Ross Macfadyen
Ross MacFadyen was born and bred in Glasgow and today lives just outside Lochwinnoch in the rolling West Renfrewshire countryside.
I always wanted to be 'on the radio' and so pestered my parents for years to buy me disco equipment so that I could get out and do the mobile disco thing. I then got involved in Hospital Radio at the age of 16 and stuck in there getting as much experience as I could in everything from presenting to soldering a cable to a jack as well as production work but I only ever wanted to be a presenter. From there I was lucky, and in the right place at the right time, to get various opportunities and move into radio full time.
I started working professionally in radio in 1990 when a new station opened in Glasgow (it's since closed down). I was poached from there by a rival station and spent 15 years there doing all sorts of things, starting with the overnight show, weekend breakfast show then night time and mid morning.
I left in October 2005 to use my skills in a different way and now run the radio division of the RNIB (Royal National Institute of the Blind) whilst also keeping my hand in by presenting the Sunday afternoon show on Real Radio.
Before working in radio, I worked in the travel industry. Part of the job was to travel abroad with travel agents on what we called 'educationals' and 'show them hotels and resorts' so that they could go back home and talk knowledgeably about the various resorts to clients. Thinking back it was such a lame excuse for a week in the sun, drinking, eating and going to nightclubs all in the name of 'knowing your product' and all at someone else's expense, but it was great fun. I don't think the travel industry does that kind of thing anymore!
