Gary Davies

Gary Davies (born in Manchester on 13 December 1957) was one of the UK's most popular disc jockeys of the 1980s.

Early career

After working in marketing for a mail order company and managing a Manchester disco, Davies began his broadcasting career at Manchester's Piccadilly Radio in 1979 before joining BBC Radio 1 in 1982 to present a Saturday late night show. Within weeks he was on the roster to present "Top Of The Pops" on BBC television alongside his Radio 1 colleagues. He initially spoke with strong hints of a Mancunian accent, but by the mid-1980s he had adopted an exaggerated mid-Atlantic twang, which would become the object of much parody by the early 1990s (ironically his lunchtime slot would eventually be taken by the unashamedly Mancunian-sounding Mark Radcliffe and Marc 'Lard' Riley, in an era when northern English voices had become dominant at Radio 1 and mid-Atlantic accents had largely come to be seen as very outmoded).

The Bit in the Middle

In 1984 Davies was given the slot for which he became one of radio's biggest stars when he took over the Radio 1 lunchtime show. He called it "The Bit In The Middle" and it consisted of humorous features, such as "The Day-To-Day Challenge", in which the same person would go on air each weekday to answer quiz questions and try to upgrade their prize, and "Willy On The Plonker", which involved a crazed piano-playing of a well-known hit for listeners to identify.

The show was hugely important in the 1980s as, before the new UK Top 40 was announced on Sundays (its day of compilation), it was always Davies who got the job of revealing the week's chart movements on a Tuesday afternoon.

There was a marketability about Davies as he was arguably alone in being regarded by female listeners as a heart-throb. Though the station was young and trendy and a big favourite with pop-loving kids, the male DJs generally did not come into the 'hunk' category and therefore Davies was projected as the eligible bachelor of the station, complete with catchphrase "Young, Free and Single" and saucy jingles which went "Wooh! Gary Davies".

Davies became popular on the Radio 1 roadshows throughout the 1980s but his own show rarely changed until it was rebranded in 1991 as "Let's Do Lunch", with new features, including "Spin & Win" (a variation on "Willy On The Plonker", with a cryptic clue replacing the frenetic piano work) and the "Classic Track", which was the one time of the week Radio 1 played a piece of classical music. Previous feature "The Sloppy Bit" (a dedication followed by love song) was unchanged but renamed "Lots Of Love".

With updated predictive technology allowing the chart rundown to be moved forward to Sundays from 4 October 1987 onwards, Davies did countdowns of the American chart and the UK album chart instead — curiously the US chart he featured was not the official Billboard one, but an airplay-only chart compiled by Radio and Records magazine, allegedly introduced to suit the tastes of US radio stations who did not want to play rap singles, which at the time were selling very well but receiving little mainstream airplay, in their chart countdowns.

Weekends

In 1992, Davies quit the lunchtime show and moved to weekend breakfast, keeping a selection of the features. He also started a Sunday late night "no frills" slot, with the music taking over, and this was regarded as easily his best radio work. The "Lots of Love" feature moved to this show, with dedications being read out over the music to Dances With Wolves.

Leaving Radio 1

In 1993, with a new regime at Radio 1 wishing to squeeze out the older presenters representing a past era, Davies was sacked. His last record was "Layla" by Derek and the Dominoes — which had also been his first record on the station eleven years earlier. The next show on Sunday mornings was by then presented by Danny Baker, who began his show by saying sarcastically that if you wanted to hear "Layla" over and over again you could always listen to Virgin.

The last two years of Davies' Radio 1 career allowed him the opportunity to display his love of music; higher-profile shows often negated the need for DJs to be heard caring for the songs they were playing, concentrating instead on the personality side of the programming. Davies got his opportunity to display his musical knowledge - he was, for example, the first DJ to play Radiohead on Radio 1, when a copy of their Drill EP was sent to him.

Virgin Radio

In January 1994, Davies moved to Virgin Radio, presenting their Sunday morning "Classic Tracks" slot from 10am-2pm. The show later went out from 9am-1pm & he remained here until early 1995.

After a brief sabbatical, Davies then rejoined Virgin Radio in November 1995, taking over a Sunday late night show from 10pm-2am. This gave him the chance to revive his Sunday night format. Davies then went on to present the Weekday late night slot in January 1999, where he remained until December 2000.

Recent Work

He was most recently heard on the Real Radio and the Century Radio network, presenting a CD chart show every Sunday from 4-7pm. However, this finished in mid-2008.

Jingles

The "Ooh Gary Davies on your radio" jingle, was by the 1980s band Kane Gang, and was developed into the "Byker Grove" theme tune for BBC Television.