Gold’s breakfast show presenter Tony Dibbin is leaving the station after 10 years on the programme.
Staff were told of the changes today and Tony will host his last show on Friday morning (24th May).
Weekend presenter David Andrews will cover the show ‘for the next few weeks’ ahead of further changes expected to be announced by Global.
Tony started his radio career at The Wave in Swansea in 1995 then moved to Atlantic 252 in the late 90s. He then worked at a number of radio stations including Silk FM, Chiltern, Beacon and Heart. He was also Programme Controller and breakfast presenter at Brunel FM in Swindon and KMFM in Kent.
He currently hosts programmes for Real Radio in NZ and Cruise Radio.
A Global Spokesperson confirmed the move to RadioToday, saying: “We can confirm that Tony Dibbin will be stepping down from his 10-year tenure presenting More Music Breakfast on Gold from this Friday 24th May.
“Tony has been a loyal, knowledgeable and enthusiastic member of the Global family and we would like to thank him and wish him the very best for the future.
“David Andrews will cover Gold Breakfast in the short term with more news about Gold to be announced over the next few weeks.”
Gold is mostly non-stop music outside of the breakfast show and is currently on DAB+ in London, and on AM in London, Manchester, Nottingham and Derby. All of its previous AM slots around the UK were transferred to Smooth Radio in 2014.
It was previously known as Capital Gold and Capital Radio having launched as the 2nd UK commercial radio station in 1973, after LBC.
Oh no. I liked him. I hope the changes won’t be too severe.
I’ll miss you Tony but we do some day time djs on gold oh and please play some different songs.yiur play list is boring
Very sad news to learn Tony Dibbin leaving gold radio, loved the show, especially the golden years, you will be missed, not just me but the thousands of listeners
Likely outcome is they’ll hand back the AM licences.
Hopefully it will rebrand to 60s 70s. Global cover the 80s on heart 80s.
That’s unlikely because one of Global’s competitors would take it, possibly Talk Radio.
They’ve handed back AM licences before which haven’t been re-advertised.
5 DJ’s went in 2014 this looks like to myself its going fully automated station now we could have no presenters and same 500 song playlist and just what global always wanted Dibbin you did your best .
Hope the station is still going to play mainly 50/60/70 to many statons playing 80/90 ,,greatest hits radio is terrible otherwise it will be internet radio on the tune in app..
Tony u will be sadly missed I listen to u since u been in and James and Erica and when they left I put up a page to get them back and had all u listener surport behind me but it didn’t get us no we’re and I could do the same for u I will if u want a stay on doing the show I will do everything I can to get u back on
Probably alway on the books, I imagine the station was hemeraging money left right and centre
What a total disaster for radio, hopefully Tony will go to another station we can listen to and which appreciates his talent, sounds like Gold more interested in money than people
Global exists for shareholders and advertisers. Listeners are just pairs of ears hired to advertisers, who sadly only want to reach females aged 15 – 40. Who control 80% of household expenditure and are seen as pliant, not yet having locked in brand loyalties.
Despite reaching a big (1.2 million) audience despite very patchy coverage, Global’s ghouls see Gold as not worth spending a single presenter’s dime on. If it survives, it will be the same tiny playlist living on a harddrive in a cupboard. Such contempt for the golden age of our nation’s great musical heritage. At the same time PC Radio 2 is abandoning the same audience for wet, soulless Ofcom-compliant RnB.
We need a disco show on the Friday and Saturday night like Greg Edwards use to do 4 hours every Friday and Saturday night and some different songs we get to much of the same songs
Gold needs to change we need more country music. more music from Whitney Houston. Madonna. Wham. Jam. Chic. Dolly Parton. Kenny Rodgers. More bob Marley more 50s more Dean Martin or Sammy Davis Jr more 80s soul
Gold has never been the same since I Greg Edwards soul show disappeared we need a disco show on a Friday and Saturday night from 8pm till 12am
Greg is now on Mi-Soul, 1pm, Sundays.
Onwards and upwards.a station with no djs…sad….please change the playlist now.same songs…..not good listening.hopefully 60s sunday will stay and 70s sat….good luck tony.you will be missed.you have been loved.xxx
The radio won’t be the same you will be missed love Tony’s breakfast show and Sunday show, don’t like listening to an automated show same thing day in day out boring and soul less, no more gold in our house
Global is a PLC and has no shaeholders
Global’s a limited company and Ashley probably owns them all
Well done Tony, always found you pretty easy to listen to. Good luck.
GOLD, why so many adverts ?
And why with all of those decades of music do we hear the same songs day after day ?
