David Allan (born 7 August 1940, in

Bury, Lancashire Bury (, ) is a market town on the River Irwell in the Metropolitan Borough of Bury, Greater Manchester, England. which had a population of 81,101 in 2021 while the wider borough had a population of 193,846. The town was originally part of the ...

) is an English broadcaster and journalist, best known for his work as a television

continuity announcer In broadcasting, continuity or presentation (or station break in the U.S. and Canada) is announcements, messages and graphics played by the broadcaster between specific programmes. It typically includes programme schedules, announcement of the ...

and radio presenter.

Radio career

Educated at

Bury Grammar School Bury Grammar School is a 3–18 private day school for boys in Bury, Greater Manchester, England, that has existed since c.1570. It is now part of a group of schools for preschool, junior, senior and sixth form studies. Since 2017, when Bu ...

, Allan spent nine years working in theatre as a

stage manager Stage management is a broad field that is generally defined as the practice of organization and coordination of an event or theatrical production. Stage management may encompass a variety of activities including overseeing of the rehearsal proce ...

before he began broadcasting on the offshore station

Radio 390 Radio 390 (1965–1967) was a pirate radio station on Red Sands Fort, (near Whitstable), a former Maunsell Fort on the Red Sands sandbar in the River Thames estuary. Previously the fort had been used by Radio Invicta (c June 1964 – February 1 ...

in 1966. In 1968, he joined

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

to present

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

programmes, a role he occupied for much of the 1970s and to a lesser extent in the 1980s, also presenting the station's early Sunday morning show from 1989–91 and deputising for the likes of Ray Moore, Chris Stuart and

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 Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

. In 1994, he presented shows on

Country 1035 Country 1035 was a country music based Independent Local Radio station based in London, England. History Announced as Europe's first dedicated country music radio station, Country 1035 began broadcasting across Greater London on 1 September 1 ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, but did not stay long and was a heavy critic of the station's music playlist. From January 1995, he presented country music programmes on Radio 2 again, but was replaced by Bob Harris from April 1999. He also presented a show on

Melody FM Melody Radio was an Independent Local Radio station, broadcast to Greater London between 1990 and 1998, when it was purchased by media group Emap and rebranded as Magic 105.4. History Melody Radio launched on 9 July 1990 on 104.9 FM in Gr ...

, and subsequently returned to Country 1035 and was heard at weekends on

PrimeTime Radio PrimeTime Radio was a national UK radio station. Launched in 2000, it was part of Saga Radio Group until it became independent in 2004. It operated as a sister station to Saga DAB radio, Saga Digital radio. The line up featured a variety of pres ...

before the station closed down. In 2002, he won an International Broadcaster award from the American Country Music Association. Allan also works as a country music journalist, having regularly written opinion pages in the magazine ''Country Music People'' and presented country music programming for BBC TV, including coverage of the Wembley Country Music Festival.

Television career

Allan began freelancing as a network continuity announcer for

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

in 1969 and became a regular announcer three years later, remaining with the BBC presentation department until 1994. While announcing for BBC One and BBC Two, Allan also announced for

BBC World Service Television BBC World Service Television, often abbreviated to WSTV (World Service Television), was the name of two BBC international satellite television channels between 1991 and 1995. It was the BBC's first foray into worldwide television broadcasting. In ...

during the early 1990s. In April 2012, Allan returned to the BBC as the promotional voice for a season of 1970s-themed programming, including a return to his continuity role on 21 April 2012. From 1995, he was heard announcing for

Carlton Television Carlton Television (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV franchise holder for London and the surrounding counties from 9.25am every Monday to 5.15pm every Friday. The company is now managed with London Weekend Tele ...

on freelance duties, and during the late 1990s and early 2000s, was heard across much of the ITV network as an announcer for overnight programming. Since 2000, he has also worked as an announcer for the British version of

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, working alongside former BBC continuity colleagues

David Miles David Kenneth Miles (born 1959) is a British economist. Born in Swansea, he has spent his working life in London, in teaching, business and the public sector. He is a professor at Imperial College London, and head of economic analysis at the ...

and

Charles Nove Charles Alexis Nove (born 29 June 1960 in London, England) is a British radio broadcaster and voice artist, who currently presents the weekday breakfast show for classical music station Magic Classical. Earlier in his career, he was a newsreader ...

. He is currently providing continuity for Military History Channel in the UK.

References

External links

Official site
1940 births BBC Radio 2 presenters English radio DJs English music journalists Living people Offshore radio broadcasters People educated at Bury Grammar School People from Bury, Greater Manchester Radio and television announcers {{UK-radio-bio-stub