Radio Lives - Colin Berry

He was Mr Radio 2 for four decades, the warm, trusted ever-present voice who read thousands of news bulletins and presented hundreds of music programmes. He deputised for many of the other DJs on the network. His technical skills and perfectionism meant he was often the link back at Broadcasting House through dozens of OBs, playing in the records and filling when the line went down. He spoke for the UK jury for 25 years of Eurovision Song Contests. His music knowledge and vast collection of LPs and singles informed his later local radio shows. He was Colin Berry, whose death was announced earlier this month.

All the many tributes to Colin mention his long service on BBC Radio 2 and his Eurovision connection but his radio career started in the days of the offshore pirates. Here’s a look back at Colin’s radio career.

Colin Berry was born on 29 January 1946 (sharing his birthday with his long-time friend Tony Blackburn who was born three years earlier) in Welwyn Garden City, one of the 'Brocket babies' born at Brocket Hall, and educated at the Wembley Grammar School. His first ‘broadcasts’ had an audience of just two, his mum and dad. Young Colin fixed up the Ferguson radiogram at the family home in Kenton so that he could play in the discs and whatever he’d taped off the Light Programme and introduce them.

His first job was working at one of the stores supplied by his father’s company – Cecil Berry was a director of Allied Suppliers – but young Colin was desperate to get into radio or television. Through a family friend he got his break at the London offices of Granada TV slotting adverts into commercial breaks when he was just 17. He then joined Westward TV also working on commercials and selling airtime when an opportunity came up to work on the admin side at Radio Caroline.

Colin joined Radio Caroline in 1964 as an Assistant Traffic Manager but after a few months he was asked to make a tape recording ‘for fun’ that led to him compiling (by recording the Light Programme news) and reading news bulletins and joining some DJs on their shows. He appeared on air as Robin Berry as fellow DJ Colin Nicol was also on the station at that time and management didn’t want two Colin’s on air. 

In 1965 he started recording commercials, such as the Weetabix Partners in Profit promotions, and made some personal appearances around Britain to “get better known”. “I used to get a lot of fan mail which rather surprised me, and even had a few proposals of marriage.” 

With the closure of most of the pirates in 1967 Colin joined Yorkshire Television as an admin assistant at their London office in Portland Place, though it was not a happy time for him as he was sacked for some mistake he’d apparently made but which management refused to tell him exactly what it was. 

Colin in his club DJ days (Surrey Mirror 1 May 1970)

In the late 1960s he was juggling a number of roles: volunteering at the Radio Harrow hospital radio and working one or two nights a week as a DJ at the Starlite Ballroom, Greenford and the 100 Club on Oxford Street. He would also DJ at Crawley’s Starlight Ballroom and the Birds Nest in Harrow, where a fellow DJ was Tony Barnfield who, a few years later, was also a BBC broadcaster and would present features on some of Colin’s overnight Radio 2 shows.   

At the same time he’d also made the acquaintance of some folk in the radio and music business and it was thanks to BBC broadcaster Roger Moffat that he got a job as a music plugger. His employer was the music publishing firm of Campbell Connelly (started by the song writing partnership of James Campbell and Reginald Connelly) and apparently he was responsible for getting Mouldy Old Dough to the top of the charts. So now you know who to blame!

Whilst still working for Campbell Connelly he freelanced as a summer relief announcer at HTV in 1971 and in 1972 at BBC Radio Medway (now Radio Kent). At Medway he took over the Saturday afternoon show Out and About from Simon Dee. Colin covered the music side whilst sports editor George Pixley looked after the sport. Due to his weekday work at a music publisher he had access to all the new releases which helped him build the show for which he had complete musical freedom. (It also gave him access to both commercial and non-commercial records that would help build up his home library that he would often dip into for his BBC Three Counties radio shows). He even had his own custom jingles recorded with the help of Rod Lucas, who at the time was producer of Medway’s Teen Scene. Rod would later provide some drop-ins for Colin at Radio 2.  

In 1973 an opportunity came along to join the BBC at Broadcasting House in the Trailer Unit for Radios 1 and 2 under Presentation Editor Jimmy Kingsbury. Kingsbury was looking for a new voice following the loss of Tony Myatt to Capital Radio. As well as writing and recording trailers the job also offered a position on the rota of presenters of Night Ride (midnight to 2 a.m. on both Radio 2 and Radio 1). It was Noel Edmonds that mentioned the vacancy to Colin over lunch one day, and encouraged him to audition; Noel had started at the BBC doing a similar job.

Colin’s first Night Ride was scheduled for Saturday 29 September 1973 but when his boss, Jimmy Kingsbury, phoned in sick for his shift on the Wednesday night/Thursday morning show he ended up been thrown in at the deep end and doing that one first.

Shortly after, Colin left the Trailer Unit to become a full-time announcer and newsreader. During the 1970s and 1980s the work of the Radio 2 announcers was quite varied. There was the reading of news bulletins on both stations, where Colin would develop a more punchier approach to reading for the Radio 1 bulletins on the half-hour. Evenings and weekends meant live continuity links between programmes as well as recording trailers and attending comedy show and panel game recordings to provide the opening and closing announcements.

