David Allan (broadcaster)

For articles about other people named David Allen, see David Allan (disambiguation).

David Allan (born in Bury, Lancashire on 7 August 1940, educated at Bury Grammar School) is a British television continuity announcer and radio presenter.

Radio career

After nine years working in theatre as a stage manager, he began broadcasting on the offshore station Radio 390 in 1966, before joining BBC Radio 2 to present country music programmes from 1976 to part of the late 1980s. In 1994, he presented shows on Country 1035 in London, but did not stay long and was a heavy critic of their music playlist. By the 1990s, he was presenting country music programmes on Radio 2 again, but was later replaced by Bob Harris. He also presented a show on Melody FM. He was also heard at weekends on PrimeTime Radio, before that station closed down. In 2002, he won an International Broadcaster award from the American Country Music Association.

Allan was also a country music journalist, having written his own page of views of the country music scene in the magazine Country Music People regularly and presenting country music programming for BBC TV.

Announcing career

Allan began freelancing as a network continuity announcer for BBC Television in 1969 and became a staff announcer three years later, remaining with the Corporation's presentation department until 1994. While announcing for BBC1 and BBC2, Allan also announced for BBC World Service Television during the early 1990s.

From 1995, he was heard announcing for Carlton Television in London on relief duties, and during the late 1990s and early 2000s, was heard across much of the ITV network as an announcer for overnight programming. He was also an announcer for the British version of The History Channel, working alongside former BBC continuity colleagues David Miles and Charles Nove. He also provided continuity for Sky's Military History Channel.