My Radio Times

I have been broadcasting on UK and European radio since the early 70s - over 3 decades of music- and talk-radio presentation, production, programming and training, in both the commercial and public sectors. I reckon I am also the longest-running continuous broadcaster of New Music on UK radio. Following a very brief stint as a 'tape jockey' at Holland's Radio Veronica (cut short by real 'pirate' activity by Veronica's owners, directed at the rival station, RNI), PD Colin Walters offered me the lowly position of 'Broadcast Assistant' when Manchester's Piccadilly Radio launched in 1974. I also took on Saturday's bReakfast Show and an album-rock show called 'Rokzac', which boasted the first broadcast of Mike Oldfield's 'Hergest Ridge'. I met many long-term friends there, including Pete Reeves, Arthur Crofton, James Stannage and the original Programmer, Bob Snyder. But the money was terrible... > audio Iws much better at the BBC, so I spent a year as the youngest-ever Newsreader, Staff Announcer on BBC Radios 1 & 2, & occasional DJ on BBC Radio 2: I was 21: has this record ever been broken? My boss was Jimmy Kingsbury, who was a real gent and my mentor as I coped with BBC English, read the first news bulletin to report the IRA pub bombing in Guildford, and learned how to read the Shipping Forecast and Football results 'correctly'! > audio Unfortunately I missed playing rock music too much and when Nottingham's Radio Trent went on the air in 1975 and committed itself to a late-night free-form album show, I accepted Bob Snyder's offer to produce and present it. In those 'pre-genre' days, I played everything from rock to jazz, folk and country, with guests as varied as Ian Gillan, Robert Palmer, Mike Oldfield and The Chieftains. Friends from those days include Guy Morris and John Peters (both now contributors to radio2XS) and Graham Knight, who sadly passed away in 2009. > audio I moved to Glasgow in 1978 and took over Radio Clyde's mid-morning show, where I am proud to say I achieved the station's highest half-hours: no mean feat for the token sassenach! Later, I also presented and produced 'Midnight Rock', becoming the first commercial radio DJ to broadcast local lads Simple Minds and a then-unknown Sheffield band called Heaven 17. The audience were incredibly friendly and the station was staffed by a hugely talented bunch of people, including MD Jimmy Gordon. In Spring 1982, I was lured to BBC Radio Manchester. The station was a ghastly throw-back with mainly 'amateur' presenters (a notable exception being the late Peter Wheeler) and cosy 'wireless' programmes which appealled only to the pre-war generation. So why did I go? I fell 'victim' to the extra-ordinary charisma of the station's new programmer, Tony Inchley, who had begun an attempt to drag the station into the 1980s (the 1960s would have been a good start!) and I was to be his 'commercial radio shock' (albeit a very mild one) on mid-mornings. Surely enough, during the course on 1982, the station started to liven up a bit and I also took on a new weekly evening show called 'Fast Forward', which became the first local radio outlet for New Order as Tony Wilson's Hacienda Club rode the crest of a new wave of Manchester hedonism. Sadly, personal tragedy befell Tony and he was moved on compassionate grounds. Professional tragedy then befell me as a result, when I found myself left with just the alcoholic 'manager' Allan Shaw and his vindictive side-kick, John McManus. Moving to afternoons, I spent much of my time working on how to get out. Luckily, later in 1983 I met the impressive Roger Wilkes. He was the Programmer of Radio City in neighbouring Liverpool and a successful journalist and author. He offered me the afternoon show which had a remit to include features and interviews about the 'real' Liverpool and during the next 18 months, I learned a lot about that friendliest of cities and its people. I also made several trips to Italy to plan my own station, LBC Music Radio, and then moved there to start it up in 1984. The station was sold later and, as the 90s approached, I returned to UK radio through some freelance work at Beacon Radio, Chiltern Radio and a happy reunion with Tony Inchley at BBC Radio WM. Tony was proving himself to be the most successful BBC local radio programmer of all time and took the station's Share from 2% to 22% within three years. In doing so, he saved the future of BBC local radio in London, Birmingham and Manchester (the continuance of all three was dependent on his promise to the BBC Management of what could be achieved). > audio I was also offered work by the ever-charming Dave Lincoln who, besides running Red Rose Radio in Lancashire, was also responsible for the then-prestigious Superstation. It was an odd set-up as the station was run from the haunted Molinaire TV facilities house in Carnaby St, London and was an overnight satellite 'sustaining service' for dozens of radio stations around the country (except in London, so you couldn't hear the station when you got back in the car!). It was a smooth operation though and, a rarity in those days, played only CDs, so when it was announced that it was to re-locate to Piccadilly Radio's spare studio, my delight at not having to drive to and from London was soon tempered by the arrival (daily, in a supermarket carrier bag) of each show's playlist of years-old, scratchy vinyl! > audio During this time, Red Rose Radio was planning to launch its FM-only station and Dave Lincoln and Mark Matthews offered me weekends at the new Rock FM. This was probably the most up-beat and exciting music station I have ever heard in the UK and while there, I was also given the chance to start a Sunday evening album show called 'Q-Rock'. > audio Now looking for a full-time gig, Peter Grant (who I'd met while at the Superstation and who had also moved to Manchester to Key 103) mentioned me to Hallam FM PD, Steve King. I joined in time for the station's re-branding as 'The New Hallam FM' in Spring 1993. We enjoyed amazing success with audiences growing up to four-fold within two years. Steve King was replaced by Dave Shearer and, from 1996, I was given the chance to launch my own Sunday evening show of live sessions and New Music, coinciding with the growth of the Sheffield indie music scene which had spawned Pulp. The show was called 'XS' and was nominated for a Sony Radio Award. By 1998, I was also fronting sister-station Magic AM's afternoon show, but by now the whole outfit had been taken over by a new breed of thoroughly unpleasant bully-boys and liars and I made my escape. > audio Moving into into Consultancy and training, I ran both Silk FM (Cheshire) and Peak 107 (Derbyshire) for a while, and developed 'XS' into '2XS' on both stations. I also had some fantastic experiences running training modules in Russia, Denmark, Lithuania and Estonia where their less cyncial enthusiasm re-kindled my interested in on-air programming and presentation. So, in 2002, I transformed '2XS' into radio2XS, a full-time radio station and the only online station to record its own full live sessions (the 'Barn Sessions'). By 2007, we had our 5 millionth fan and the website, radio2XS.com, regularly attracts between 1 and 1.5 million hits per month. At 2010, we're still trying to keep it commercial-free (funding comes from Amazon sales and listener donations), but the pressure is building... Besides running radio2XS, I still regularly lecture on radio and digital technology at Bolton University, and on radio programming & presentation at several European media centres. I also appear on panels at music-related events, two examples being Liverpool Sound City and Norwich Sound & Vision. Oh, and I drive a bus for Stagecoach in my spare time (my other boyhood ambition)!