Gary King is a British radio presenter. He presents the weekday early breakfast show across the UK on Smooth Radio, as well as two syndicated radio shows on non-BBC local radio stations, Totally 80s and Totally 90s.
King abandoned plans to become an actor and then became a mobile DJ before transitioning to being a radio DJ.[1] King's radio presenting career started at Radio Top Shop in London, before he worked at Radio Luxembourg and the British Forces Broadcasting Service.[2] King was the first presenter on Atlantic 252, a radio station then based in the Republic of Ireland and playing pop and rock music, when it launched on the 1st of September 1989.[3] For a period which was prior to King's time at Atlantic 252, King presented on the Superstation, a radio service providing overnight programming to commercial radio stations across the UK.
However, in 1990, King was presenting weekday early breakfast on BBC Radio 1, starting from 5am.[4] In 1992, King left the station.[5]
Between 1989 and 1999, King was voiceover for Fun House, a TV gameshow aimed at children and hosted by Pat Sharp.
From 1992 until 1994, King worked at Key 103 in Manchester. In 1994, was presenting the breakfast show on Virgin Radio in the UK on Saturdays[6] and Sundays.[7] In 1995, King began presenting on Heart 106.2 in London. In 1999, King was presenting on 95.8 Capital FM in London. In 2002, King left the weekend breakfast show on 95.8 Capital FM, which he had been presenting, and Chris Brooks took over the show.[8]
In 2006 at the latest, King began presenting Totally 80s, a now long-running syndicated radio programme focusing on pop music from the 1980s.[9] In the mid-2000s, King, who was presenting a show on Magic 105.4, began presenting a weekday quiz show on LBC 97.3 in London; the quiz show was an hour in length.[10] At the time, LBC had a less strong focus on news, current affairs and hard topics than the station does at present.
In 2007, King joined the UTV Network to present Cashtime.[11]
In 2008, King began presenting the mid-morning show on 96.2 The Revolution, a local radio station in Oldham, Greater Manchester.[12]
Between 2007 and 2009, King was voiceover for Dale's Supermarket Sweep, a gameshow hosted by Dale Winton in which contestants went round the aisles of a supermarket which had been purpose-built for the show.
In 2010, King was a presenter on Jazz FM, presenting the station's weekday drivetime show.
In 2011, it was announced that Totally 90s, a sister show to Totally 80s focussing on pop music from the 1990s, would be created. It was also announced that King, already the presenter of Totally 80s, would be the presenter of Totally 90s.[13] As of November 2024, Totally 80s and Totally 90s are broadcast on many local non-BBC radio stations in the UK. The shows are produced by the media company Blue Revolution, whose chief executive, Paul Hollins,[14] also presents on weekday early mornings on Smooth Radio (before King).
In 2013, King covered for Pat Sharp after Sharp left Smooth Radio.[15] In the same year, King began presenting on Sundays between 12pm and 3pm on Smooth Radio.[16]
In 2018, King appeared in When TV Animals Go Horribly Wrong which was broadcast on Channel 5.
In 2018, King began presenting the weekday[17] breakfast show, on FM in London and across the UK on DAB digital radio, on Smooth Radio, after Russ Williams left the show. In the latter half of 2019, King was still the presenter of the show.[18] On the 26th of July 2019, King's show was also broadcast instead of some of Smooth Radio's North West breakfast show on the feeds on which Smooth Radio's North West breakfast show should have been broadcast, after a technical error.[19] In 2020, King began presenting weekday early breakfast nationally on Smooth Radio, and carried on presenting on Saturday afternoons nationally on Smooth Radio.[20] As of November 2024, King still presents weekday early breakfast on Smooth Radio between 4am and 6am.
King has also appeared as a products expert on QVC in the UK. In addition, he appeared as the presenter of a talkshow in the TV drama "Animals".