Ray Moore (broadcaster)
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| Ray Moore | |
| Born | January 2, 1942 |
|---|---|
| Died | January 11, 1989 (aged 47) |
| Occupation | Broadcaster |
Ray Moore (January 2, 1942 - January 11, 1989) was a British broadcaster who was best known for his long running early morning show on BBC Radio 2.
Born in Liverpool, he attended Waterloo Grammar School, and harboured ambitions to be a BBC announcer from an early age. On leaving school, his first job was at Liverpool docks, and he was subsequently a technician and actor with repertory companies in Oldham, Sidmouth and Swansea. He started broadcasting during the 1960s as a continuity announcer with Granada Television, later moving to ATV in Birmingham and eventually the BBC in Manchester and London. At the BBC he worked as an announcer on radio and television, providing voice-overs for a number of popular shows such as Come Dancing, Miss World and the Eurovision Song Contest.
From 1980 to 1988 he hosted the early morning show on BBC Radio 2, developing an idiosyncratic broadcasting style which relied on a highly individual, gentle and sophisticated wit and repartee. As he explained in his autobiography:
- "My theory, if I ever had one, was that this show, broadcast at such a crazy time, could only be successful if it were based on one assumption: that nobody in his or her right mind would choose to be up at such an awful hour. If we both had to be awake so early, I thought, let's agree one thing: that it's you and me against the world. I determined to be cheerful but in a grumpy sort of way, with none of the enforced jollity so beloved of Radio 4."[1]
The regular exchange of banter established between Moore and Terry Wogan as the former handed over to the latter's breakfast show became an established element of Radio 2's morning schedule.
Moore's show brought him a dedicated following of bleary-eyed listeners, evidenced in 1986 and 1987 by the turn-out of thousands of early morning joggers for the two 'Bog-eyed Jog' events held in sporting stadia across the UK in aid of Children in Need. In association with these events, he released two records: Oh My Father Had A Rabbit spent seven weeks in the UK charts in 1986, reaching number 24; while the follow-up, The Bog-Eyed Jog, did not do so well, peaking at No. 61.
In 1987 Ray Moore contracted throat cancer, and he died two years later at the age of 47.
In 1989 he won the Outstanding Personal Contribution to Radio award from the Broadcasting Press Guild.
[edit] References
- ^ Moore, Ray: Tomorrow is Too Late: The heartwarming story of his fight for life (Penguin, 1988)
