Mike Mendoza
Encyclopedia
Michael David Mendoza is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 radio presenter and politician best known for the overnight shows he presented on talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....

 between 2004 and 2008, initially on weeknights before being moved to weekends in 2006. Mendoza has since joined his former talkSPORT colleague George Galloway
George Galloway
George Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...

 on the Iranian government-funded news channel Press TV
Press TV
Press TV is a 24-hour English language global news network owned by the Iranian government. Its headquarters are located in Tehran, Iran, with bureaux in Beirut , Damascus , London , Seoul and Washington DC ....

, presenting a 13 week television series entitled Off The Cuff. Mike Mendoza is a Conservative Councillor sitting on Adur District Council. Mike Mendoza now owns What's Happening Magazine, read by 30,000 in the South of England.

Radio career

Mendoza has worked around the world within the radio industry, getting his start at Radio I in Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...

, New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

. He has also worked in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, the French Riviera
French Riviera
The Côte d'Azur, pronounced , often known in English as the French Riviera , is the Mediterranean coastline of the southeast corner of France, also including the sovereign state of Monaco...

, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, and Monaco
Monaco
Monaco , officially the Principality of Monaco , is a sovereign city state on the French Riviera. It is bordered on three sides by its neighbour, France, and its centre is about from Italy. Its area is with a population of 35,986 as of 2011 and is the most densely populated country in the...

 for an English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 radio station. He returned to UK in his late thirties, and has worked for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, Radio Mercury, Southern Sound, and LBC
LBC
LBC Radio operates two London-based radio stations, with news and talk formats. LBC was Britain's first legal commercial Independent Local Radio station, providing a service of news and information to London. It began broadcasting on 8 October 1973, a week ahead of Capital Radio...

, before joining talkSPORT in 2004, from which he parted company in 2008.
After leaving Talksport, Mike Mendoza joined internet radio in 2008. Originally broadcasting on Play Radio UK
Play Radio UK
Play Radio UK was a British internet radio station based on the South Coast of England. Its output comprised two mainstream music radio streams, a talk radio stream, and several other genre-specific music streams...

 for 8 hours a week, this was reduced to 2 hours a week until he left in 2009. After leaving Play Radio, Mike joined up with www.talkradioOne, an LA-based Internet radio station, where he presents a three hour weekly show. From September this year (2009) the LA show will also be heard on Radio Glastonbury (a UK-based Internet station).

Mendoza is Jewish although an atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

, and co-founded a London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

-based Jewish radio station, Shalom FM (which ceased broadcasting at midnight on 17 October 2007), since "We are one of the few ethnic groups in London without a radio voice, and it would be nice to hear some balanced reporting about the community and Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...

." Mendoza's former talkSPORT colleague Charlie Wolf
Charlie Wolf
Charlie Wolf is a British-based American radio talk-show host, disc jockey and political commentator, originally from Boston, and formerly the Communications Director of Republicans Abroad UK. Wolf is best known for the TalkSport show he hosted on Saturdays and Sundays from 1am to 6am, following...

 presented a twice-weekly show on the station.
Mendoza is now currently completely off air.

Political career

A member of the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

, he has served as a councillor
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...

 for the Party on Brighton and Hove City Council and nearby Adur District Council. Mendoza represented the Peverel Ward for the Conservatives in the May 2002 elections
Adur Council election, 2002
Elections to Adur Council were held on 2 May 2002. One third of the council was up for election and the Conservative party gained control of the council from no overall control...

. He resigned from the Conservative Party in 2004, and stood in the June 2004 elections
Adur Council election, 2004
Elections to Adur Council were held on 10 June 2004. The whole council was up for election with boundary changes since the last election in 2003 reducing the number of seats by 10. The Conservative party held overall control of the council...

 for the Marine Ward on Adur District Council. He won the seat as an Independent, a week before it was announced that he would be joining talkSPORT. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=132887 He stood down as a councillor in May 2005. In the June 2009 local elections
West Sussex Council election, 2009
The West Sussex Council election, 2009 were elections to West Sussex County Council which took place on 4 June, 2009, having been delayed from 7 May, in order to coincide with elections to the European Parliament....

 he was as a candidate for UKIP in the Saltings ward of West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council
West Sussex County Council is the authority that governs the non-metropolitan county of West Sussex. The county also contains 7 district and borough councils, and 159 town, parish and neighbourhood councils. The county council has 71 elected councillors...

. He re-joined the Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...

 in December 2009.
He was elected to Adur District Council in May 2010 as councilor to St Mary's ward. He is on the Planning committee

Personal life

Mendoza has been married several times previously and is currently married to Jennifer and they live in Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea
Shoreham-by-Sea is a small town, port and seaside resort in West Sussex, England. Shoreham-by-Sea railway station is located less than a mile from the town centre and London Gatwick Airport is away...

 near Brighton. He has numerous children from previous marriages and relationships in different countries, including New Zealand. He also has a number of grandchildren in various parts of the world. Mendoza is a cousin of comedian and actor Peter Sellers
Peter Sellers
Richard Henry Sellers, CBE , known as Peter Sellers, was a British comedian and actor. Perhaps best known as Chief Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther film series, he is also notable for playing three different characters in Dr...

, and a direct descendant of British boxing legend Daniel Mendoza
Daniel Mendoza
Daniel Mendoza was an English prizefighter, who was boxing champion of England 1792–95.-Success:...

. He also has a long friendship with the New Zealand actor Alan Dale
Alan Dale
Alan Hugh Dale is a New Zealand actor. As a child, Dale developed a love of theatre and also became a rugby player. After retiring from the sport he took on a number of professions to support his family, before deciding to become a professional actor at the age of 27. With work limited in New...

.

Controversies

Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...

 received a complaint about a show that aired on talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....

 on 11 May 2006, although Mendoza was subsequently cleared of "Crime Incitement".

On 20 August 2007, the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 reported that the British radio station talkSPORT
TalkSPORT
Talksport , owned by UTV radio, is one of the United Kingdom's three terrestrial analogue Independent National Radio broadcasters, offering a sports and talk radio service broadcast from London to the United Kingdom....

 had been censured by regulator Ofcom
Ofcom
Ofcom is the government-approved regulatory authority for the broadcasting and telecommunications industries in the United Kingdom. Ofcom was initially established by the Office of Communications Act 2002. It received its full authority from the Communications Act 2003...

 because Mendoza and another presenter, Garry Bushell
Garry Bushell
Garry Bushell is an English newspaper columnist, rock music journalist, television presenter, author and political activist. Bushell also sings in the Oi! band The Gonads and manages the New York City Oi! band Maninblack. Bushell's recurring themes are comedy, country and class...

, made derogatory comments about gay people. Commenting on the search for Madeleine McCann, Mendoza was heard to say "paedophiles in general are the type of people that surely would not follow football... not many gay people to the best of my knowledge are great football fans", comparing homosexuals to paedophiles. He was suspended by the station for a week.
This matter was raised by members of other political parties when he stood for election in 2010.

External links


www.whatshappeningmagazine.blogspot.com
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK