Wolverhampton's Beacon Radio went on the air on 12 April 1976. Like Radio Trent, it mananged fly in the face of the IBA and was openly 'transatlantic' in its style. I worked weekends during 1986/87, while commuting between it and my Italian interests but was responsible for setting up their fledgling Sponsorship sales dept (following a change in the advertising rules) and personally introduced both the RAC and Vodaphone to commercial radio. I worked for a couple of interesting people: Richard Caperon was an 'old-school' Programme Controller, meaning that, while he wasn't over-creative himself, he did allow others to be; Bob Pierson, the snuff-taking MD, was also a real eccentric - a characteristic I have always liked. Sadly, the station was taken over by a bunch of wide-boys later and then became part of the androgynous GWR machine.