Meet our Presenters:

A whole host of talent throughout your day. 

 

Maurice Boland
Johnny Beerling, ex-head of BBC Radio One, said of Boland: "Maurice is quite a character. His success is quite remarkable for a man who started out as a stand-up comedian. [Incorrect, but it's easy to imagine Boland in that role.] He's got it about right. He has a good awareness and understanding of what the audience needs. I admire him."

Born in Dublin into a medical family, Maurice caught the showbiz bug at a very early age. After listening to music by Joey Dee and the Starlighters, live at the Peppermint Lounge New York, and Sandy Nelson on the drums with his hit single 'Drum Beat', Maurice decided that showbiz was for him.

By the age of 12 he started drumming with a young Dublin Beat Group ‘The Key Notes’ and after reshuffling, the band was named ‘The KingBees’. After the onslaught of The Beatles, Maurice felt the time had come to try his luck at the fame game and ran way to Germany with the rest of The KingBees trying to emulate John, Paul George and Ringo’s success.

The one problem he had was that he forgot to tell his parents, who were not at all happy with his decision to leave school at 15 and not to study medicine!  By 1969 his dream of stardom failed to materialise so he decided to open a discotheque. It was to be the first disco in Ireland and he chose Dublin’s fashionable Lesson Street to open his basement club ' Elizabeth’s '. The club became a huge success, attracting Ireland's rich and famous and as a result the name Maurice Boland began appearing in all of Dublin's gossip columns. In the early 80's, bored with his life in Ireland, Maurice, moved his family to Marbella , Spain after acquiring  'Oscars', a discothèque owned by the then formula one racing champion James Hunt.

May 2004 saw Maurice’s dreams come true when he launched his own radio station REM FM (now rebranded as Talk Radio Europe). After so many years on radio in Spain he knew exactly what his audience wanted and lined up the most impressive array of English presenters Spain had to offer.

The Boland show is on iTalk FM every weekday from 10 till 12.

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Mat Court: his mother was a woman, his father a man, but not all of Mat´s life has been this complicated.  Mat co-hosts the breakfast show with Jack Jackson, occasionally using his skills as a former Journalist and TV producer where he worked for many years in England´s London.  Mat and his wife moved to Spain 3 years ago.  He previously worked with Maurice at TRE at first presenting a 3 x weekly sports show before teaming up with Jack for stints presenting the evening and  breakfast shows.  Mat loves his sport and enjoys football, tennis, golf, padel and mountain biking.  He and Jack often go sea-fishing, which has proved highly dangerous as a lost anchor, drifting in the Gibraltar Straits, running out of petrol and a collision with Spanish pirates are testament to.  Join him and Jack between 8 - 10 every morning.

Robert "Jack" Jackson started life at a very early age. His keen interest in aviation led him into a life of flying and piloting private aircraft. Many other hobbies include fishing, fishing and fishing. A brief stint at an unknown radio station opened his eyes to the europhia of broadcasting and since then has not looked back. Hoping to provide a fun-filled breakfast show to anyone who cares to listen, Jack will be there alongside Mat to entertain you.

Stephen Ritson  (The Ritson Show, 12-1pm) can be best described as a presenter’s presenter, and is probably one of the most respected broadcasters on English radio in Spain. Born in the UK he moved with his family to Costa Blanca in 1974. After completing his education, he returned to the UK to study languages at Oxford University. After graduating, Stephen joined the London Evening Standard eventually writing the very popular Londoner's Diary column. Moving on he freelanced for newspapers and magazines including the Times and the Telegraph.

On his return to Spain, he joined Canal+ TV and used his skills as an interpreter for the Spanish Minister of Culture and Education. One of his fondest memories was when he was called upon by Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar to translate his book for him. Stephen then moved back to his family home on the Costa Blanca where he became part on the Onda Cero radio team, eventually joining Maurice when he set up REM, and now a very important part of the iTalk FM team.

Richie Allen began his career at WLRfm in Ireland, where he initially presented a late evening music show. He was however, hugely interested in news and current affairs and was handed the role of producer of the station's flagship mid-morning current affairs show. During Richie's tenure the show was the top rated show in it's market, winning awards for production and content. Richie qualified as a journalist during this time, and taught radio production at various city colleges in Ireland and the UK.

This past year he produced and presented "The Tonight Show" here in Spain, which was a huge success. Richie is a shrewd and objective presenter and brings in depth analysis of breaking news stories between 6pm and 8pm Monday to Friday.

He also presents "Wake up with Richie" every Saturday morning between 8am and 10am. In the last twelve months Richie has interviewed Sir Christopher Meyer, Michael Bloomberg, Anne Widdicombe, Jesse Ventura, Efraim Zuroff, Michael Meacher, James Rubin, Joel Rubin, Norman Finkelstein, James Boys, David Icke, Lady Catherine Meyer, Alex Jones, David Rubin, Ayo Johnson, Rais Bhuiyan and many more. Richie lives in Marbella with his fiancée Caroline. Richie's show is balanced, objective, often controversial, but never dull.

Barry Mitchell Opening up iTalk’s afternoon programming will be the incorrigible Barry Mitchell!  Yes you read correctly: Mitchell is back!

Barry started his broadcasting career with Swansea Sound in 1978, which led to stints with American Forces Network Germany, Star FM in the Philippines and CFM Carlisle.  Before taking the breakfast show on Onda Cero International, Barry was a regular feature with the Gibraltar Broadcasting Company where he struck up an enduring friendship with Syd Olivera.

