Colin Murray

Colin Murray is a famous sports, music radio and television presenter from Northern Ireland. Working with big broadcasting networks such as the BBC and Channel 5. Born on the 10^th March 1977 in Dundonald, a suburb of East Belfast. He was educated at the Regent House Grammar School then went on to study at Dundonald High School. He was always a hyperactive individual. Since childhood he was always asking awkward questions or telling jokes, these are traits that would become perfect for his future career.

After leaving school he went on to study journalism full time, starting work as a news journalist as a trainee for The News Letter one of Northern Irelands main daily newspapers.

In 1994 Colin moved to Toronto for a year whilst there he worked with the Toronto Sun, a big newspaper in the city of Toronto. On his return from Toronto he moved into music journalism, writing for newspapers about genres such as rock and pop bands. He then found himself working in the music magazine business setting up a magazine called BLANK. After setting it up he acted as a co-publisher.

Blank became the highest circulating music magazine in Ulster. Murray went on to work for BBC Radio 1 co-presenting the weekly live music programme in Northern Ireland. He initially thought his interview was for BBC Radio Ulster. During this time Murray had a few opportunities standing in for hosts on Radio 1 shows.

When 2002 came around Murray’s work in radio and television earned him an audition as a co-presenter on Channel 4's national breakfast show. Originally applying as the entertainment presenter, he was instead put as a news presenter. Murray’s time with this show was very brief and miserable, he stated it scared him off TV for a long time.

In 2003, Colin teamed up with a former co-host to work together on Radio 1. They presented their own show which began in September 2003. The partnership moved the listener figures to 5.5 million. Then in 2006 Murray moved on to become the new presenter of BBC Radio 5 Live’s show named Fighting Talk. In February, 2006 Murray also became the anchor for Channel 5’s evening live European UEFA Cup football coverage.

He left the Radio 1 show to pursue his own show appropriately named The Colin Murray Show it was still on the same station. From February 2008, Murray also began presenting another late-night show on BBC Radio Ulster. He presented the show from his own bedroom! In 2009, he resigned from his Radio 1 late night show to pursue his work at BBC Radio 5 Live, he became the new presenter of 5 Live Sport show named Kicking Off with Colin Murray. After the first year, the increase of listeners was nearly 20 per cent. Unfortunately, he needed to take 2 months off before starting at 5 Live so he could recover from swine flu. Meaning they had to start without him originally.

In 2010 Murray moved on to present BBC’s Match of the Day 2 as well as covering the 2010 FIFA World Cup throughout June and July. Murray also presented coverage for other sports such as American Football and the European Poker Tour for Channel 5. From January 2010, he also presented the BDO World Darts Championship.

His music work includes co-hosting at the massive Glastonbury Festival on both BBC Three and Radio 1, also he presented a late-night music show on Channel 4. Other examples of his work include presenting famous BBC music show Top of the Pops. He has been involved with ITV2’s Brit Awards and has been presented on game shows such as Channel 4’s Born Sloppy. He has also done some documentary work. As well as continuing to present more TV shows on well-known channels such as BBC Three and Dave. He also has been a celebrity contestant on various television shows.

In 2013 the public were informed that Colin Murray was to be replaced as a presenter on Match of the Day 2. Resigning from BBC Radio 5 Live at the end of the 2013 season he switched to BBC Radio 5’s commercial rival Talksport. He made his debut on Talksport on the 12^th August 2013 on a new show entitled Colin Murray and Friends. Despite leaving BBC Radio he continued to host the BDO World Darts Championship for the BBC Television in January 2014, 2015 and 2016 and host occasional music programmes for BBC Radio 6 Music.

Colin Murray had a popular and successful run with Talksport, however he left the show in September 2016 due to the purchase of Talksport by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, this company also own The Sun newspaper and Murray being a Liverpool fan, stated he was concerned about the association of the station and The Sun newspaper. In September Murray announced he would be returning to his previous show on BBC Radio 5, Fighting Talk.