Radio London - Happenings Feb 03

February 2003
(January 2003 is here...)

The early days of Capital...

Look who's back together again! When looking through our library for a picture of Roger Scott (see March 03), these pictures were in the same handout. We'd forgotten how suave and sophisticated Peter Young looked in 1978! He now follows his old Capital pal Nicky Horne, (right) on Sundays on Jazz FM 102.2.

Bob's Dutch Connection – Part Two

In Bob le Roi's latest site update The Scrapbook has part two of 'The Dutch Connection' with more pictures and audio from the Dutch station Radio Monique, while the new 'One Subject One Link' explores the 'UK Divide'.

Bob points out that constructive views, comments, and contributions from visitors are always welcome, but anonymous mail will be ignored.

New Horizons For ex-Caroline Jocks
Bud Ballou (left), is getting in the beers at his local beach bar, to celebrate his new job as weekday anchor on KOGO Morning News. Howie has worked for the award-winning San Diego station under his real name of Howard Castle, for several years.

DLT will host a new Sunday morning show, 0900 - 1200, on his local station, BBC Three Counties Radio, starting March 9th. The three counties in question are Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire.

One day later, man of the moment and recent Birthday Boy, Tony Blackburn will return to Radio 1 for a one-off special, co-hosting a show with Chris Moyles on his 1500 - 1745 show. Tony, whose voice launched Radio One in 1967, left the station around twenty years ago.

Full DLT story here, full Tony Backburn story here. Thanks to Alan Hardy and Mike Terry.

Dateline: February Hall of Fame

Jonathan, Webmaster of the The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame tells us:

"This month I have added ten more audio clips and some more photos; we hear from someone who worked on two offshore radio projects way back in 1960/1962 – before Caroline was even thought of; there are more vintage press cuttings of Tony Prince's Caroline memories and a recording of Radio London on 277 metres (instead of the usual 266). Plus news of a proposed TV documentary about Radio Scotland."

Remembering the Early Bee Gees Recordings

In the February issue of online newsletter, The Radio Wave (Issue #14) editor Ian MacRae writes about the sad loss felt in Australia following the untimely death of Bee Gee Maurice Gibb. Ian reminds us that the Manx-born Gibb brothers (whose parents emigrated to Oz when the boys were quite young) had a fascinating recording history based around the St Claire studios in Hurstville. The Radio Wave feature tells how the local council has now set up a website to document those early years.

Other reports in the newsletter include the results of a poll in which an overwhelming majority of rock radio listeners said they believed that radio personalities should be able to say exactly what they please, and that anyone who objects can simply change channels or switch off.

Alan:
"Maybe I should go back to bed?"

'Fab' Politicians?
Following a couple of strange searches for PM Tony Blair being made recently on the Radio London site, 'Fab' Alan Field wrote:

When you mentioned people searching the Radio London website for Tony Blair, you reminded me of something I discovered last week – not entirely by pure chance while messing about, more of a hunch really. If you search Google for "Blair, Tony" YOUR website comes up. Three times! How? It's the complete list of deejays (both pages where it appears – FAQ and Who Found Whom) and the Fab for 21/5/67 (mentioning the jocks' holidays on the Costa Brava). Each time the text runs "...Chuck Blair, Tony Blackburn...." and of course Google picks up the bit in the middle!!!"

Shortly after this, Alan reported that he had "Positively jumped out of bed, with one of those 'bright ideas'. The 'bright idea' brought some unexpected and amusing results. Alan says:

Following on from last night's 'Blair, Tony' search, I woke up thinking. what about the opposition? Well, if you spell 'Iain' correctly – nothing. But if you go for 'Ian Duncan Smith' as three separate words rather than an exact phrase and search Google for that – Bingo! The Radio London website comes up – twice!

The reason for the two results? Your A-Z page mentions Ian MacCrae, Duncan Johnson, and Jimmy Smith. Then one of the Fabs mentions band members with the names Ian and Smith, while Duncan Johnson's name in the climber list provides the rest.

Freedom Come, Freedom Go
Thanks to Colin Lamb for sending us a copy of Issue Nine of the RNI Fanclub Magazine. Features include the career of Duncan Johnson, whose 6ft 4in frame did not rest easy on the regulation 6ft bunks of the Mebo II. RNI Smash Plays (Tritershifs) from 1971 include Marmalade's 'Cousin Norman' and the Fortune's 'Freedom Come, Freedom Go' – which sounds like an apt description of offshore radio.
We will pass on messages to Colin, from anyone wishing to subscribe to the newsletter.