Posing with way too many cups of BBC tea for
Night Ride 17 May 1974

Many announcers would also host live shows such as Night Ride, Music Through Midnight and The Late Show as well as programmes featuring one of the radio orchestras. Colin was particularly adept at the live shows, so much so, that when Simon Bates left the Early Show it was Colin that took over (for two years) from January 1976, so starting a long association with that time of day. These 6 to 7 a.m. Early Shows were carried on both Radio 1 and Radio 2, with Colin being the warm-up man for either Noel Edmonds or Terry Wogan (who was wont to refer to Colin as 'Wallace Beery'), depending on who you switched over to after the 7 o’clock pips. Most of the BBC local radio stations also carried part of the show so the audience ran into millions.

There’s a flavour of what these Early Shows sounded like in this sequence.

It was in 1977 that Colin also started his long association with all things European. That was the year he first acted as spokesman for the UK jury at the Eurovision Song Contest, a role he held, apart from in 1980 and 1998, through until 2002. Based down at Television Centre he would start off with the usual “London Calling, here are the results of the United Kingdom jury”, though it wouldn’t be until the 1994 contest that the world eventually saw the Berry visage when results were first delivered to camera.         

His first in-vision appearance as UK jury spokesperson in 1994. 
Colin's favourite Eurovision song was Take Me to You Heaven,
the winning Swedish entry by Charlotte Nilsson in 1999  

In 2012 Colin told me how things were organised behind the scenes for the song contest:  “On the day of broadcast the jury were assembled at Television Centre were they would watch the afternoon full dress rehearsal and there was a chance for them to hear any of the songs again if they wished. In the 70s and 80s the London end was under the control of Light Entertainment Organiser Tony James ...[who] was a great ambassador for the BBC and did everything with great finesse. He made sure that the jury members were well looked after, that all the introductions were made, providing a waitress-service dinner and having studio tours during breaks. When Tony’s team left in the 90s it was all clipboards and vouchers for the BBC canteen.”

During the contest itself Colin also had a monitor and a lip-microphone should “Wogan’s line vanish and there was a need for me to continue commentary. It never happened, but got within thirty seconds of it one year.”

He went on to say that “when it came to announcing the UK decision there was an agreed script but as the years passed I deviated a bit to make it less formal. Others did too eventually, but they tended to overdo it sometimes, building up the part”.

The BBC did acknowledge Colin’s 25 years in the spokesperson role and so threw him a lunch and presented him with a BBC inscribed microphone but at the same time they let it be known that changes were planned for the following year (as it transpired in the form of Lorraine Kelly) and that he’d no longer be required. This was despite supportive words from the King of Eurovision Terry Wogan who started his after-lunch speech by saying "I don't know why you’re getting rid of yer man....if it ain't broke why mend it?"

YouTube user ESC Clarinet Moon has compiled this video of Colin’s appearances in the Song Contest voting.  

Meanwhile, back on Radio 2 Colin maintained the European link by presenting the Europe music programmes (Europe 78, Europe 79 etc. ending in 1982) and taking over as main host of European Pop Jury. European Pop Jury, which had been running at intervals since 1965, featured pop juries in several countries passing verdict on the latest pop releases from each nation in a Europe-wide hook-up. David Gell presented the London end (pre-recorded at the Paris Theatre, Lower Regent Street and later the Radio Theatre at Broadcasting House) until he went back to his native Canada in 1977 when Andy Cartledge, Nick Page and Don Durbridge all had a go at it. Producer Mel House auditioned them plus David Allan and Colin to permanently take over the job with Colin getting the gig until it all ended in December 1983.    

Radio 2 had planned to switch over to 24 hours broadcasting in November 1978 but in the event, due to industrial action, it was postponed until the following January. By then it was Colin who was going to kick things off in the early hours of Sunday 28 January with a four hour stint. He’d spent the previous week popping into other people’s shows to promote the new service and during Ray Moore’s Saturday night show was on hand to chat to Ray and link up with BBC2 viewers.

You and the Night and the Music was run on a shoestring. All the presenters were staff announcers on a daily presenting rota and there was, according to Colin “a mere ten minutes of commercial needletime. The shows were full of foreign recordings and studio sessions. Musicians Union restrictions were hard on music lovers in them there days!” To further pad out the shows pre-recorded features were also dropped in. Colin presented YATNAM, as it became known, at intervals until November 1983.

All this time Colin continued to read news bulletins as he felt he didn’t want to lose the skill. He was also recording a weekly Golden Days show for BFBS radio and music shows for Inflight Prodcutions Ltd. At Radio 2 he was the backstop during many outside broadcasts, playing in the discs, reading any traffic reports and just been on standby if the line went down, whether it was an afternoon at the races or the JY prog coming from Rhodesia or Toyko. This was also the time when if a main Radio 2 presenter was off they could often call on one of the announcers to cover, which he did for Terry Wogan, Ray Moore, David Hamilton, Charlie Chester and others. The only bit of broadcasting he regretted not doing was reading the classified football results on a Saturday afternoon.

In this montage we hear Colin across the years on Radio 2 (and Radio 1).

One of Colin’s best mates was fellow broadcaster Ray Moore, whose shows often followed Colin’s or who would cover each other programmes in what Ray termed as a ‘Box and Cox’ arrangement.  In his autobiography Ray recalls that he first met Colin in the late 60s “when he was a young record plugger who regularly turned up at The George at lunchtime wearing a baggy pink suit, a very daring number even for those liberated times.”

