Alan Fisher (broadcast Journalist) - Early Career

Early Career

Born and raised in Motherwell, he wrote for his local newspaper, 'The Motherwell Times' while still attending the town's Dalziel High School. A regular presenter on Hospital Radio Law from the age of sixteen, he also appeared several times on BBC Radio Scotland's Sunday Club, a current affairs programme for teenagers presented by Malcom Wilson. On leaving school, he was accepted to study journalism at what was then Napier College of Commerce and Technology in Edinburgh. On completing the course, he received a number of job offers but opted to join Moray Firth Radio in Inverness. He worked there for 11 months as a journalist and presenter of the station's Sunday breakfast show before moving to Northsound Radio in Aberdeen. His work - including a number of exclusive reports and interviews - brought him to the attention of the bosses at what was then Grampian Television (now STV North) and he was offered the post of reporter/presenter on the main evening news programme North Tonight. His time there included covering stories such as the 1986 Chinook helicopter disaster, the Piper Alpha oil rig explosion and Aberdeen FC's 1990 Scottish FA Cup win. After six years in the North East, he moved back to the Central Belt of Scotland as a reporter and regular presenter of Scotland Today on Scottish Television. During his time with the Glasgow based broadcaster, he reported from Saudi Arabia, the Gulf and Dubai ahead of the first Gulf War; and from Kuwait and Southern Iraq in its immediate aftermath. He also presented an investigation into a sinister extortion racket operating across Scotland, which led to questions being asked in the House of Commons. During the 1990/91 season, he was a regular match day reporter on Radio Clyde's 'Superscoreboard' Sports programme.