Paul Hollingdale (born Paul Wynn; 30 March 1938 – 5 July 2017) was a British radio presenter who presented the first programme broadcast on

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. ...

, ''

The Radio 2 Breakfast Show ''The Radio 2 Breakfast Show'' refers to a range of programming on weekday mornings on BBC Radio 2 since the station's inception on 30 September 1967. The show's longest serving host to date was Sir Terry Wogan, who worked on the programme for 2 ...

'', from 5.30am on Saturday 30 September 1967. He stayed with Radio 2 until 1970. His broadcasting career began in the late 1950s on the

British Forces Network The British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) provides radio and television programmes for His Majesty's Armed Forces, and their dependents worldwide. Editorial control is independent of the Ministry of Defence and the armed forces themselve ...

during his service in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. He was stationed at

RAF Wahn Cologne Bonn Airport (german: Flughafen Köln/Bonn 'Konrad Adenauer') is the international airport of Germany's fourth-largest city Cologne, and also serves Bonn, former capital of West Germany. With around 12.4 million passengers passing thr ...

which was fairly close to the British Forces Network studios in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. Hollingdale had presented a show on

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 s ...

in 1962, and may have been Britain's first ever

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 ...

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 DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobil ...

. He joined the Presentation team at the BBC, on the

BBC Light Programme The BBC Light Programme was a national radio station which broadcast chiefly mainstream light entertainment and light music from 1945 until 1967, when it was replaced by BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 1. It opened on 29 July 1945, taking over the ...

in 1964, introducing concerts and gramophone record shows as well as reading news bulletins. Hollingdale announced the death of Sir

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from ...

on 24 January 1965. Hollingdale was also the first presenter on

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 mediu ...

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spell ...

, launching the station in 1976 with ''The Breakfast Show'', which ran from 6.00 am to 10.00 am. For a spell, he also presented an evening show, between 9.00pm and midnight two days a week, giving him just six hours from the finish of one show to the start of the next. He returned to

for a special show to mark the 40th anniversary of the station on 30 September 2007. In 1979, he opened

Blue Danube Radio Blue Danube Radio (BDR) was an English-language radio station broadcast by the Österreichischer Rundfunk ( en, Austrian Broadcasting; ORF). History Blue Danube Radio went live on 23 August 1979, created principally for the United Nations commu ...

, an English language station in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, and contributed to the station until it closed in 2000. He later moved to Vienna, where he worked as a broadcaster and film commentator. He died in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

on 5 July 2017.

References

Bibliography

*Alan Grace: ''THIS IS THE BRITISH FORCES NETWORK – the Story of Forces Broadcasting in Germany'' (Alan Sutton Publishing Ltd, UK, 1996, ).

External links

The broadcast revolution of CNBC , Paul Hollingdale and Tineke de Nooij look back at CNBC
1938 births 2017 deaths British radio presenters British radio journalists Offshore radio broadcasters Pirate radio personalities BBC Radio 2 presenters People from Poole {{UK-radio-bio-stub