Tony Prince (born Thomas Whitehead in Oldham, Lancashire, 9 May 1944) is a British radio disc jockey and businessman, remembered for programmes on Radio Caroline and Radio Luxembourg in the 1960s and 1970s.
He worked as a jockey and toolmaker and played in a local band, The Jasons. In 1962 he started as a club DJ, and moved to Bristol to work for Top Rank. He presented an early ITV pop music programme, Discs-a-Gogo.
In 1965 he joined the pirate radio station Radio Caroline North on a ship in the Irish Sea, developing his personality as "your royal ruler". After the 1967 Marine Offences Act banned pirate radio he joined Radio Luxembourg. He continued to present programmes after becoming programme director there in 1977. He played Elvis Presley songs non-stop on hearing about the singer's death on August 16 that year. He was programme director until 1984.
Around 1981, he began playing DJ mixes of dance records and started the Disco Mix Club Show. On returning to Britain, he launched DMC as a record subscription club in 1983. He also launched the magazine Mixmag, later sold to EMAP. Prince continues to run the company, now known as DMC International.
Recent projects include Wedding TV, which Prince co-founded. The channel (available on Sky Digital) won the Best Specialist Channel award at the annual Broadcast Digital Channel Awards in 2008.
Famous quotes containing the word prince:
“Satan, what ails you? Where’s the famous tongue?
Thou onetime Prince of Conversationists?”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)