John "Sean" Coyle (born 1946) is a Northern Irish radio broadcaster from

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

, Northern Ireland who, until 2019, worked for

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

on BBC Radio Ulster and

BBC Radio Foyle BBC Radio Foyle ( ga, BBC Raidió Feabhail) is a BBC Northern Ireland local radio station, serving County Londonderry in Northern Ireland. It is named after the River Foyle which flows through Derry, the city where the station is based. T ...

, hosting ''The Sean Coyle Show'' from 10:30am - Noon, Monday to Friday from the Foyle Studios on the Northland Road,

Broadcasting in Northern Ireland

Coyle grew up in Derry and had a variety of jobs before he fell into broadcasting. One story Coyle himself regularly told is that he owned a shop in Waterford, but while listening to Gerry Anderson on the radio he fell in love with what he was doing and sent Anderson a tape of his impressions.

Henry Cooper Sir Henry Cooper (3 May 19341 May 2011) was a British heavyweight boxer, best remembered internationally for a 1963 fight in which he knocked down a young Cassius Clay before the fight was stopped because of a cut eye from Clay's punches. Coo ...

and Barry McGuigan were two of his best subjects. ''"When I heard his impersonation of Barry I knew he was doing something that nobody else had done. Sean had correctly observed that Barry always sounds like he is talking to you from a great distance away. I knew that Sean had something different, that he was really good, very clever."'' -Anderson on Coyle.

Radio career

Sean was Gerry's producer for many years, the "straight" sidekick to the more creative, comic and unpredictable Anderson, working for the corporation for a total of 35 years. They were a recognised and formidable double team who often took the programme outside the studio and occasionally outside Ireland, most notably in 1991 on a tour of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Sean took over ''The Gerry Anderson Show'' following

Gerry Gerry is both a surname and a masculine or feminine given name. As a given name, it is often a short form (hypocorism) of Gerard, Gerald or Geraldine. Notable people with the name include: Surname *Elbridge Gerry (1744–1814), fifth US vice presi ...

's passing in 2014 having filled in for Gerry from 2013. In August 2019 it was announced that Coyle was to leave BBC Radio Ulster and

as part of wider schedule changes, however after backlash from listeners, the BBC relented and moved Sean from this mid-morning slot to a new afternoon programme which will only air on BBC Radio Foyle each weekday from 3.00pm - 5.00pm until late Spring 2020. His new afternoon show started on BBC Radio Foyle on Monday 7 October 2019.

References

External links

''Sean Coyle''
(BBC Radio Foyle) {{DEFAULTSORT:Coyle, Sean Living people Radio presenters from Northern Ireland Mass media people from Derry (city) 1946 births