Christian O'Connell, British radio DJ and presenter
Christian Liam O'Connell (born 7 April 1973 in Winchester, Hampshire) is a British-Australian radio disc jockey, television host, writer and comedian who presents The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on weekday mornings on Gold 104.3 in Melbourne and the Christian O'Connell Show 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. He previously presented The Christian O'Connell Breakfast Show on Virgin Radio on weekday mornings from March 2006 which became Absolute Radio in September 2008 until May 2018.
He has 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 2014 he was the youngest radio presenter to be inducted into the UK Radio Academy Hall of Fame. He has performed three sold-out tours of the International Edinburgh Fringe Comedy festival in 2013. 2014 and 2015. In September 2008 he published a book The Men Commandments (Harper Collins) and in 2017 he published a children's book "Radio Boy" (Harper Collins), which was Oxfam's most-donated children's book of the year in 2017. He is a popular international guest speaker and has collaborated with European, Australian and US radio shows. He hosted the MacMillan Cancer comedy show at the London Palladium 2016 and the Stand Up to Cancer show at the London Palladium in November 2017. He has hosted the Q Awards between 2013 and 2017.
In February 2018, O'Connell announced he would be leaving Absolute Radio and emigrating to Australia to host the Gold 104.3 breakfast programme in Melbourne. He left 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 will be syndicated across the country from Monday 27 April, airing for one hour from 7PM until 8PM 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.