User:Commander Keane/Tony Delroy

Anthony Eric Delroy is an Australian radio personality.

Joining the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, he worked on-air in Bathurst and Launceston before settling at their Sydney station 702 ABC Sydney in 1987. He found his niche when he took over the late show slot from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m.  In 1990 it went national and the ABC replaced the state-based late-night programming with the Sydney-based show.

When something like this happens, it generally causes discontent among at least part of the audience, but the listeners of Australia embraced Delroy and he soon became a national institution. The midnight quiz segment "The Challenge" is especially popular and has been described a cult favorite. The segment made the mainstream media when two of the participants in the quiz got married, leading to a magazine spread in "That's Life" weekly.

Even Delroy's cat Barbara (a Rag Doll breed) has her own following!

Since the ABC started streaming it live from their website, his show has attracted international listeners as well. E-mails have been received from listeners as far away as Canada and Mongolia.

The show's success is bolstered by a team of experts who are featured every week to discuss such topics as motoring, literature, movies, American politics, and travel destinations. The longest serving of these is travel advisor Fred Shaw who usually appears on the Monday night shows.

During January (the Australian summer), Tony Delroy usually takes a month off and the Nightlife show continues under other ABC personalities. For example, during the 2006-2007 break the comperes were Bernadette Young from ABC Western Australia and Bernie Hobbs from the ABC Science Unit.

--- Tony's life

Delroy's career in radio began during his final year at high school when he worked in the 2SM newsroom in Sydney. He joined the ABC before university and worked as a late night BJ while studying. In 1987 he joined 702 ABC Sydney and worked in a variety of shifts. He was news director at 2UE. He began presenting the late-night radio program Nightlife in 1990.

In 2002 Delroy described the difficulty for contestants to get onto the quiz, when the lines are opened at 12.07 am (Eastern) the board fills in 1.2 seconds, and if a call drops out it will be replaced within 5-10 seconds.

Tony Delroy Station - 774 ABC. By LOUISE HATTAM. 471 words 20 November 2002 Herald-Sun English (c) 2002 Herald and Weekly Times Limited

Nightlife


 * The Challenge

A nightly segment on the show is The Challenge, a 25 question quiz with questions in 5 categories devised by Madame Lash, a retired ABC producer. Topics vary from literature, history, politics and sport to words beginning with the letter F.

Rising To Tony Delroy's Challenge Nicole Brady 761 words 6 May 2004 The Age 13 English © 2004 Copyright John Fairfax Holdings Limited

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