Colin Weston
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Colin Weston (born 26 July 1948), is an English broadcaster, best known for his work 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 Tyne Tees Television. Born in London, he attended Streatham Modern School in
Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...
. Upon leaving school, he began working in the press and publicity department of ABC Weekend TV's studios in Teddington and stayed with the company for four years. After ABC lost its weekend franchises in 1968, he applied for various continuity announcing roles around the ITV network. Weston was successful at
Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
, which had won the seven-day franchise for
North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, administrative counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of ...
. He was trained by then-chief announcer Don Murray Henderson. However, on his first announcing shift, he earned the nickname ''Fluff'' after forgetting the name of the Winter Hill transmitter during the opening authority announcement, despite it being taped to his desk. After 18 months, his contract with Granada was not renewed but he moved onto Anglia Television in Norwich, spending four years at the station before going freelance, working for
BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
, LWT, HTV, Westward, Border and
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. His most notable freelance stint came at Tyne Tees, which he joined permanently in 1979. He continued to freelance after returning to Granada in the early 1980s, where in-vision continuity had been introduced to the station. Weston had become one of the best known television personalities in North West England, winning many fans for his unique style of announcing. His duties at Granada extended when he became Chief Announcer, leading a team of contemporaries including Andrew Brittain, John MacKenzie, Beverley Ashworth, Pamela Dodd and Roger Tilling. Alongside all other Granada announcers, until 1992, he also read regional news bulletins throughout the day. He also voiced Granada-produced networked trails and promos for the ITV network and made a cameo appearance during the first series of the long-running Granada sitcom, '' Watching'', in 1987. Weston was also the duty announcer on Friday 12 February 1988, the evening of the last closedown from Granada before the start of 24-hour transmissions. For seven years, he provided continuity for the part-networked ''Night Time'' service, broadcast in the Border, Grampian,
Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...
, TSW, Tyne Tees and Ulster regions. Aside his television career, he has also worked for Piccadilly Radio in Manchester and Radio City in Liverpool. In 1998, Granada's presentation operation moved to the studios of Yorkshire Television in Leeds. Not wanting to make a move to Yorkshire, and having been made redundant, Weston left Granada after an announcing career spanning 30 years. He now works as a film extra & voiceover artist for videos and commercials and presents on community radio stations in Greater Manchester, previously at NMFM and now at Salford City Radio on Thursday evenings at 7.00Salford City Radio - Colin Weston
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includes many examples of Colin Weston's work for Granada Television. {{DEFAULTSORT:Weston, Colin 1948 births Living people Radio and television announcers People from Streatham Television personalities from London