User:Chloeaust/Dan O'Connell (DJ)

Dan O'Connell (DJ)

Dan O’Connell (born 31st January 1982, Daniel O’Connell in Ely, Cambridgeshire) is a Radio DJ, at XFM, in the UK.

EARLY LIFE

Born into an RAF family, he grew up on various air bases around the world. He attended a military school in Scotland from the age of 9, which he left to pursue a career in radio.

EDUCATION

Dan O’Connell studied at Leeds Metropolitan University from 2000-2003. He worked on the student radio station, LSRFM, in his final year. He later won a silver SRA for Best Entertainment Show.

CAREER

O’Connell was first heard in the UK on Viking FM (2004-2005), in Hull. He began his career as a character on the breakfast show. “Nurgel The Norwegian” was based on someone he had been at university with. In his time on the breakfast show, he auditioned for Pop Idol as Nurgel, which later meant the character became something of a local celebrity. O’Connell gave up his slot with the breakfast team to present the early breakfast show on the station as himself.

In 2005, he transferred to Galaxy FM, where he stayed un till 2009. He started at the station on the afternoon show, then quickly moved to the drive time slot. In his time at Galaxy, O’Connell began to DJ in clubs across the north of England. This included regular appearances at Gatecrasher. “A childhood dream fulfilled”, he later said in an interview.

From 2010, he has worked at XFM. He currently does the afternoon show 13:00-16:00 across the UK. He has covered the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize for the station and also regularly reports from festivals for XFM.

O’Connell has also presented the TV highlights for The Big Reunion Festival and has written for various publications including Absolute Magazine. He also works as a Voice Over Artist and has voiced various projects including the I-Tunes Festival.

PERSONAL LIFE

O’Connell currently lives in Camden, North London. He is not related to Christian O’Connell or Paddy O’Connell.