Champion of the Midlands who started life Down Under
WEST Midlands BBC radio legend Ed Doolan died aged 76 on Tuesday after suffering with vascular dementia.
The much-loved former Birmingham Mail columnist joined BBC Radio WM in 1982.
Well-known for his consumer affairs programme, he was the first local radio presenter to be inducted into the Radio Academy Hall of Fame, in 2004.
He was also awarded the MBE for services to radio, won a Sony Gold Award and had the unique distinction of becoming the first person to be awarded honorary doctorates by the University of Birmingham, the University of Aston and the (former) University of Central England, now Birmingham City University.
He called time on the daily radio show in 2011 and was formerly diagnosed with vascular dementia a year later.
But he continued with a Sunday archive show.
His agent and manager Paul Vaughan said Doolan died in his sleep at home in the early hours of Tuesday. His wife Christine was with him.
Born in Sydney, Australia, Doolan had been fascinated by radio as a child and dreamed of broadcasting.
He first became a teacher, but later went to work in Germany on the country’s own world service station, Deutsche Well.
Doolan later joined the launch of Birmingham’s first commercial radio station BRMB in February, 1974 before moving to the BBC on September 20, 1982.
He recalled: “Radio was the most wonderful, glamorous, fabulous job... and I wanted it.”