Veteran Midlands broadcaster Tony Butler died this afternoon (Friday)  aged 88.    This is part of his Google entry:

Tony Butler (born 15 May 1935) is a retired Birmingham based UK sports broadcaster and was one of the first stars of local radio in Britain, known for a distinctive local accent and sometimes controversial style. In 2007, he was honoured by the Sony Radio Academy with a Lifetime Achievement Award.
He was born in Wolverhampton on 15 May 1935 and began his journalistic career in local papers in Birmingham before beginning to contribute to BBC national and regional radio in the 1960s. His strong regional accent caused problems at the staid BBC and he later recalled how he was encouraged to soften his natural accent. At one point the BBC even provided elocution lessons.

Tony often described himself as the inventor of the football phone-in when he worked in the Midlands, both for the BBC and BRMB.