Barry has distinguished himself on the stage from time to time, and played the part of investigative journalist Phil Wentworth in BBC’S "Eldorado".  Barry was also recruited as Programme Controller for the launch of Yorkshire Dales Radio and also presented the breakfast show.  Barry followed Maurice when REM fm was launched, and will be following Maurice on iTalk hosting the welcome return of "Mitchells Mix", weekdays 2-4pm.

Pippa Jones

Pippa hosts iTalk's magazine programme every weekday between 1 and 2pm.  She was born in London, and spent 8 years working as a club DJ in the UK. She has been living in Spain for 11 years and speaks fluent Spanish, working, amongst other things, as a personal trainer and nutritionist. Pippa is passionate about sports and all things outdoors, as well as music and literature. Short and to the point, that’s our Pippa!

David Jelley, a director of iTalk, was born in London and moved to Brighton with his family at the age of eighteen. He married his wife in 1973 and moved to Jersey in 1997. They moved to Spain in 2003, where they lived happily until David's wife passed away in 2007.

Most of his working life was spent in the private banking divisions of Swiss banks and he travelled extensively on business to the Middle East and the south west United States.

Music has always been a great passion and it encompasses just about everything from light opera to 1930's Delta blues. He plays the guitar and has played in several bands as well as playing in bars and pubs in a duo and as a solo singer. He also sings in the TAPAS choir.

David’s other great interest is team sports, especially football, rugby (both codes), cricket and Aussie Rules. He is a long-standing and often disappointed West Ham fan!

Jon Gaunt

Jon is one of UK’s most respected and outspoken broadcasters. A TV personality, newspaper columnist and social commentator, Gaunt describes himself as a "working-class, educated guy with, in broad strokes, a rightwing agenda".  He appears every Wednesday as a newspaper reviewer on UK TV’s Sky News Sunrise, and also appears as a contributor to TV programmes such as Question Time, Countdown, The Daily Politics, BBC News.  On Radio, Gaunt is a regular contributor on BBC Radio Two's Jeremy Vine Show. He has just been made CEO of the EU Referendum Campaign. Jon, or ‘Gaunty’ as he’s affectionately known, will present ‘The Gaunt Files’ Monday and Friday as part of the Breakfast Show between 8am and 10am.

Nando Brown

Nando hosts In The Doghouse, iTalk FM’s amazing pet show! His passion is dog behaviour & he is keen to help any dog that has a chance. Nando writes for various publications and continues to study the K9 world. He has had the privilege of interviewing some big names in the profession such as Dr Roger Mugford, Leonard Cecil from the Pet Professional Guild, Steve Mann from the IMDT, Barry Eaton & Mic Martin.

Having originally had a "problem dog" Nando realised that there hadn't been just 1 person to solve his problems & set about trying to change that.......after successfully running a full time dog training centre in the UK, Nando moved with his better half Donna to Spain in 2010 and now run In The Doghouse Pet Lodge, Training & Behaviour Centre on the Costa Del Sol.

Rosalind Scott-Gibb

Rosalind Scott-Gibb, who will host the classical music show, has been involved in radio over the past 20 years that she has lived on the Costa del Sol. Her classical music programme, which ran for over four years, was a great success. She feels that classical music can ‘soothe the soul and lighten the spirit’.

She has interviewed many local and international personalities on various magazine programmes as well as introducing a thought-provoking and controversial element to current events shows along the Costa.

Born is Scotland, she was educated in Canada. Her first senior position in journalism was in Kenya as Managing Editor of an international tourist magazine distributed to all Kenya tourist offices around the world. She then went south and took on the position as the only woman Editor on staff of 14 community newspapers.

She has written for all the top publications here on the coast, as well as having her own columns in The Reporter, Marbella Life, Essential, and Absolute Marbella.

As a photographer she shoots events as well as concentrating on portraits, properties and sports.

For more info: www.rosalind-photographer-marbella.eu

John Church

Joining our iTalkFM line up.

'Church on Saturdays' 1-2pm a great chat show presented by John Church out and about with local people, businesses etc.

 

After three gap years in Spain as a DJ, water-ski instructor and tour rep John returned to the UK to be a discotheque manager and went on to run night clubs for Grand Metropolitan Hotels. Expanding the group he purchased long leases on two suburban night clubs finally acquiring a giant freehold pub in Surrey, The Grasshopper Inn. Selling in 1990 he was less lucky in the boom and bust of the 1st Internet bubble and was saved from penury by the rising tide of property prices in the new millennium. After an amicable divorce in 2006 and three months at the National Broadcasting School at Sussex University he now broadcasts, plays bad golf, and divides his time between Worcestershire and Marbella. John haemorrhages money keeping a classic wooden yacht afloat in Cornwall, and following a lifetime in denial for credibility’s sake, now admits his first name is really Rupert.

Sid Olivera

Sid Olivera...

 

 

Larry Power

Larry Power...

 

Chris Marshall

Joining our iTalkFM line up.

Chris is a freelance writer who writes a monthly column for the Telegraph Expat and a weekly column for the Round Town News in Spain where he lives in Almerimar with his wife Sandra, five cats, two Harley Davidson's and more often than not a bottle of red wine.

 

He joins Pippa each Friday on her show to discuss his latest  columns, views on life here in Spain, observations on the news in  Spain, and is not afraid to put forward the male perspective in a  debate!

His Telegraph Expat column is sponsored by Spain Holiday and Campaya and his Round Town News column by Blitz Cleaning, and he discusses his columns and life in Spain in general each week here on iTalk FM.

You can read more about Chris on his personal blog www.chrismarshall.ws, his expat blogwww.almerimarlife.com and the cat re-homing and transport project that his wife runswww.alstrays.com. 

Please feel free to follow, friend or stalk Chris on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+

 

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