Colin and Ray

When Colin married Sandra Barker in the summer of 1981 their honeymoon was in Corfu. Ray takes up the story: “Our good friend Colin Berry had married, inappropriately enough on Independence Day, and had invited the two of us to go on honeymoon with him and his wife Sandra. It seemed a bizarre idea at first but, given that the four of us were far from strangers, it began to look quite logical. The episode took on a rather less rosy dimension when, after five days away, I became semi-housebound thanks to a boating accident”.

The Face behind the Voice in 2009

According to the 1983 edition of Who’s Who in Radio Colin’s likes were motoring, walking and a good pint of real ale. His dislikes: traffic jams, bad timekeepers and pressurised beer. In later editions the real ale was still there but now with added likes of the Isle of Wight, Victoria Wood and oysters with ‘most folk music’ and cricket on the negative side.   

On a personal note I’d been listening to Colin since the days when I first started recording programmes and clips off the radio in early 1976. Tuning in to Radio 1 or Radio 2 before 6 a.m. it was either dead air or test tones until he came on with the early show. When I started writing this blog in late 2010 Colin was one of the people I contacted and, fortunately, he responded. He was always very helpful in assisting me to identify voices from the past and freely answered questions on programmes and broadcasters. We swapped airchecks and I was only too pleased to provide audio for one of his local radio specials on pirate radio. I was fortunate to meet Colin back in 2015 for a long lunch at the Bree Louise pub (since demolished). He was concerned that I’d spot him (of course I did) saying “hopefully you will recognise me.. a good bit more hair missing since the last photo”. I joked that I’d carry a rolled-up issue of the Radio Times, and I did indeed pop into WH Smiths at Euston for a copy. We enjoyed a long chat over a pie and several pints of real ale (naturally). We’d planned to meet up again in 2018 but for one reason or another it didn’t happen.

As the Daily Telegraph obituary says: ‘Switching between the soothing, unforced tones of a presenter, and then the authoritative ones of a newsreader, Berry was skilled at creating the necessary intimate connection with the listener.’ As someone has commented to me “he had his own built-in compression”. Apparently amongst Colin’s regular listeners were the Kray twins with Reggie telling the News of the World: “We both love to listen to Radio 2. We’ve learned to appreciate another side of life. One of my favourites is Colin Berry of Radio 2...he’s a nice fellah.”

Away from the radio studio Colin made only occasional forays onto television. Aside from those Eurovision duties he appeared on The Generation Game, Blankety Blank, Bargain Hunt and Supermarket Sweep, both of these with Tony Blackburn, and just one appearance on Top of the Pops alongside Peter Powell on 30 October 1980. 

Colin in the Radio 2 studio sometime in the 1980s.
He claimed to able to work those faders and knobs blindfold
so frequently was he on air

Colin continued to present shows on Radio 2 throughout the 80s and 90s, mostly late night or early morning shifts. “The only trouble with early shows”, he said, “is that they get earlier!” He hosted the weekday early show, with a 4 a.m. start, from 1984 to May 1988 and the weekend version in 1993 and 1994. Meanwhile, overnight, he was one of the presenters of Night Ride between 1989 and 1995. Colin’s last billed Radio 2 show was on 31 March 1995, but it wasn’t actually the last. Fast forward to 2012 when Richard Allinson was doing a weekend 3 to 6 am slot and Colin was on late news-reading duty when one weekend Richard doesn’t make it to the studio and it ends up with Colin doing an impromptu fill-in.

Enjoying a real ale with Dave Cash

Colin retired from the BBC in 2006 but remained on the books as a freelance newsreader on Radio 2 until September 2012. By this time the plan was for broadcast journalists to read the news on the station, as they did on 6 Music and increasingly overnight on Radio 2. Colin’s final bulletin was at 3 a.m. on 8 September 2012 and with “and that is likely to be it from me” he signed off for the last time, just shy of 39 years of news-reading.   

Meanwhile, over on BBC Three Counties Radio Colin was settling in for some regular weekend music programmes. He’d already appeared on 3CR in 2004 and in 2008 until early 2009 he was on the Saturday night late show. From April 2009 until July 2010 he presented a three-hour early evening show known as The Saturday Club. Both these programmes were also carried on other stations across the eastern counties to give a fairly substantial audience. From 2011 until 2019 Colin continued to work for the station covering for Richard Spendlove on his Saturday night programme many times as well as occasional specials he called A Little Light Music, one on Eurovision songs (of course), one on pirate radio and, in the last couple of years, mining a seam of one hit wonders.

From 26 December 2014 here’s Colin remembering the days of the offshore pirates.

Those 3CR shows were a real mix of musical genres and styles. Colin had a penchant for light music and library music so often his only source for these, and some rare pop 45s that he played, were from his own vinyl collection. He was concerned that the BBC would, in a computerised ViLoR studio setting, still support the use of record players and his liking for dubbing stuff off onto mini-disc (I once sent him a pack of blanks MDs to keep him stocked up), especially after the move to new studios in Dunstable in 2015.  

Colin’s final radio programme, again on one hit wonders, was broadcast on BBC Three Counties Radio on 25 December 2019. The pandemic the following year, and changes to BBC local schedules as a result, greatly decreased the opportunity for further occasional shows. 

For about three years Colin had been unwell and was diagnosed with Lewy body dementia. He died on Wednesday 16 April. He is survived by Sandra and their children Marina and Jonathan.

In 2012 I edited together this short sequence of Colin on the radio over 50 years.

Colin Berry 1946-2025

The Swingin’ London Scene

It’s time to fire up the Lunewyre technology once again.

