Our Man Friday - Smooth Talking DJ
Friday, 3 February 2006
OUR MAN FRIDAY - SMOOTH TALKING DJ
Our man Friday is the most recognizable voice in radio; his scintillating, deep as a rolling river tone, makes him an instant hit with the ladies! They reckon he was born with a microphone in his hand, who could it be?
Find out who he is at 3.20pm!
Our Man Friday was Tony Fenton the popular DJ with Today FM.
Tony Fenton's successful career in radio started as a childhood dream. In his early teens he listened to the pioneers of commercial radio on Radio Luxembourg, Radio Caroline and BBC Radio One - "the greats" as Tony would describe them - the people who would influence his own eventual unique style." Benny Brown & Rob Jones were my heroes at that time - they were really smooth, great broadcasters and fantastic entertainers. Simon Bates on BBC Radio One was a great orator - all these guys inspired me: made me want to be disc jockey." says Tony.
However after leaving school it wasn't easy to find work as a DJ, so Tony began working as a Carpenter by day, while trying to get night time work as a DJ in clubs.
In the seventies as a teenager there was little to aspire to in commercial radio. Larry Gogan, (who Tony would eventually work alongside) was the sole bastion of pop music radio in Ireland - with contributions from the likes of Pat Kenny & Ken Stuart. 2FM, the Super Pirates and legalised independent radio was a dream yet to be realised.
Meanwhile back in the carpentry trade young Fenton was becoming increasingly restless and continued to try for a job in radio. Eventually after a number of approaches, he got his first job on radio working for ARD in 1979. Feeling very much at home, he flourished in local radio and he came to the attention of the bigger pirate stations.
Throughout the early 80's Fenton was headed-hunted by the emerging and growing radio industry in Dublin. During this time he moved from ARD to Sunshine Radio to Radio Nova before leaving Ireland to work on radio in Denmark.
Then in 1985 the call came to move back to Ireland. 2FM (then Radio 2) had started in 1979 and was now beginning to look for newer, fresher presenters to help compete against the pirates.
Tony had gained a reputation and an audience while working with the pirates and it was hoped that the audience would follow. RTE's hopes were realised and during his early days there he helped grow the station's audience as presenter of many different shows throughout the schedule. However, for many, it was the Hotline which brought Tony to national prominence.
Tony's been working for Today FM for the past eighteen months. During his varied career he's interviewed many celebrities but he is very proud of his 'exclusive' interview with singer Robbie Williams.
The interview, which took place in Robbie's suite at The Merrion Hotel during his visit to Ireland for his Slane gig was granted to Tony due to the fact that Tony was the first DJ to play Robbie's singles when he went solo from Take That.
In May he's doing a charity walk in Tuscany through the beautiful wine region in aid of the Marie Keating Fund in May. The walk involves trekking 15 miles a day and the walkers will be staying in country houses.
Tony is friends with Linda and Ronan Keating and says he's decided to do this walk because he feels it's a worthy cause and he has done a lot of MC for Linda over the years at charity events and thinks she's an incredible woman. The charity is hoping to raise in the region of €200,000.00.
Tony says his highlight of the past year has been white water rafting down the Zambeze river on Christmas 'Eve when he was in South Africa. Oh and Chelsea winning the Premiership.