All change for popular North East DJ
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF PADDY MACDEE ... AND A NEW RADIO SHOW
I’M just looking forward to going to bed at a normal time,” says Paddy MacDee. The popular North East DJ is moving from his daily late-night slot on BBC Newcastle to an early-evening Sunday show on the same station, it’s just been announced.
And that means he’ll no longer be hitting the sack at three in the morning most days!
“It’s probably the most enjoyable show I’ve ever done, and it’s kept me out of mischief,” he jokes, “but it’s time for a change.”
Certainly, 68-year-old Paddy possesses one of the region’s bestknow media voices - and faces (he was a local BBC TV presenter from the mid-1980s to 2001).
He’s been in broadcasting for 45 years and has seen it all.
Growing up listening to pirate radio stations like Radio Luxembourg and the old BBC Light programme, and dreaming of being DJ, the young Patrick McDermott instead seemed destined for a career in law.
But his time working for a firm of solicitors was brief. It was the early 1970s, and the Paddy MacDee Disco was such a such a success, it soon became a full-time job.
One of Paddy’s residencies in the early 1970s was at the County Hotel in Durham, where a certain Tony Blair briefly worked on the door, earning some money during his student days.
“I guess I’m one of a very small group of people who can claim to have had the Prime Minister as his bouncer,” says Dublin-born Paddy.
He landed his first radio show job on BBC Radio Teesside in 1973. His first interviewee couldn’t have been any more famous or successful. It was Paul McCartney who was playing at the City Hall in Newcastle.
“I was absolutely terrified as I turned up backstage with my tape recorder,” Paddy remembers.
“It was uncertain whether or not I would even be given an interview, but in the event I did. He was a joy to talk to and probably realised I was a little nervous and put me totally at ease.
“He is also the only person I have ever asked for an autograph. As a Beatles fanatic it has been framed and is a treasured piece of memorabilia.”
Paddy also remembers a young Chris Rea ringing him and asking if he could appear on his show, and he also helped a young David Coverdale with his audition tape for Deep Purple.
The DJ worked full-time for the BBC until 1977, then jumped ship to work for commercial radio when Metro Radio offered him a job. He spent eight happy years at Metro, including three years on the all-important breakfast show.
It was at Metro that Paddy met his future wife, TV and radio presenter Lyn Spencer. When Paddy married Lyn in 1987, he had an instant family of Lyn’s two children Joanne and Ian, who were eight and four at the time. A year later the family increased with the arrival of Neil. Now, Paddy is also grandfather to Joanne’s two children.
In the late-80s Paddy returned to the BBC, where he has worked ever since for both radio and television.
He has presented virtually every programme on BBC Newcastle, and for the last 14 years has hosted the late night radio show, which also goes out on BBC Tees.
But now things are changing. Paddy’s 10pm-1am show moves to a new Sunday early-evening slot from
early next moth..
The DJ says: “I feel proud and privileged to have been a part of BBC Newcastle for the last 30 years.
“I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being at the helm of late nights for so long, with a loyal army of listeners who have become part of the fixtures and fittings.
“Friday evening’s popular Solid Gold Show is now moving to Sunday at 6pm. I’m delighted that we’ll be bringing the music of the 1960s and 1970s to this new time slot.”
BBC Newcastle Editor, Doug Morris said: “Paddy is a genuine broadcasting legend, known to much of our audience from his time on daytime output over the years, his news-reading for Look North, and of course his late night show with its unique music content and feeling of friendly companionship.
“His music knowledge and his enthusiasm for the decades he’ll be covering are second to none – if anything it grows stronger by the day.”
And Paddy’s thoughts as he gets set for his new show?
“Radio is sometimes a precarious business, so to have survived for such a long time is an achievement in itself. When I broadcast, I like to think there’s no pretence there, and that there’s a rapport with the audience. We’re almost like a family. It’s an approach that won’t change for me.” ■■Paddy MacDee’s first Sunday Solid Gold show goes out on BBC Newcastle between 6pm and 8pm on October 7.