Back in 2014 I dipped into the BBC Radio 1 version of Radio Tip Top that aired in 1995 and 1996. But in 1993 and 1994 the unlicensed Radio Tip Top could be heard across London on a Wednesday night beaming out in mono on 105.6 FM. Series one ran from sometime in May, or possibly April, 1993 through to October and was transmitted for three hours on a Wednesday evening (9 pm to midnight). It was also, at least for a while, also heard from noon to 3 pm on Sundays.  The second, delayed and shorter, season kicked off in October 1994 going out 10 pm to midnight on a Wednesday. In between times Radio Tip Top club members could send off for cassette compilation versions and attend live events. There were also occasional roadshow specials such as the one from the summer of 1993.

Needless to say recordings of the pirate Radio Tip Top shows – ‘free from the forces of law and order’ - are rare. At the time of writing there are recordings from September 1993, excerpts from two 1994 shows and two of the tape shows on Mixcloud.  

Fortunately due to the diligence of Mark O’Shea we can now enjoy a complete recording of Kid Tempo and The Ginger Prince hosting the Radio Tip Top Summertime Special Roadshow. This was broadcast at noon on Thursday 19 August 1993 (a date only established after a bit of detective work and digging out old TV schedules) from “a magnificent marquee in the glorious grounds of a Tip Top secret location, just outside the capital and beamed into London by the magic of Lunewyre technology”. Mark’s recording was rescued from an VHS tape, the soundtrack with a Tip Top recording whilst the picture was of Channel 4’s output that afternoon.   

As the recording starts we can just about hear the sound of Jazz FM on 102.2 before the Tip Top transmission begins. The show kicks off with San Tropez, better known as the theme to Channel 4’s Eurotrash which started this year. Can this be a co-incidence? The first track is The Swingin’ London Scene by First Impression, a Tip Top favourite.

Over at the Radio Tip Top tent with The Ginger Prince we hear performances that range from the kitsch to the obscene with Mae West (check out her Way Out West album if you really want to hear more) and Ice T’s Ice M.F.T. The Peter Lorenzo Dancers strut their stuff to Glamour Bubble by Keith Andrew Roberts.   

All the show regulars are here including Rev. Ray Floods, Norman Barrington, Penny Rider, Mitch Michelmore, Veronica Valentine, Warren Smooth, the classic jingles, the Tip Top members request line and the Tip Top Ten “as voted by the readers of Corsair magazine”. In case you’re thinking of joining “London’s fastest growing club” by sending off for your Radio Tip Top club members pack to The Back Building, 150 Curtain Road, London, please don’t. It’s now an architect’s office.   

Listen out also for the Moog Interlude with Perry and Kingsley’s Toy Balloons. That’s preceded by a version of I Think I’m Going Out of My Head by Spanish pop star Raphael.

The following year Radio Tip Top would go ‘legit’ with a pilot show, Tip Top TV, airing on some ITV regions on 30 September 1994. In February 1995, just before joining Radio 1, they presented the NME Brat Awards. In late 1997 Kid Tempo and The Ginger Prince were hosting Tip Top on the Paramount Comedy Channel, essentially providing some quirky links between some of the evening comedy shows. The same year there was talk of a It’s A Tip Top World feature film but it failed to get off the ground. And that, after just five years, was it for the Tip Top Organisation.  

I’ve posted several show of the Radio 1 show on YouTube and Mixcloud. Tip Top club members can also seek out the Facebook page dedicated to the programme.

Pirates Ahoy

Some 55 years after the Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 came into effect it’s great to see that radio producers are still doffing their collective caps to the pioneers of offshore pirate radio.

This Friday Absolute Radio 60s will become Absolute Radio Pirates for the day (10 am to 10 pm, with the full 8-hour sequence broadcast twice). Taking part are two original pirate jocks, Tony Blackburn and Johnnie Walker. There are archive recordings of Kenny Everett and Tommy Vance with the last Radio London FAB 40. We’ll hear from Susan Calvert, daughter of Reg Calvert who was at the centre of the infamous Radio City incident. David Lloyd provides an historical perspective, whilst Tim Blackmore, Leona Graham and Shaun Keavney talk about the influence of the pirate stations. Adding a more up-to-date spin are Jordan and Perri from KISS Breakfast who look at more recent land-based pirate radio stations. Zeb Soanes will be reading some news bulletins from the original offshore pirate era.   

Absolute Radio Pirates has been part-funded by the Audio Content Fund and is produced for unsual by Laura Grimshaw, formerly of Radio 4 Extra.  Absolute Radio Content Director Paul Sylvester said “Modern radio wouldn’t exist without these titans of broadcasting who introduced British audiences to the likes of The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Aretha Franklin. We’re proud to pay tribute in a typically unique Absolute Radio way, disrupting the airwaves with an incredible soundtrack, legendary voices, compelling archive and the recreation of vintage news bulletins and ad-breaks.”

You can hear Absolute Radio Pirates on the Absolute Radio 60s website here. I've also uploaded to Mixcloud with edits for adverts.

Not unsurprisingly Boom Radio is acknowledging the events of the 1960s and they have changed their schedule for Sunday 14 August. Making another appearance is Johnnie Walker and John Peters plays that final FAB 40.Boom regular Roger Day talks about his time at Swinging Radio England, Caroline and RNI. In the evening it’s the return of DLT, his first radio appearance since his time on United DJs and ends with Cardboard Shoes (just why did Radio Norfolk end Keith’s Sunday night shows?).  “We know this era really chimes with our listeners,” commented Boom Content Director Paul Robey. “The day is a chance to celebrate the influence of what happened back then on the radio we hear today.”

