have been infrequent for King, although he was the voiceover artist on the UK version of 1990s children's gameshow "Fun House" and currently appears on a sporadic basis as an expert in "consumer electronics" for shopping channel QVC. He also occasionally appears on Sky News to comment on showbiz stories currently announces the new version of "Dale's Supermarket Sweep" for ITV1. Gary was covering for regular hosts Salty and Danny Matthews on the North West's Feel Good Breakfast Show on 105.4 Century Radio in March 2008.

Gary final Big Quiz show on London's LBC 97.3 was on Saturday 10th May 2008. On 15th September 2008, King returned to the airwaves of the North West, hooking up with erstwhile Key 103 colleague Steve Penk at The Revolution in Oldham to present the weekday 11am-3pm show. Gary will also be joining to present on the all new look Jazz FM from Monday October 6th 2008.

King is married to Sue and has a son and daughter.

References

Blue Revolution is delighted to announce that for the 2nd year running, 'Totally 80s With Gary King' has picked up an award at the Annual New York Festival Of International Radio Programming & Promotion. After winning Gold at the 2006 ceremony in the 'Best Regularly Scheduled Music Programme' category, this year the show has won Silver for 'Best Oldies/Nostalgia Format' at a lavish ceremony held at The Tribeca Rooftop in Lower Manhattan. "It's an amazing achievement to get such a prestigious award not just once but twice," said Blue Revolution's Managing Director Paul Hollins. Gary King, the show's presenter added, "Wow, so lightning does strike twice. I'm delighted our hard work has been recognised again. I'd also like to take a moment to congratulate all the other winners." Totally 80s, which recently celebrated it's 6th year on air, is a weekly 2-hour programme produced and syndicated by Blue Revolution. It airs on over 25 stations in the UK, Spain, Malta and the Middle East.

External links

* [http://www.mytotally80s.com The Official Totally 80s site.]
* [http://www.lbc973.co.uk/showdj.asp?DJID=30833 Gary King and "The Big Quiz" on LBC 97.3]
* [http://www.radiorewind.co.uk/Gary_King_page.htm Gary King on Radio Rewind - the Radio 1 nostalgia site]
* [http://www.atlantic252.com/149 King speaks the first words on Atlantic 252 via the official tribute site]
* [http://www.capitalradio.com.mt Capital Radio 88.7 (Malta)]