Michael Thomas Sweeney (born 15 September 1947 in

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

) is a broadcaster and radio DJ.

Education and early career

Sweeney attended Mount Carmel School in Salford, after which he worked at Associated Electrical Industries in

Trafford Park Trafford Park is an area of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, opposite Salford Quays on the southern side of the Manchester Ship Canal, southwest of Manchester city centre and north of Stretford. Until the l ...

. He was a

platelayer A platelayer (British English), fettler (British English – UK, Australia, NZ) or trackman (American English) is a railway employee who inspects and maintains the permanent way of a railway, usually under the charge of a foreman called (in UK ...

at the docks, a labourer, a miner, a van driver, building site labourer and a computer programmer. He performed in a local band, the Salford Jets, as a singer and songwriter in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The band had three top-100 UK hit singles, one of which reached No. 72 in the

UK Singles Charts The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top- ...

in 1980. Sweeney and his wife have lived in

Uppermill Uppermill is a village in the civil parish of Saddleworth in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, in Greater Manchester, England. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies on the River Tame in a valley amongst the South Pennines wit ...

since 1997.

Radio career

By the age of 31 an onward he was regularly being interviewed on

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

's Piccadilly radio station and had begun to make promotion jingles for his band's gigs for the station. He was then offered a 12-show trial as one of the station's disc jockeys; it was thought that his Salford accent would go down well with local audiences. He worked prime time slots on the station from 1981 into the late 1990s while branching out into interviewing, sports reportage and documentaries. He plays football, has boxed for Salford Lads' Club and also swum for the city. He also had his own Friday night show Sweeney's '60s Classics. He not only played the well-known classics but more obscure singles that had never been heard since the '60s. He then became a DJ on

Capital Gold The Capital Gold radio station started in London in 1988 on Capital Radio's AM frequency, after the Independent Broadcasting Authority had urged stations to end simulcasting (broadcasting the same programmes simultaneously on AM and FM) and t ...

in London in 1997 where he presented the morning show on Monday-Friday 10:00 am to 1:00 pm, the Capital Gold Rock Show on Friday nights, and Mike Sweeney's '60s Classics and at the Hop on Saturday nights until the station merged with Classic Gold. He presented the weekday drivetime slot until the summer of 2009. He then joined Rock Radio (later Real XS) to host the breakfast programme and The Million Sellers Show on Smooth '70s. Sweeney is currently working for Radio Manchester, hosting the morning show Monday to Friday from 10 am until 2 pm and also hosting Sweeney's Sixties Classics on the same station on Sunday from 12 pm to 3 pm. Sweeney still sings with the Salford Jets and with two other groups, ''

the Mindbenders The Mindbenders were an English beat group from Manchester, England. Originally the backing group for Wayne Fontana, they were one of several acts that were successful in the mid-1960s British Invasion of the US charts, achieving major chart ...

'' and ''

the Swinging Blue Jeans The Swinging Blue Jeans are a four-piece 1960s British Merseybeat band, best known for their hit singles with the HMV label: " Hippy Hippy Shake", " Good Golly Miss Molly", and " You're No Good", issued in 1964. Subsequent singles released tha ...

''. His acoustic duo, Mike Sweeney and Paddy O'Hare launched in 2012. They are working on an EP titled ''Walking Down the Line'', which will be released in 2013. On TV, Sweeney's ''Elvis Has Just Left the Building'' is still showing on Sky's

Men & Motors Men & Motors was a men's lifestyle television channel in the UK. It was the last remaining station operated by the former Granada Sky Broadcasting joint venture, set up by Granada Television (now part of ITV plc) and satellite broadcaster Brit ...

. He also presented the ''Manchester United Debate Show'' on Channel M from 2007 to 2009 and a classic car series for Sky in 2000. Sweeney has won two New York Radio awards, a Sony in 2002 and Guardian Media Group's Presenter of the Year in 2009. The Radio Academy gave him a Lifetime Achievement award in 2011. He was named The Variety Children's Charity Radio Industry Legend in 2012.

References

External links

BBC Radio ManchesterGold WebsiteReal Radio XS
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sweeney, Mike British radio DJs People from Salford 1947 births Living people English male singers