And of course Radio Caroline and Radio Caroline Flashback will also be marking the anniversary over the weekend.

Audio of some of the above programmes will appear on this page in due course.

Between 10 am and noon Johnnie Walker presented this show from his home studio in Dorset. 

From noon John Peters played records from the final Radio London FAB 40 singles rundown. This final chart rundown was played by Tommy Vance on 6 August 1967.

 

At 2pm Roger Day beamed in from his home in Spain to recall his time on air and play some of his favourite records from the time. He marks the time at 3pm when back on 14 August 1967 Radio London went off air for the last time.

At 6pm DLT was back to talk about his time on the pirate stations and recalls a jam session with Bobby Vee.

And finally at 9pm Keith Skues introduced an hour of pirate stories, featuring Paul Burnett, Johnnie Walker, Tony Blackburn, Colin Berry, Roger Day, Tom Edwards and Nick Bailey.

Radio 1 at 50 - Part 1 The New Popular Music Service

From 'Radio 1 is wonderful' to 'listen, watch, share' BBC Radio 1 is the one national network that has had to constantly evolve to address its young audience. Now in its middle age the station, understandably, rarely reflects back on its long history. After all if you remember the launch in 1967 chances are you're aged 60+.  But this month its celebrating its heritage in real style with the pop-up station Radio 1 Vintage, oldies played each weekend on Radio 1's Greatest Hits and a series of  Live Lounge specials.

In this, the first of four blog posts, I dip into the history of the station that once declared itself to be "the nation's favourite".

It's interesting, if ultimately fruitless, to speculate whether Radio 1 would have come about if not for the arrival of the offshore pirates. Before Radio Caroline burst onto the scene at Easter 1964 the old Light Programme offered little to the pop enthusiast; a smattering of current hits across the week, if you were lucky, on Housewives' Choice or Midday Spin and rather better catered for on Saturday Club, Easy Beat and Pick of the Pops.  

Both the BBC and the Government's attitude to popular music was equivocal. Those ex-military types who ended up as BBC producers were presumably immune to the delights of rock 'n' roll. In any case the opportunity to even expand the amount of records aired was always stymied by the restrictive 'needletime' limits, just 28 hours a week across the national services of the Home, Light and Third in the early 60s (though agreement was reached to increase it to 75 hours in 1965).

By the time the pirates came along the first response was to stop them rather than seek an official alternative. As early as October 1964 there was pressure from the BBC and the European Broadcasting Union for the British Government to intervene, although the then Postmaster-General, Tony Benn, found he made slow progress.

It wasn't until February 1966 that we see the first suggestions of a new 'pop music network', though it would be "separately organised from the BBC and incorporating advertisements." A few months later it was floated that the BBC's 247-metre medium wavelength be used. The Corporation itself was of the mind to provide an alternative service, planning it as "a partial substitute for the programmes offered by the pirate broadcasters." The Labour government was, by late 66, more wedded to a long-term commercial hybrid, with the BBC running a new pop service in the short term pending the creation of a new radio corporation partly financed by advertising. However, when the White Paper on broadcasting policy was issued on 20 December 1966 the BBC had won the argument and was authorised to start a 'new popular music programme' on 247 metres "at an early date".

Part of the Corporation's lobbying had included a Q&A in the 8 October 1966 issue of the Radio Times titled Why No Continuous Pop?

Not surprisingly the BBC's response immediately hit back on the issue of needletime, or lack of it. It explained that it wasn't just a case of money. More time could simply not be bought. The bogey men were, it suggested, the gramophone companies who "are in the business to sell records. They are convinced that if they are broadcast too often - especially pop records - their sales will fall off". Apparently the companies claimed to have already lost sales "because of the way the pirates are using pop records". 

The article then went on to partly lay the blame at the door of the Musicians' Union who believed an extension of needletime "would put their members out of jobs. It thinks there would be less work for them in broadcasting because fewer musicians would be used in broadcast or public concerts."

It's hard to believe that the record companies lost sales in the pirate radio era, though I've yet to find any evidence on total sales. Undoubtedly the Musicians' Union argument did hold water, particularly in the broadcast of orchestral music. One casualty of the end of the Light Programme was the loss of Music While You Work for example, though specially recorded and live broadcasts by bands and orchestras continued to be a feature of both Radio 1 and Radio 2 well into the 1970s, even though audiences wanted to hear 'the real thing'. Mind you the BBC didn't exactly endear itself to the MU when it started using American produced PAMS jingles for its new service.

Back to Why No Continuous Pop? and the Corporation was quick to defend itself. "The BBC isn't stuffy about pop. But pop is not the only kind of music". Nor, should it be forgotten, did all the pirate stations play non-stop pop: Radio 390 favoured a 'sweet music' format (plus a little bit of classical and country) and Britain Radio was firmly middle of the road.

Hints were then dropped as to what might happen. "In the short term, if the Government were to ask the BBC to provide an extra service of popular music it would do its best to do so." But then it would say that, wouldn't it.

