Jon Ronson lived in Manchester and was building up his career when I lived there. He would DJ at the Poly every so often when he needed a bit of cash. I can remember when he got his column in "The Sunday Correspondent".
He and Terry Christian used to do the late night show on KFM. It was brilliant. When Terry left, Jon did it on his own and he was just fine. I think I've still got a tape of a full hour of Kim Deal related music he played back to back. More recently, when I worked at GLR, Jon would come in and occasionally do the odd afternoon show, covering for someone - but he had lost his nerve through lack of practice and wasn't as comfortable. However, his Radio 4 occasional forays have been great. He did a superb programme on the concentration camps, and the sickening irony of them as tourist attractions.
I liked his Time Out column most. His early Guardian columns were the same, and therefore good, but... hmm, those columns palled for me. Perhaps he lost interest in them too. His soul seems to have been sold to television, but the results are looking very good indeed. He has an original vision and way of looking at his relationship as an interviewer with his subject. His Ian Paisley film was great His style has bred a few 'wannabe' Ronsons sadly. I say 'sadly' because they tend to uniformly be rubbish.
It's good to see that he's made it in the world. It makes me proud in that, "You sod, you managed it and I haven't yet" type of way.