Anthony Edward Paolo Firetto (born 30 June 1957 in

Cheshunt Cheshunt ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London on the River Lea and Lee Navigation. It contains a section of the Lee Valley Park, including much of the River Lee Country Park. To the north lies Broxbourne and Wormley, Hertfor ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

) is a British radio presenter, TV host and actor, currently based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, United States.

Biography

Firetto became known as a DJ in the 1970s, then as a television personality in the 1980s. His career began in the nightclubs of Bristol when he was 15, introducing chart acts to the Bristol music scene, before becoming a finalist in the 208 Radio Luxembourg "Celebrity DJ" competition. Firetto won a 30-minute guest slot on the radio station. His broadcasting career started when he filled in at

Radio 210 Heart Berkshire (formerly 2-Ten FM) was an Independent Local Radio station, serving Berkshire and North Hampshire from studios in Reading. About Launched as Radio 210 (Two-One-Oh), the station commenced broadcasting in March 1976 on its medi ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

and

Radio Victory Radio Victory was the independent local radio (ILR) station for Portsmouth in southern England. It was launched on 14 October 1975 and served south Hampshire, West Sussex and the Isle of Wight initially until 1986, with various later reincarnat ...

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

. He was then signed to the English version of

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

, before being chosen by Dave Cash, the program director of the new independent radio service for

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, Radio West, to launch the service and host the breakfast show. After six weeks presenting the breakfast show, he moved to the weekends to present a

Sony award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

–nominated children's show called ''Nino's Gang'', which urged young listeners to sign up as free members to a musical gang. In September 1984, Firetto began presenting the weekday evening ''Music Magazine''. After two years with Radio West, Firetto left in 1984 to pursue a career in television, firstly on the

Children's ITV CITV (short for Children's ITV, also known as the CITV Channel) is a British free-to-air children's television channel owned by ITV plc. It broadcasts content from the CITV archive and acquisitions, every day from 6 am to 9 pm which ...

flagship magazine program ''Splash!''. He also hosted the music strand on the Saturday morning children's show ''

Get Fresh ''Get Fresh'' is a children's television programme that originally aired from 1986 to 1988 in the United Kingdom. Format A Saturday-morning kids' TV show, broadcast on the Children's ITV network, the show featured Gareth Jones (aka Gaz Top), ...

''. In 1987, Firetto was voted the Children's ITV Personality of the Year. He also became a presenter on pan-European music channel

Music Box A music box (American English) or musical box (British English) is an automatic musical instrument in a box that produces musical notes by using a set of pins placed on a revolving cylinder or disc to pluck the tuned teeth (or ''lamellae'') ...

. He went on to present the British version of the dating game show ''Love me, love me not'' produced by TVS for ITV; later, he presented a modern version of the seminal

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

quiz show A game show is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment (radio, television, internet, stage or other) where contestants compete for a reward. These programs can either be participatory or demonstrative and are typically directed by a host, sh ...

'' Mr. and Mrs''. Other credits include hosting a weekly American football show for ITV called ''The American Match'', showbiz correspondent for LNN's ''

London Tonight ''ITV News London'' is a British television news service broadcast on both ITV London and the ITV Hub. It is produced by ITN. History London News Network The programme launched on Monday 4 January 1993 as ''London Tonight'', after Carlton Te ...

'', and hosting the Malibu World Dance Championship strand on ITV's ''Summertime Special''. Firetto became a regular guest on panel shows such as ''

Give Us a Clue ''Give Us a Clue'' is a British televised game show version of charades which was broadcast on ITV from 1979 to 1992. The original host was Michael Aspel from 1979 to 1984, followed by Michael Parkinson from 1984 to 1992. The show featured two ...

'', ''Whose Baby?'', and ''

What's My Line ''What's My Line?'' is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelis ...

''; but he retained his contact with radio, presenting breakfast on

Galaxy 101 Galaxy was a radio network owned by Global Radio and broadcast across the British Isles on FM in regional areas of England and Scotland, through the digital platform with Sky and DAB and online respectively. Stations included stations: Galaxy Bi ...

and on a national satellite service called "Night Tracks". In 2000, Firetto became the morning host on Kestrel FM in

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

. Then, in February 2001, he moved to present the weekday drive program for

Wave 105 Wave 105 is an Independent Regional Radio station based in Fareham, England, owned and operated by Bauer as part of the Hits Radio network. It broadcasts to South Hampshire, the Isle of Wight, West Sussex and Wiltshire, and until September 20 ...

, the English regional station for the south coast. He remained there until June 2003. In July 2004, he moved to the US to work as weekend afternoon host and swing presenter for

Adult Top 40 The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems ...

music station KLLC Alice 97.3 in

. Returning to the UK, Nino Firetto launched Nino Firetto Casting and presented the daily morning show on

Radio Exe Radio Exe (formerly Exeter FM) is an Independent Local Radio station based in Exeter, Devon, England. As of March 2023, the station broadcasts to a weekly audience of 39,000, according to RAJAR. Presenters Presenters include Matt Rogers, Ne ...

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. Following an ongoing joke between Firetto and the editor of the ''

Express & Echo The ''Express & Echo'' is a paid-for newspaper for Exeter and the surrounding area. History The ''Express & Echo'' was established in 1904 as the result of a merger between the ''Western Echo'' and the ''Devon Evening Express'', which was found ...

'' newspaper in Exeter, Firetto donned Speedo-style swimwear for his radio show to raise money for the charity Dream-A-Way. In November 2021 Nino is host of the midday show on Saturday at

in Exeter, Devon. Nino also hosts shows on his internet radio statio
Memory Lane UK Radio

References

External links

*
ninofiretto.comNino introduces Kid Jensen for the first Network Chart, September 1984
{{DEFAULTSORT:Firetto, Nino 1957 births Living people British VJs (media personalities) English television presenters English radio DJs Radio and television announcers English writers People from Cheshunt English emigrants to the United States