December
2002
(November
is
here...)
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FROM THE CAROLINE BELL TO WEDDING BELLS CONGRATULATIONS,
JOHNNIE AND TIGGY FROM THE RADIO LONDON WEBSITE! The happy couple were photographed at the 35th Anniversary Reunion by Martin van der Ven |
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The Knights before
Christmas
Sir Trevor MacDonald is to present a BBC Radio Two Christmas Eve tribute to Sir Jimmy Young and his 30-year career at the BBC, between noon and 14.00. Sir Jimmy – known to his listeners as JY – has made it plain he was reluctant to relinquish his Radio 2 show. A feature about JY's final prog is here and you can also listen to his 1955 chart-topper, Unchained Melody. (Yes he beat the Righteous Brothers into the charts by a decade!) Listeners' views on the JY's enforced 'retirement' can be read here and well-wishers can also leave farewell messages for him until 30th December. |
Sydney has been ringed by bushfires. Over 40 homes and properties have been lost at the time of writing. Radio played an extremely important role in disaster, keeping people informed and updated on what was happening and warning of dangerous situations.
The talk stations especially did a magnificent job dropping their usual programmes to make way for a full emergency coverage. In a situation such as this, radio comes into its own. However it was notable that some FM music stations still went to automation at the normal time closing off any coverage and virtually pretending that nothing was happening even though the entire metropolitan area was blanketed in smoke.
Jonathan's December update to the The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame
"Among the goodies this month... we hear the dramatic tale of a young man who helped dismantle Radio City's 'tower of power', there are some additions to the traditional Christmas page, and there's news of a John Peel CD release. There is also an archive magazine article about Tony Prince's Caroline memories – the first of a series – and more audio, including Fame Academy's Richard Park, as he was in 1967.."
1) Shipborne in Seattle
At the start of 2002, Seattle's 1300
KKOL, (known locally as KOL) became the only licensed station operating
in the United States to have its 1000 Watt transmitter sited aboard a ship.
The owners of the talk station, which subtitles itself 'The Source', came
to an agreement with the Port of Seattle to abandon their previous site on
Harbour Island, and were granted a licence for the transmitter to be temporarily
housed aboard a 175ft cargo vessel. The Valcom fibreglass whip antenna has
worked perfectly during the year it has been operational aboard the ship Coastal
Ranger, anchored in Seattle's Elliott Bay. Story with pictures here.
2) Caroline's a Hot Bird
To hear the Radio Caroline test transmissions via Hotbird: "Hotbird
6; Transponder 94; 12597GHz Vertical; Symbol Rate 27.5; FEC 3/4; Enter WRN
for hire 3 and you will find Caroline."
3) The chairman of the board of the happiness
corporation?
John Newstead is not the only ex-paper boy who enjoyed listening to
his trannie. GWR chairman and Radio Caroline fan, Ralph
Bernard, told the Times that he kept a trannie strapped to his
bike when he used to do his paper round and that he idolised Johnnie
Walker and Tony Blackburn.
And talking of soundalike stations...
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Tony's All Gold |
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Radio Friends pay tribute
to Kenny On October 10th in London, the Radio Academy presented a tribute evening to the genius of Kenny Everett. The panel of Kenny's friends was (back row) Howard Hughes – who produced and hosted the evening, David Briggs, Cleo Rocos and Michael Bukht. Front row Angela Bond, Dave Cash and Paul Burnett. At the end of a most enjoyable evening, a young lady from Radio One (apparently Emma B) asked Dave Cash how many weeks at a time he and Kenny were obliged to spend aboard 'Radio Luxembourg'. Er.... we don't believe Luxembourg is a country possessing a great deal of ocean in which to accommodate floating radio stations. Kenny is the first inductee to the Radio Academy Hall of Fame and his entry contains MP3 files from various stages of his career, including of course Big L. |
Peelie Picks the Pops
John Peel has finally been persuaded
to present a Radio One top forty show on January 12th. Since his Big L days
Peelie has made it clear that he is not over-fond of current best-selling
pop singles, even though he was obliged to play them on the Galaxy
(see Fab
March 5th 1967). In his early weeks on the station, John was allocated
a few climbers extremely inappropriate for his musical tastes, 'Ciao Baby'
by the Montanas being a good example.
The ex-perfumed gardener has avoided doing any chart rundowns for the
duration of his 35-year Radio One career, but has agreed to present the January
12th chart as a one-off. A shame Peelie wasn't doing the rundown the week
when Otway hit number 9!
"I said we would not give up and I meant it"
From the US, John Schneider tells how he continues with his battle against the CARP rulings:
On November 14th, the Senate and House both passed H.R. 5469, the Small Webcaster Settlement Act of 2002. This legislation allows webcasters to "negotiate" royalty agreements with the recording industry, instead of paying the fees mandated by the Librarian of Congress in June.
While some are hailing this as a major victory for webcasters, the fact remains: the SWSA does NOT level the playing field, as webcasters will still be forced to pay a "performance royalty fee" that does not exist (and never has!) for traditional broadcast radio. This is because current copyright law states that the promotional value of airplay is sufficient compensation to offset the lack of a performance royalty fee.
What they are essentially saying is that Internet radio has NO PROMOTIONAL VALUE to record companies, and therefore webcasters must pay an extra fee that traditional radio does not have to pay.
JY
on Radio Luxembourg (pic thanks to Hans Knot)