Keith Martin (born 2 April 1934) is a British disc jockey and broadcaster born in

Sandwich, Kent Sandwich is a town and civil parish in the Dover District of Kent, south-east England. It lies on the River Stour and has a population of 4,985. Sandwich was one of the Cinque Ports and still has many original medieval buildings, including sev ...

, known for his involvement in UK

pirate radio Pirate radio or a pirate radio station is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are received—especially w ...

from its earliest days and extensive work as a TV

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 ...

Career

Martin was involved with

offshore radio Offshore radio is radio broadcasting from ships or fixed maritime structures. Offshore broadcasters are usually unlicensed but transmissions are legal in international waters. This is in contrast to unlicensed broadcasting on land or within a nat ...

from the very earliest days of

pirate radio in the United Kingdom Pirate radio in the United Kingdom (UK) has been a popular and enduring radio medium since the 1960s, despite expansions in licensed broadcasting, and the advent of both digital radio and internet radio. Although it peaked throughout the 1960s ...

. He worked as an announcer on the first pirate station to broadcast to the United Kingdom, the

Radio Veronica Radio Veronica was an offshore radio station that began broadcasting in 1960, and broadcast offshore for over fourteen years. It was set up by independent radio, TV and household electrical retailers in the Netherlands to stimulate the sales ...

English-language broadcast

CNBC CNBC (formerly Consumer News and Business Channel) is an American basic cable business news channel. It provides business news programming on weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., Eastern Time, while broadcasting talk sho ...

, which ran from 1960 to 1961. He recorded programmes for the subsequent ventures GBOK and GBLN (known as the ''Voice of Slough'') in 1962, but these were never aired. Later he joined

Radio Atlanta Radio Atlanta was an offshore commercial station that operated briefly from 12 May 1964 to 2 July 1964 from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England. The radio broadcasting vessel was owned, at tha ...

as a

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, staying on until in 1964 when it merged with the offshore radio station

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Alan Crawford initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly. ...

, at which point Martin presented broadcasts alongside then future BBC DJ

Tony Blackburn Anthony Kenneth Blackburn (born 29 January 1943) is an English disc jockey, singer and TV presenter. He first achieved fame broadcasting on the pirate stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s, before joining the BBC, on the BBC L ...

from the

MV Mi Amigo ''Mi Amigo'' (Spanish: ''My Friend'') was originally a three-masted cargo schooner, that later gained international recognition as an offshore radio station. She was built as the schooner ''Margarethe'' for German owners. A sale in 1927 saw her re ...

. Following his stints in offshore radio Martin had a longer career as a

for various TV stations, however not completely severing his links he broadcast on

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 � ...

under the alternate moniker ''Gary Courtney''. He worked regularly for

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

, the North and Midlands weekend contractor until 1968. From 1971 to 1998 he worked as an announcer for

Anglia TV ITV Anglia, previously known as Anglia Television, is the ITV franchise holder for the East of England. The station is based at Anglia House in Norwich, with regional news bureaux in Cambridge and Northampton. ITV Anglia is owned and operated by ...

. He also announced for ATV,

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

Southern Television Southern Television was the ITV broadcasting licence holder for the South and South-East of England from 30 August 1958 to 31 December 1981. The company was launched as 'Southern Television Limited' and the title 'Southern Television' was con ...

Television South Television South (TVS) was the ITV (TV network), ITV franchise holder in the South East England, South and South East of England between 1 January 1982 at 9.25 am and 31 December 1992 at 11.59 pm. The company operated under various names, ini ...

LWT London Weekend Television (LWT) (now part of the non-franchised ITV London region) was the ITV network franchise holder for Greater London and the Home Counties at weekends, broadcasting from Fridays at 5.15 pm (7:00 pm from 1968 unt ...

Pearl and Dean Pearl & Dean is a British cinema advertising company, founded in 1953. Pearl & Dean is now owned by Willowbrook Investments Ltd, and controls advertising at many UK cinema sites including multiplex operators Empire, Showcase and AMC; the company ...

, and the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. Martin subsequently became a voice coach with a client list that included British Prime Minister

John Major Sir John Major (born 29 March 1943) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997, and as Member of Parliament ...

References

External links

thetvroomplus.com
- Listing for Keith Martin on Continuity Announcers website. Offshore radio broadcasters Pirate radio personalities British radio DJs English radio personalities British television presenters People from Sandwich, Kent Living people 1934 births {{UK-radio-bio-stub