What the Radio Times didn't say was that the BBC had already started to plan the new station. Robin Scott would, a few months later, be appointed to mastermind the operation - initially he was to become the Controller of the Light Programme but was already lined-up as de facto head of the new service. By now the BBC had successfully negotiated another two hours per day of extra needletime. Scott was given an additional £200,000 budget to carve out the two new networks from the remains of the Light Programme. He spent the early part of 1967 "listening, planning playing back audition tapes, drafting and redrafting schedules, taping the pirate stations' output, calculating and recalculating the allocation of the sparse needletime to the DJ shows which the new network would feature."

Publically the Corporation was suggesting it wouldn't be non-stop pop: "Now, there is to be only this one network of continuous popular music, and it is obvious that no single taste can be met in it at the same time. So what we are aiming at is a good, lively mixture, with special times of the day regularly earmarked for particular attention to such well-defined sections of the audience as the pop-lovers". In the event it wasn't all pop, at least not initially, as flicking through back issues of the Radio Times  shows the evenings were given over to folk, country, jazz and easy listening in programmes shared with Radio 2.

At the end of June 1967 the Postmaster General, by now Edward Short (who'd replaced Benn after the 1966 General Election and the aftermath of the Reg Calvert shooting), announced that "Radio 247" (as it was referred to at that point, a name initially favoured by Robin Scott) would launch on 30 September and that it would be "a robust music service" Whatever that means? The following day in Parliament he used the name "Radio 1" "as I understand it is to be called." (For some of the other suggested names see Standby for Switching.)

The next month the Director of Radio, Frank Gillard, made public the plans to 'kill off' the Home, Light and Third and replace it with radio by numbers. Gillard was very much behind the new naming system, he thought the name Home Service "ludicrous" Taking his cue from the BBC1 and BBC2 television service Radio 247 would be Radio 1. Because they would share programming the Light would be Radio 2. Carrying echoes of the Third Programme name that group of services - it included the Music Programme, the Sports Service and the Study Session - was branded Radio 3, meaning the Home became Radio 4.

At the beginning of September Robin Scott introduced the names of the DJs that would grace Radio 1, and many of them would pose for that famous photo on the steps of All Souls in Langham Place. There were about 30 names on the list, about half ex-pirates, the remainder existing BBC staff or contracted broadcasters. Most were on a try-out with many contracts offered for eight weeks rather than the usual thirteen. The station required a large number of jocks partly because it retained the old Light Programme system of having different presenters each day for some shows such as Midday Spin and Late Night Extra.

Former pirates: Tony Blackburn, Pete Brady, Dave Cash, Chris Denning, Kenny Everett, Duncan Johnson, Mike Lennox, John Peel, Keith Skues, Ed Stewart, Mike Ahern, Emperor Rosko, Simon Dee, Mike Raven and Stuart Henry.

Non-pirates: Barry Alldis, Keith Fordyce, Alan Freeman, Tony Hall (presented The Joe Loss Show), Bob Holness, Jack Jackson, Ray Moore, Johnny Moran, Don Moss, Pete Murray, Pete Myers, Denny Piercey, David Rider, David Symonds, Miranda Ward (worked as a reporter on Scene and Heard but never had her own show), Terry Wogan and Jimmy Young.

The bulk of the stripped weekday shows would be looked after by just four DJs: Tony Blackburn at breakfast, Jimmy Young mid-mornings, Pete Brady early afternoons and David Symonds the teatime slot.   

In the 16 September 1967 issue of the Radio Times, Robin Scott outlined his plans for Radio 1 and Radio 2.

Meanwhile on the Light Programme Kenny Everett was helping to promote the new service.

So how did it all sound? Well thankfully some off-air recordings exist of the start of both Radio 1 and Radio 2. Staff announcer Paul Hollingdale - having been selected by Robin Scott as "the natural choice" ahead of the usual Saturday morning announcer Bruce Wyndham - kicked things off at 5.30 a.m. for Radio 2. Just before 7 a.m. that subsequently much-played clip of Scott introducing the new service, George Martin's specially commissioned Theme One and then Tony's "and welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1" launched Radio 1. This particular edit was put together by Stuart Busby.

Now you're probably thinking that the BBC Sound Archive kept a copy of the full day's output, but you'd be mistaken. Retained are Roger Moffat's closing announcement for the Light Programme, Paul Hollingdale's Radio 2 opening, all of Tony with his Daily Disc Delivery, the start and some extracts from Leslie Crowther on Junior Choice (clip below), all of Rosko's Midday Spin and the afternoon music magazine show Scene and Heard.

Keith Skues took over Saturday Club from Brian Matthew on Day 1 but all that exists of it is a clip from a home recording (below) as someone obviously started their tape recorder ready for Rosko's show. Keith told me that he'd asked his parents to record his first Radio 1 broadcast but that "they became totally confused at 10 o'clock when Max Jaffa kicked in" (over on Radio 2)  so he never did get his recording. He continued: "They could not discover Radio One until I visited them a few weeks later. I think they preferred Max Jaffa to the kind of music I was playing!"

How was the new station received by listeners? It was mixed. "It isn't as good as Radio London or Caroline because the DJs don't sound so spontaneous". "Radio 1 is a pale imitation of the happy-go-lucky independent programmes". "I won't miss the pirates. I think I will go along with Radio 1." "I was very surprised it was so groovy". 

As for the press it was a similarly mixed picture. "Good in parts" (NME) "Auntie has lifted her skirt at last - and revealed a pair of amazing adolescent knees." (Daily Express) "The effect is of a waxwork, absolutely lifelike but clearly lifeless." (George Melly in The Observer) "Radio 1 resembled a poor Big L played at half speed." (Disc and Music Echo). "As a network churning out non-stop pop, Radio 1 is bound to be a huge success. After all, the rivals have been, or are about to be, killed off." (The Sunday Times).

