From covering the Manchester Arena attack and coronavirus pandemic to being at the London Olympics and more - it’s been a busy decade in radio for Tony Livesey.
The broadcaster joined BBC Radio 5 Live in 2010 to present the late-night show after stints on hosting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio Lancashire before hosting the Breakfast show on the station.
A year after his first show, Tony’s late show was moved over from BBC Manchester in the city’s Oxford Road to Salford.
“On the very first night the BBC were opening their studios in Salford, I was going to be the very first voice that the nation heard,” he explained.
Tony’s show was already being broadcast from Manchester
But after promising to be the first voice to broadcast from the brand new location, Tony says his “thunder” was stolen.
“Rachael [Bland] worked with me on the late show. She was a big friend of mine, a colleague and co-presenter,” he said.
“So on the night, all the BBC big wigs came to Salford, they were all behind the glass in the studio and I was going to be on a poster, it was going to be ‘Tony Livesey the first voice of Salford Quays.
“But just before I spoke, Rachael ran into the studio, sat down and read the news.”
He went on: “So she stole all my thunder. She got all the attention, she got the poster, everyone was applauding her and then I had to slink in and do my show.
“So Rachael Bland was the first voice to be heard.”
The former North West Tonight host had to deal with the loss of colleague and friend Rachel three years ago.
The BBC presenter died aged 40, almost two years after being diagnosed with breast cancer.
“There’s not a day goes by when I don’t think of Rachael,” Tony said. “She used to sit alongside me.
“She was my foil, she used to tell me off all the time.”
Tony also read Racheal’s eulogy at her funeral and recalled her catchphrase as being, ‘Can we move on?’
He explained how it came about when they were on the radio discussing encounters with wildlife when a listener rang in and “said he woke up one morning to say he found a slug on his wife’s bottom.”
“Rachael just went, ‘can we move on?’ and that became her catchphrase,” Tony said.
“She was such a powerful, strong woman. She tackled that illness head-on and what she did before she died was make life and death a lot easier for thousands and thousands of other women.
“She was such a strong person, and an absolute pleasure to work with.”
He added: “She was a beautiful woman and I mean that in every sense.”
Having spent 10 years in the role, Tony has been the voice of many hard-hitting stories to happen in the city, including the devastating Manchester Arena attack.
“That was when the news was actually on our doorstep and like everybody else going through that, it was a horrendous time,” Tony said.
“The next morning I was in St Anne’s Square and I saw the first bouquet of flowers laid there which, later in the day became an absolute carpet that spread for acres.”
But Tony has been clear that whether it’s news personal to those living in Manchester or elsewhere in the UK, his job is a simple one.
“All I want to be in the afternoons is a companion and alright, sometimes the news is horrendous but we try and face the news, hold each other’s hand, and then have a smile about life afterwards.”
And it’s not always serious.
As mentioned, Tony got a job people would have been desperate for at the time - going to the London Olympics in 2012.
However, it wasn’t quite what you’d expect.
“I was doing my evening show then so we did 19 consecutive shows from all around London every single night of the Olympics,” Tony said.
“Unlike everyone else in 5 Live who got to see all the different events and commentate on it, I saw nothing.
“I was outside the stadium on Super Saturday so I saw nothing but the crowd leaving.”
He added: “The nearest I got to seeing the Olympics, one night they said we’re going to put you on the London Eye.
“It wasn’t ideal because it goes round every 45 minutes and the band got stuck on. They didn’t get off in time.
“But when I was right at the top with the aid of binoculars, I managed to see 30 seconds of the beach volleyball.
“So after working 19 nights flat out at the London Olympics all I saw was 30 seconds of the beach volleyball but I was there.”
While Tony is happy doing the job he loves, he also has ideas for life after radio.
The journalist was a young lad when he was given the heartbreaking news that his mum had died over the phone after not even knowing she had cancer.
“The older I’ve got, the more I realised how much that has impacted on my life,” Tony said.
“I was 13 and at the time you think there’s nothing worse that can happen and the trauma is so intense.
“However, you do knuckle down and carry on because life has to go on otherwise what’s the alternative.”
Tony did say that for a while he was unable to look towards the future and worried every time the phone rang.
He ended up discussing the emotional topic on the radio which he said helped him deal with his grief, all these years later, as well as helping others through their own experiences.
Tony also went a step further and helped open a unit at a local hospice in his hometown of Barnsley to help children who have been bereaved.
And this leads to what he thinks his plans will be for life after radio.
“The one thing it has done is made me realise is that when I’ve given that’s what I am going to go and do,” Tony said.
“They always talk about giving back and I’m going to go and devote myself to try and help children who lose their parents when they are young.
“It’s something I’ve been through and something I think I can help with.”
Before then though, Tony is fronting an adult literacy campaign on 5 Live recently called ‘Word Matters’ which aims to shed light on the nine million UK adults who struggle reading or writing.
Reflecting over the last decade, Tony said: “If you think a decade is a long time to be doing it, imagine what my listeners feel like.
“When you’re in this kind of business though, the years fly by.
“I, for now, I do the Drivetime show on 5 Live between 4 and 7 every afternoon and for the first time in my life I’ve got a job that I actually wake up and think, ‘I really love what I do and I can’t wait to get in’.
“And I’m not making that up.”
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