Whether dragging ourselves out of bed, eating breakfast or on our way to work, the voice of Radio Foyle presenter, Paul McFadden is one that Derry people will be familiar with. For the last 18 months Paul has been easing the reluctant endeavour of waking up and braving the day ahead for his listeners with The Paul McFadden show every weekday morning on BBC Radio Foyle.

Paul was born in Derry in 1960 and before a brief few months at Queen's University, Belfast he attended St. Eugene's Primary School and St. Cloumb's College.

Paul was brought up in Eglinton Terrace in the Bogside and was the eldest of six brothers. He explained that as a young man, he always had a love for English and his mother, Olive, encouraged him to read and learn as much as possible.

"When we were young my mother would always have given us books to read," said Paul. "My mother always bought us the 'Tell Me Why' books and I also remember us getting a set of encyclopaedias - they kept me fascinated for quite some time.

"I suppose from my earliest days as a young boy I would always have been attracted to the idea of journalism.

"In later years at school I wanted to go on to university and study law but I didn't work hard enough and I didn't get the results. But I was lucky, because I managed to find my way into journalism."
Journalism was a profession he was always interested in, therefore Paul seized the opportunity to apply for a job as a reporter with The Derry Journal in 1979.

"My first job as a journalist was working for The Derry Journal and I feel that it was almost fated that I got the job."
He continued: "I remember the Journal had advertised for the position of a journalist and I drew up a letter of application. I wanted it to be perfect so I made sure I did a rough copy before drawing up the final draft.

"The final copy was perfect. I had taken great time and thought when composing the letter but somehow I managed to post the rough copy instead of the final draft.

"It was a disaster," exclaimed Paul. "The next day I realised my mistake and I went to the Journal office on the Buncrana Road to try and get something sorted.

"I knocked on the door and asked to speak to who was in charge. Colm McCarroll came to the door and I explained to him what had happened and I gave him the proper letter of application.

"At that point, I remember thinking that I had blown any chance of ever getting into journalism but I was wrong. Unbeknownst to me, the Journal decided to invite me back for interview and I was offered the job.

"I had only been at Queen's University in Belfast for three weeks and I was feeling a bit homesick so the job at the Journal could not have come at a better time."

Paul joined The Derry Journal in 1979 and joined the team at BBC Radio Foyle two years later. Working through the Troubles and the 1981 Hunger Strikes, Paul described them as exciting times professionally but now, he is glad they are over.

"I had only been in the job for a few weeks and the boss, Frank McCarroll, asked me to write an opinion piece. It was great experience for someone of my age and of my inexperience to do.

"The Journal was a great place to cut your teeth and as a young reporter I was able to get a taste for the likes of court reporting, news and sport.

"Working as a reporter in the late seventies and the early eighties meant that you were always really busy with news. The news that was happening in the North was headline news in both the Irish and English papers and sometimes across the world."

He added: "A few years later, I was approached by Radio Foyle to become a freelance reporter on contract. Back then I would have been supplying a lot of articles to other organisations and one of them would have been Radio Foyle. They must have thought that my stories were
reasonably well written.

"I remember when I started, Ciaran Gill, told me that the salary was £5,500 but when they sent me out my contract it was £6,500. I called them to say that they had made a mistake and they had offered me £1,000 too much. However, to my delight they said that that was the lowest they could have offered me. I know to many people it might not seem like a lot not now but back then it was good money - I was delighted."

Paul started off as a reporter with Radio Foyle in 1981 and now, in 2008, he has his own radio programme. He explained that his work for the Morning Programme has been his most rewarding and stated that he is proud of the plaudits the show received.

"The work I did on the morning programme was probably the most satisfying work I have ever done. When created, the programme was totally new and fresh and we won the Sony Gold Award for the Best Breakfast Talk Show in the United Kingdom.

"We were up against the likes of the Today programme, everything BBC Radio One, Two and Five Live had to throw at us. We were up against everybody and the fact that we won was a huge achievement for everyone involved. I think it was a tremendous example of what could be accomplished when people pull together and work as a team. It was a brilliant honour."

Outside of work Paul likes to read about history and politics. He also enjoys spending time and walking in Donegal and watching news on the television and listening to the radio.

Paul married his wife, Christine, in 1984 and they have two teenage children. He continued by saying that he never had any real ambitions or aspirations to work as a journalist in either Dublin or London. He is very happy doing what he does because he recognises and admires the special place that Derry is and believes that what it has to offer can be found no where else.

"I am happy to be here. I think that if Derry can realise its true potential then it can most certainly be successful and prosperous. I don't know the extent to which a journalist can fashion that but if I can make one iota of a difference then I will happy. Derry people have great talent, ingenuity and they have great decency about them and that's why I think Derry is such a special place."

The Radio Foyle presenter finished off the interview by talking about his radio show which airs in the mornings. The 48-year-old said that the show is "wonderfully democratic" and revealed that his taste in music has always been a hot topic for discussion amongst his listeners.

"At the moment I'm working on the eponymous 'Paul McFadden' programme on Radio Foyle, which runs from nine till half past 10, Monday to Friday. It's very different to the cut and thrust of 'The Morning Programme'.

Now I have more interaction with the public, with listeners, whose comments are probably the most important feature of the programme. It's wonderfully democratic, from that point of view.

"My taste in music has been a bone of contention throughout the time I have been doing the programme. Although our new 'Me Spot' - featuring some of the great operatic pieces - has proved extraordinarily popular with our audience.

"Our listeners are fiercely loyal and incredibly witty, but they don't let you get above yourself. Last week, a lady phone the programme to say that I'd ruined her week. She'd seen the photograph of me in Tuesday's 'Journal' - in the Hamill's Beat column - and clearly she wasn't impressed. "I'd always imagined him tall and dark, like Eamonn Holmes. But then I saw his photo and thought, 'Aw my God!' Isn't it amazing? I'd never pictured him like this."

He added: "You don't want to be too thin-skinned in my line of work. Although, in truth, the candour of the audience is nowhere near as brutal as that of my colleagues: the programme's producer, Eimear O'Callaghan, and broadcast assistant Emma Taylor, are pretty quick to take me down a peg or three. It's probably revenge.

"They could be flat out on a busy programme dealing with as many as 200 calls, so I admire their courtesy and their patience. Theirs are the unseen hands which make the programme work. They're the people who really do the work. I sit there and play music and talk to people, or - as my producer reminds me - talk about myself (my favourite subject), something which I could go on endlessly about."

The Paul McFadden Show airs on BBC Radio Foyle every weekday morning from 9.00am - 10.30am.