Such sad news today - Rory Morrison has died. Rory worked at Beacon Radio during the late 80s where he presented the afternoon show as well as doing the travel news out and about as "Fonzie". He moved to the BBC in 1990 and eventually worked on Radio 4 (Continuity and News), where he was a regular & recognisable voice until fairly recently.
I worked with Rory, at Beacon, during the summer of 1989, and I learnt so much about the art of radio presentation from him. Such a lovely chap, a happy & friendly personality, truly unflappable, a real professional and I've still got the presenter card he signed for me!
I worked with him again briefly in 2006 when he was a surprise 'guest' on my own Saturday Morning show, UpAndHappy! Here is the recording of that, from Saturday 1st April 2006. To set the story in context, each week I would run a roundup of Sports News, read by my mate Andy Walters, but in a style more akin to Tony Blackburn. We were looking round for a name for this character, and Andy found Rory's Beacon jingle. I thought it'd be a nice tribute, not that Rory ever spoke in such a cheesy style!! We used the jingle and the name week after week, until one day... on April Fools Day 2006... well, have a listen for yourself...
Bless you Rory, you inspired me more than you'll have realised... :(
