Football phone-in pioneer Tony Butler dies

Tony Butler is credited with inventing the radio football phone-in in England

Tony Butler, the man widely credited with inventing the radio football phone-in in England, has died aged 88.

The radio legend's forthright and distinctive style made him one of the early stars on local radio.

Butler worked at one of the UK's first commercial stations, Birmingham's BRMB, in the 1970s.

Tributes have been paid to the "larger than life" character, with BBC Radio WM's Daz Hale saying "he was a giant" in broadcasting.

"He was an icon, he was a great and he changed broadcasting in this country and possibly all over the world," he said.

Tony Butler, wearing the jacket, was mobbed while collecting Christmas presents for Birmingham children

The sometimes controversial presenter later hosted for many years at BBC Radio WM in Birmingham, which included time on the weekday breakfast show.

The 88-year-old also became famous to a national audience as part of a routine by comedian Jasper Carrott.

"The wonderful thing about Tony is he had a wonderful sense of humour," the comic told BBC WM.

"He could give it out but he could also take it."

"I used to go to the football on a Saturday afternoon, and the first thing you did when you got in your car was turn on Tony Butler, there were just some classics.

"He was irrepressible, and of course he got into a lot of controversy with different things, but that was part of him, that's what he was."

"I thought the world of him."

Jenny Wilkes with former colleague Tony Butler

Broadcaster and former colleague Stuart Linnell said he was a "legendary broadcaster".

In the 1970s, Butler worked as a freelance sports journalist at BBC Radio Birmingham, as it was called then, he explained.

"They used him on air but his Midlands accent was so strong they felt that the listeners, even the Birmingham listeners, wouldn't really understand him on the radio so they gave him elocution lessons.

"But then when BRMB arrived he went on air there and made a huge impact, like nobody had heard anything like him before."

"I learned so much from watching Butler, and I shall always remember him with great, great fondness," Mr Linnell added.

• Listeners pay tribute to Tony Butler

Former BBC WM presenter Jenny Wilkes said "he was a friend to everybody and he looked after people as well".

"In terms of radio he knew what people wanted, and knew what people wanted to listen to, he was just so entertaining."

Tony Butler was known for his distinctive local accent and forthright presenting style

Butler won a lifetime achievement award at the Sony radio awards in 2007 and retired in 2012.

He had joined the Birmingham Post and Mail newspaper organisation as a trainee reporter in 1951 at the age of 16 and later completed his national service before working for the Daily Telegraph.

Butler first presented for the BBC on regional radio in 1963, but became a notable sport phone-in pioneer when he hosted on BRMB at a time well before the format reached national radio in the 1990s - the decade when football's Premiership was formed.

'On yer bike'

He commanded huge audiences in the 1970s, when there were only a handful of BBC radio stations on the dial as competition and just three television channels.

Although most notable for being regularly on the radio in the West Midlands over nearly four decades, he also presented three TV series for BBC Midlands.

Butler, whose catchphrases included "on yer bike", had been working on WM in the 90s before he joined BRMB's sister station Xtra AM, which had an oldies music format, and later returned to the BBC local station.

Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Send your story ideas to: [e-mail]