David Allan (born 7 August 1940, in

Bury, Lancashire Bury ( ) is a market town on the River Irwell in Greater Manchester, England. Metropolitan Borough of Bury is administered from the town, which had an estimated population of 78,723 in 2015. The town is within the Historic counties of Englan ...

) 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 (The key that opens sacred doors) , established = , type = Independent day schoolGrammar school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Headmaster , head ...

, 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 the overseeing of the rehearsal p ...

before he began broadcasting on the

offshore Offshore may refer to: Science and technology * Offshore (hydrocarbons) * Offshore construction, construction out at sea * Offshore drilling, discovery and development of oil and gas resources which lie underwater through drilling a well * Off ...

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. Previously the fort had been used by Radio Invicta (c June 1964 – February 1965) and KING Radio (March � ...

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 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. ...

to present

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

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 the UK for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in December 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekd ...

. In 1994, he presented shows on

Country 1035 Country 1035 was a country music based Independent Local Radio station based in London, England. History After airing test transmissions the first voice officially heard on air was the station's chairman John Wellington. In his opening words ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, 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 Gre ...

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

PrimeTime Radio PrimeTime Radio was a national UK radio station. It was once part of Saga Radio Group although it became independent in 2004. It operated as a sister station to Saga Digital radio. The line up featured a variety of presenters including David ...

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 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 ...

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 Televi ...

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 (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, 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 was Chief UK Economist of Morgan ...

and

Charles Nove Charles Alexis Nove (born 29 June 1960 in London, England) is a British radio broadcaster who currently presents the weekday breakfast show for classical music station Scala Radio. Biography Early career The son of Soviet historian Alexander Nov ...

. 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