Colin Derrick Berry (born 29 January 1946) is a British

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

presenter A presenter is a person or organization responsible for the running of a public event, or someone who conveys information on media via a broadcasting outlet. Presenter may refer to: People * News presenter, person who presents news during a new ...

and newsreader, best known for his many years at

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content ...

Career

Early years

Berry began his radio career reading news on

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

in 1965. Before that he had performed administrative duties at

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire but only on weekdays as ABC Weekend Television was it ...

and

Westward Television Westward Television was the first ITV franchise-holder for the South West of England. It held the franchise from 29 April 1961 until 31 December 1981. After a difficult start, Westward Television provided a popular, distinctive and highly regar ...

and went on to do similar for Radio Caroline. After the Marine Offences Act came into force Berry spent time with more administrative duties for the newly opened

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV network. Until 1974, this was prima ...

while working as a club DJ, moving on to work in record promotion, and BBC Radio Medway as a Saturday afternoon presenter. He also spent the summer of 1971 as an announcer for HTV. Berry had a brief stint with

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

writing and presenting programme trails, before joining

as an announcer/presenter in 1973, where he stayed on the staff for thirty-three years, presenting '' Night Ride'', ''The Late Show'', ''Music Through Midnight'', ''European Pop Jury'', ''Band Parade'', ''The Early Show'', ''You & The Night & The Music'' and countless other shows and concerts. He also deputised for most of the main daytime presenters, including

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 week ...

, Jimmy Young and David Hamilton. During this lengthy period Berry presented programmes for

BFBS The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselv ...

, and also Inflight Productions for which he remains on the list of presenters. Berry was the UK spokesman for the Eurovision Song Contest for many years, reading out the country's voting results. This was a role he held between 1977 and 2002, with the exceptions of 1980 and 1998. He was also the stand-by television commentator, in case the line of Terry Wogan was lost. This never happened, though it nearly did on one occasion, just 30 seconds before the show began. Berry also appeared on other shows including '' The Generation Game'', ''

Blankety Blank ''Blankety Blank'' is a British comedy game show which started in 1979 and is still running today, albeit with some sizeable gaps. The original series ran from 18 January 1979 to 12 March 1990 on BBC1, hosted first by Terry Wogan from 1979 ...

'' and '' Bargain Hunt''.

Freelance

After going freelance in 2006, Berry continued reading the news on Radio 2 until September 2012, when big changes occurred resulting in the majority of Radio 2 news summaries being read by journalists. His last bulletin was at 3am on 8 September 2012. Having presented late night Saturdays on

BBC Three Counties Radio BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC's local radio station serving the counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Grove Park in Dunstable. According ...

from 2004, during 2009 and 2010 Berry presented a weekly show for

BBC Local Radio BBC Local Radio (also referred to as Local BBC Radio) is the BBC's local and regional radio division for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of forty stations. History The popularity of pirate radio was to challenge a change within ...

across the Eastern Counties - ''The Saturday Club'': 6 to 9pm, playing music from the 1960s and 1970s. Until 2019, he had an occasional series for BBC Three Counties Radio - ''A Little Light Music'', along with other music shows on or around bank holidays. He has also been heard periodically on ''The Vintage Top 40 Show'' on various BBC local stations at 5pm on Sundays. Berry was the regular cover for

Richard Spendlove Richard Spendlove MBE (born 16 June 1939) is a retired British radio presenter/producer television writer. Life and work Spendlove was born in Carlton in Nottinghamshire. He worked for British Railways for 35 years, and in 1963 was appointe ...

's long-running music and phone-in show on BBC local radio in the east and south-east of England on Saturday nights for a few years until his final show on 29 April 2017. He is represented by BigFish Media for his voiceover work.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Berry, Colin 1946 births BBC newsreaders and journalists BBC Radio 2 presenters Offshore radio broadcasters Living people People from Welwyn Garden City