| Colum Ryan |  |
Colum first heard Radio Guy's while his father was a patient in the hospital. Fascinated by the idea of presenting his own radio show, he applied to join the station at the tender age of 16, way back in 1971. With a natural talent for radio, he soon became one of the main presenters, and remained with the station for the next 25 years. He presented a huge range of programmes, but is best remembered for the Radio Guy's Quiz, which in various formats, ran through most of the 1980s. Starting simply with two teams of Radio Guy's presenters battling it out for the winning honours, later series of the show involved teams of student doctors and nurses, and subsequently, teams from other hospital radio stations.
In the early 1990s, with the Quiz being rested, Colum presented the Radio Guy's Bingo Show. This involved small teams visiting the wards to distribute the bingo cards, followed by the show in which Colum called out the numbers delivered by a tiny bingo machine on the desk in the studio. The listeners in the wards had to mark off the numbers, and then phone in when they had a "house". Although it now sounds cumbersome, it actually worked, and was very successful. Small prizes, donated by local stores were given to the lucky listeners.
Colum's working life was quite varied. He started in a record shop, Tudor Records, in Muswell Hill. Contacts with the record industry, led him to employment with Phonogram Records in the mid seventies, moving to rivals CBS in the late seventies. In 1982, he took an opportunity to join a record labels and sleeves printing company as a sales executive. This very much kept him in contact with the music and recording industry.
However, in 1990, he went for a complete change, and became Design Manager for the cosmetics company Chanel. This made him responsible for all the company's displays in the major retail stores, various promotional work with top models, and even promotional video making with the likes of Kate Moss!
In 2001, however, he and his partner (now his wife), decided to retire from the hectic pressures of life in London, and they moved to a small village in the middle of Shropshire. Colum is enjoying his new way of life in the slow lane, and is earning his crust as a postman in the nearby market town. He has hung up his microphone, and fills his time restoring and decorating their country home.
Colum wishes to remain in touch with his old friends, however, and would like to hear from anyone interested in sending an e-mail. He very much enjoyed a mini reunion, when Phil Dean, John Pennell and Mike Smith went up to his village for a Christmas drink in December 2002.
December 2002.
(Words put together by Mike Smith)