Christian O'Connell

Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is an Australia based British radio disc jockey (DJ), television host, writer, and comedian.

He presents The Christian O'Connell Show on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, replayed on weekday evenings on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, 101.7 WSFM in Sydney, 97.3 FM in Brisbane, Mix 102.3 in Adelaide, and 96FM in Perth.

Christian started The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show in 1998, on weekday mornings at a local station in Bournemouth, England; he moved to local stations in larger cities (Liverpool in 2000, London in 2001) until it became a national show on Virgin Radio in March 2006, which became Absolute Radio in September 2008.

Christian started on 2CR Radio in Bournemouth in 1998.

He later moved to Juice FM in Liverpool in 2000.

He commented, "It was a budget, tin-pot station. They didn't have a lot of money."

O'Connell hosted the Breakfast Show on indie music station XFM London from January 2001 to October 2005, where he was particularly fond of playing The Sugarcubes.

He formerly hosted BBC Radio 5 Live's weekend sports game show Fighting Talk from 2004 to 2006 and the 2013–14 season, the other presenters being BBC Football Commentator Jonathan Pearce and This Morning presenter Matt Johnson.

While at XFM, O'Connell ran a song writing competition amongst listeners to pen an England team anthem for UEFA Euro 2004.

The result was Born In England which was recorded with the assistance of acts including Supergrass, The Libertines and Delays, as well as Bernard Butler and Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt.

Released under the band name "Twisted X", the song reached Number 9 on the UK Singles Chart.

He also appeared before he moved to Virgin Radio, with a guest appearance on O'Connell's XFM show in 2004.

O'Connell joined the Virgin Radio team making his first broadcast on 23 January 2006.

In 2006, after The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show had switched to a national broadcast, he was able to interview Seagal; The Observer described the interview as "a spectacularly terrible interview in which O'Connell's questions dropped into a seemingly bottomless well of Apathy."

O'Connell described the interview remarking; "It was the single worst thing I've ever done on radio. And the other week I was having a go at Michael Parkinson, saying he used to be fantastic but sadly now he's become too fawning, and then I did the Seagal thing and I thought: I should just leave."

He celebrated his 10th year at Virgin (changed in September 2008 to Absolute) by giving his listeners free tins of food.

O'Connell has long been a fan of Hollywood action man Steven Seagal, who he had mentioned several times on radio, and remarked that he would love to meet.

In November 2009, Tennant co-hosted the Absolute Breakfast Show with O'Connell for three consecutive days.

David Cameron appeared on O'Connell's Absolute Radio show twice in 2009.

His second appearance caused controversy when the Conservative leader used the expletives "pissed off" (referring to the public reaction to the expenses scandal) and (In reference to Twitter) said "too many twits might make a twat" while on air.

In October 2010, Tennant co-hosted with O'Connell and acted out Copacabana with some of the Breakfast Show team to discover "just who shot who", something that had been debated for a few days prior to this.

In September 2011, Tennant again co-hosted with O'Connell and experienced a fish-facing with a trout, as well as a tennis ball challenge outside the Absolute Radio studios.

James Nesbitt, another friend of O'Connell's, has also appeared on the show several times.

He has performed three sold-out tours of the International Edinburgh Fringe Comedy Festival in 2013, 2014, and 2015.

O'Connell has collaborated with European, Australian, and US radio shows as a guest speaker.

He hosted the Q Awards between 2013 and 2017.

In 2014 he was the youngest radio presenter inducted into the UK Radio Academy Hall of Fame.

He hosted the MacMillan Cancer comedy show at the London Palladium in 2016 and the Stand Up to Cancer show at the London Palladium in November 2017.

In May 2018, O'Connell and the show moved to a broadcast settlement located in Australia to broadcast in Australia.

O'Connell won a record-breaking number of radio awards, including 11 Sony Radio Academy Gold awards, the Radio Academy Gold Award in May 2018, and runner-up in the Crabbie's Ginger Wine Grand National in 2014.

In February 2018, O'Connell announced he would leave Absolute Radio and emigrate to Australia to host the Gold 104.3 breakfast programme in Melbourne.

He did his last broadcast of the UK's The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on 18 May 2018, before starting the new breakfast show on Gold 104.3 on 4 June 2018, featuring his long-running quiz 'Yay or Neigh.'

In April 2020, ARN announced that The Christian O'Connell Show would be syndicated across the country from Monday 27 April, airing for one hour from 7 PM until 8 PM on weeknights on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne, WSFM in Sydney, 97.3 FM in Brisbane, Mix 102.3 in Adelaide and 96FM in Perth.

In November 2023, ARN announced that it had renewed O'Connell's contract until 2029.

O'Connell was born in Winchester, England, where he was raised on a council estate. His father, of Irish origin, was a foreman for Ford at Southampton, and his mother was an NHS nurse.

His maternal grandmother was Indian, having met her husband, who fought with the Gurkhas in Burma, India.

O'Connell and his wife have two daughters.

O'Connell attended the Henry Beaufort School and Peter Symonds College before studying at Nottingham Trent University.

He supports the EFL Championship football team Southampton F.C. and Australian Football League team Melbourne Demons.

O'Connell's first job was as a dustman in Winchester at the age of 16 to earn some cash in the Christmas holidays.