I used to love The Foundations – Build me up buttercup, but is it necessary every day !!??
Tony made it sound like live radio.At other times there is a very synthetic quality which smacks of pre-recording and doesn’t make for such good listening.Not sure I will continue listening.
My ex was the first credit controller at Capital Radio in ’74. What a fun station with Everett, Vance, Cash etc. rock n roll Sat nights. Out for drinks with DJs, sales team, technicians. What a shadow of a company it’s become. Now Tony goes. Hope playlist improves (as if). Same old same old. Such a shame, obviously no care is shown to the station otherwise this wouldn’t be the case.
Same 80 songs repeated every day, in a different order. Listen to internet station solidgoldgemam.co.uk
Thanks Simon (real name Len Groat)
So sorry you’re going Tony we’ve loved your show over all these years. Love the golden year and Sunday request slots. You’re really going to be missed. Best wishes for the future. Love Linda and Derek Fawcett from Roydon.
Maybe off to Bauer media? Magic?
Off to Magic now?
Tony.you will be missed by thousands of morning listeners.your knowledge. Easy to listen to presenting.style.we always feel you are talking to us, not at us,another station is going to be fortunate that you are in the market,I and many other listeners will be looking out for you in the future,wishing you,and your familey every success in the future,and to gold,I and many other listeners will be saying GOODBY,
Darn it, I bought an Echo Dot because my elderly DAB radio couldn’t get DAB+ , as Tony helped me get the dishwasher emptied and refilled and the kitchen cleaned in the mornings. The music of my generation. This mornings golden hour featured the year my daughter turned 2! Happy times. And now they are changing it again? The only thing I can take as a positive out of this the ability to set cooking timers and asking Alexa to put stuff on my shopping list reminder.
Sorry to see you go Tony, have been a long time listener and enjoyed every minute. Can’t beat 50s 60s & 70s music without the constant drone of the DJ and advertising interruption. I hope Global don’t mess around with this format otherwise it will be like so many other radio stations and the above is what always set it aside and above the others for me . Good luck and best wishes to you
Let’s face it, Global have been chipping away at “GOLD” for a few years now. They have made it (apart from Breakfast time) a former shadow of itself. Continuous music, with the odd intervention of Randall Lee Rose and a nice sounding lady, does not suggest Global sees a future for the station.
Tony Dibbin, along with David Andrews, have held it together. They’ve been through the extraction from most AM frequencies and National DAB, but still manage 1.2m listeners.
Good luck to Tony. I’m sure he’ll pop up somewhere,
Why did you take my input off?
Not the best move…
he comes across well on gold. i listened now and again. he does not look too good on his photo.
however i believe gold should have given far more notice of his departure so that listeners could give him one final listen.
Global should be aware that listeners wish this. They did the same wit Russ Williams last year on Smooth. It is showing disregard for the listeners. I can understand them however dispensing with djs as there a lot of stations around now.
You don’t know if that was him could’ve been anyone in the global building
Nottingham and Derby were part of the Classic Gold network before rebranded as Gold
A shame a great pesenter.ihave global realises there is market for oldies,as angel radio proves
There is no advertising revenue because of the age of the audience. It’s 1.2 million people that the advertisers don’t want to reach.
Philip England : and of course ‘Classic Gold’ was formerly the original Solid Gold GEM … which achieved a weekly reach of 23% in the early 90s…. sadly the golden days of UK local commercial radio were sacrificed in the name of corporate profit
There was little choice when you reached 23%. Its not corporate profit that has caused change but we live in a different world. Wages. Rent and competition have all changed.
Perhaps we could have Dean Martin back
Good by Tony you will be missed global radio haven’t got a clue all of us listeners who love gold radio and had to suffer the indignity of listening to smooth radio which is rubbish bring back Tony dibben dean Martin and the 60 70 80s music and take off smooth radio
Final deathknell?
I liked Tony, can just about receive Gold on a patchy signal ever since reorganisation. Now a huge area covering Bristol, Bath and Somerset doesn’t receive it. The playlist is getting a bit repetitive though, Tiger Feet by Mud is played so often!
Maybe they going to put gold on dab across country now Heart is going to be networked and dont need Heart Extra anymore
bring back capital gold, was much better station lot of good DJs gone.
global have never wanted gold network. hope they keep David Andrews.
Bring a well known DJ to gold Breakfast. another good station gone!!!!!!
They don’t want it because it isn’t profitable, so it’s going online only as a stream on the Global Player .
Bring back Smooth 70s! I hope NOT to hear another station dedicated to ’80s music.
Loved listening to him in the morning seems you’re getting rid of all your best DJs Good luck in what ever you do xx