David Jensen

David Allan "Kid" Jensen (born 4 July 1950) is a Canadian-born British radio DJ and television presenter. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began as a radio DJ on Radio Luxembourg. Jensen was later a broadcaster for the BBC from 1976 to 1984, as a host on BBC Radio 1 and presenter on the TV music programme Top of the Pops from 1977 to 1984. Jensen has also hosted and presented for Capital FM and ITV among other stations. Early career Born into a Danish-origin family residing in Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music on CJOV-FM, in Kelowna, on a show called Music For Dining, which was sponsored a lot of the time by a number of local funeral parlours. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in November 1968, joining Paul Kay, Paul Burnett, Noel Edmonds and Tony Prince as the resident DJ team. His recruitment was part of the "all-live" initiative, bringing to an end most of the pre-recorded shows. His initial slot was 1am to 3am Monday to Thursday, and 7pm to 9pm Sunday evenings, but was quickly promoted at the start of 1969 to an earlier slot, mostly starting at 9pm. Being only 18 years old, Paul Burnett affectionately called him the "kid" and the name "Kid" Jensen was being widely used in newspaper listings by February 1969. From May 1970, he presented a popular progressive rock show, typically broadcast at midnight or 1am, later billed as "Dimensions" which resulted in a big increase in listeners to this slot. By 1974, Jensen was becoming a TV personality in Britain, hosting pop shows on ITV (including music quiz show Pop Quest), and in the mid-1970s he worked for the then-new Radio Trent (now Capital East Midlands) in Nottingham, one of the first legal, land-based commercial radio stations in the UK. During the early part of his career he was billed as "Kid Jensen" and did not use his given name professionally until 1980.