In the next Radio 1 at 50 blog post - the tenth anniversary celebrations. 

The Carnival is Over

'It shall not be lawful for a broadcast to be made from a ship or aircraft while it is in or over the United Kingdom or external waters, nor shall it be lawful for a broadcast to be made from a ship registered in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man or any of the Channel Islands or an aircraft so registered while the ship or aircraft is elsewhere than in or over the United Kingdom or external waters'.

So begins one of the most significant pieces of UK broadcasting legislation, the infamous Marine, and &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967, enacted on 14 July 1967 and coming into force a month later, exactly 50 years this coming Monday.

Plenty has been written about that golden era of the offshore pirate stations and the machinations that ensued to kill them off - I have a large selection of such tomes on my bookshelf - so I'll not attempt to summarise it here.

What better way to celebrate the pirate radio days than with a couple of airchecks from two veteran broadcasters. I'm not sure how widely available these recordings are but they were given to me by ex-City and Caroline DJ Tom Edwards.

Firstly from 6 September 1966 its Roger 'Twiggy' Day "moving and grooving" on his evening show on Radio England.  

The second offering is Paul Burnett broadcasting on Radio 270 off the coast at Scarborough. This is part of the breakfast show from 14 February 1967.  
  

Over the weekend you can relive the Swinging Sixties on Pirate Radio Essex live from onboard the LV18. And on Monday evening over on BBC Radio 2 there's Johnnie Walker Meets ...the Pirates. 

Radio Lives - Dave Cash

Yesterday's news of the sudden death of Dave Cash silences a voice that has been an integral part of British radio for the last half century. His passing further reduces the number of DJs that have worked across the board: offshore radio, national radio, Luxembourg, local radio, both commercial and BBC, as well as ITV and BBC television.

The Cashman was born in Hertfordshire in 1942 but his family moved to Vancouver, Canada - hence that mid-Atlantic twang that was long evident in Dave's voice -  when he was a young lad. He got his break into broadcasting at station CFUN in Vancouver where he'd started making the coffee but eventually ended up hosting the overnight show from midnight until 6 am. It was whilst working as a holiday relief at CJAV in Port Alberni in 1964 that a mate of his mentioned that he should "get to England now" and join one of the new pirate radio stations that had just started up.   

Dave landed a job at the recently launched Radio London. There he broadcast under the name of Dave Cash, rather than his given name of Dave Wish, in honour of his one of his favourite singers Johnny Cash. He soon forged an on air partnership with fellow DJ Kenny Everett - the Kenny and Cash Shows became required listening.   

Dave jumped ship long before the Marine Offences etc. Act came into force, though it was quite by chance; an operation to remove kidney stones in early 1967 meant that he couldn't immediately return to the MV Galaxy, so his agent Chris Peers managed to get him some relief work at Radio Luxembourg and on the BBC Light Programme as one of the presenters of Swingalong. This led to further work introducing the Ray McVay Sound and guests on Monday, Monday and meant he was in prime position to join the new swinging Radio 1 when it launched in September.

As part of the launch team at Radio 1 - Dave's pictured in the famous All Soul's photo between David Rider and Pete Brady - he continued to host Monday, Monday as well as taking turns on What's New and then Midday Spin before gaining a regular weekday afternoon slot in July 1968 presenting "a swinging selection of studio sounds and the best of the rest on records", i.e. in BBC-speak for a show with minimal needletime. Dave's ever-so sixties catchphrase of "Groovy Baby" led to the unlikely hit (though it only reached number 29 in the hit parade) of the same title under the name of Microbe - the young voice provided by the 3-year old Ian Doody, son of Radio 1 and 2 newsreader Pat Doody.

In September 1969 Dave's show was shifted to a teatime slot to make way for the incoming Terry Wogan and then from April 1970 he was back to occasional duties on What's New and Radio 1 Club as well as Sunday afternoon chat show with musical guests Cash at Four. Dave left the Beeb in 1971 but continued to appear on both radio, working with his old ex-pirate chums Tommy Vance and Kenny Everett at Radio Monte Carlo International, and on ITV in the HTV produced The Dave Cash Radio Programme.

Early 1973 saw Dave briefly back at the BBC presenting Radio 2's Up Country. Later that year he was hired by Michael Bukht as part of the launch team at Capital Radio. At the station he was able to rekindle his pirate radio days on The Kenny and Cash Show at breakfast before moving onto lunchtime with the hugely popular Cash on Delivery.  

During the 1980s and 90s Dave worked on numerous commercial stations. He helped launch Radio West as Programme Director in 1980-82, was Deputy MD and presenter of the weekend breakfast show (1987-89) at Invicta Radio in Kent, again working for Michael Bukht. It was back to Capital on their Gold service 1989-1994 and brief stints at RTL Country 1035, Liberty Radio and Manchester's Fortune 1458 and its later incarnation Lite Radio. He also presented a weekly country music show on Primetime Radio. Dave's experiences in radio fed into his early 1990s novels The Rating Game and All NIght Long.

Dave returned to the BBC in 1999 working for Radio Kent on shows that were eventually heard on a number of stations in the south-east. Most recently he continued to pursue his love for country music on Dave Cash Country and the retro chart show The Dave Cash Countdown. What were to be his final shows only aired last weekend.

In 2014 Dave celebrated 50 years on the radio in this BBC Radio Kent special linked by Adam Dowling. This was broadcast on Monday 25 August 2014 and gets a repeat on a number of BBC local stations in the south-east this evening. 

Dave Cash 1942-2016 'Groovy Baby'   

Radio Lives - Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart

There's a whole generation that knows all the words to Three Wheels on My Wagon, My Brother and A Windmill in Old Amsterdam. We have Junior Choice, and Ed Stewart to thank (blame) for that.

Edward Stewart Mainwaring was born in Devon in 1941 though the family moved to London soon after. Young Edward enjoyed listening to the wireless, especially the comedy shows and the adventures of Dick Barton - Special Agent. "I was preparing myself for a life in radio already by crawling behind the wireless and pretending to be an announcer".

At school he was fanatical about sport, to the detriment of other studies. In adult life Ed was a keen golfer, played football for the Showbiz XI and, of course, the Radio 1 team, as well as cricket for the Lord's Taverners and the Variety Club. He took up the double bass, apparently just because the school orchestra didn't have anyone playing the instrument.

Ed had early ambitions to work for the BBC and managed to obtain an audition with the Overseas Service at Bush House in 1961. They said he didn't have enough experience and advised him to go abroad to get some. That advice took him to Hong Kong, initially to join a band out there. Since leaving school he'd been working for Keith Prowse Records and playing in a skiffle group so the opportunity to play abroad seemed to satisfy both needs.

In the event the music gigs fell through but he managed to blag his way into Radio Hong Kong by spinning the story that he'd actually worked for the BBC. Ed was employed as an interviewer and sports reporter and eventually an announcer. However his voice wasn't deemed suitable for announcing: "too up and down, old boy" he was told, so he moved across to Rediffusion's Blue Network. Here he was soon presenting music shows, interviewing, announcing and newsreading on both radio and TV. From Rediffusion he moved to one of the most popular music stations in Hong Kong simply called Commercial Radio.

Feeling homesick Ed left Hong Kong in 1965, his passage back to the UK was funded by Lufthansa in return for recording six promotional programmes for the airline. Back in Blighty he joined the Central Office of Information in their programme making department. Realising there may be opportunities on the new offshore pirate stations Ed called in at Radio Caroline's offices; they had no vacancies but sent him on to Radio London round at Curzon Street. His Hong Kong experience standing him in good stead he joined the station in July 1965.

At Radio London he acquired his nickname of 'Stewpot' when fellow DJ Dave Cash who, on witnessing Ed's ability to roll his stomach muscles, exclaimed "When you do that, it looks like a stewpot". He created the fictional Myrtle - "Hello Myrtle" becoming his catchphrase until superseded by the falsetto "Morning" and a shouted "Crackerjack" - and with Keith Shues cooked up the famous April Fool 'Radio East Anglia' stunt.   

Ed stayed with Radio London until the bitter end, joining Paul Kaye for the final hour on 14 August 1967. The forced closure did, however, see him fulfil his ambition to join the BBC when he passed his audition with producer Angela Bond and became part of that famous Radio 1 launch team.

Here are some clips of Ed from his Radio London days.

Ed's first appearance on the new pop network was on the second day of broadcasting in the old Easy Beat slot, now retitled Happening Sunday. Unfortunately it only happened for a few weeks, he was shifted to one side to make way for Kenny Everett. He continued to be one of the hosts of What's New (appearing on the show until 1969) but got a regular programme when he replaced Leslie Crowther on Junior Choice in February 1968. It was Derek Chinnery who'd put his name forward. "My wife heard him reading some requests recently and she thinks he has the style we're looking for - more of an older brother than a schoolmaster".

So started a 12-year stint as the children's favourite on a show that, in the early 1970s enjoyed an audience of nearly 8 million. In truth Junior Choice didn't just play those novelty songs but featured the pop tunes of the day. Many of those classics had previously been much requested on the old Children's Favourites. But those elements of the show together with the Morningtown Ride theme and the cheeky "allo darling" have remained part of Ed's broadcasting heritage in the more recent annual revivals on Radio 2 some four decades later.

In this Radio 1 montage Ed plays some Junior Choice favourites: The Wombles, White Horses plus a bit of Bowie.

Ed's radio appearances weren't just restricted to Junior Choice. He was regularly on Radio 1 Club between 1969 and 1973, there was Sunday Sport in summers of 1972 to 1975, from September 1973 he was the first presenter of Newsbeat and later with Sue Cook  he co-presented Radio 1's first phone-in Personal Call (1979). He'd also regularly deputise for David Hamilton on his afternoon show.   

Meanwhile Ed was dipping his toes into television presenting, initially for 'the other side', with Exit - The Way Out Show billed as the "fast-action quiz game for the way-out generation" which, after a 10 week run, was indeed on its way out. For Granada there was a junior version of Opportunity Knocks combined with a knockout quiz, called Anything You Can Do (1969). For the BBC in 1970 Ed got his own show in 9-part series Ed and Zed! His sidekick was Zed the robot, voiced by Anthony Jackson.

Ed was able to cement his position as a children's entertainer when, in 1971, he was featured in the junior TV Times spin-off Look-In with Stewpot's Look-out and later Stewpot's Newsdesk, the latter column appearing each week until well into 1980. And, of course, there was Crackerjack, with Ed stepping into Michael Aspel's shoes from 1974.

This Radio 4 programme from the Trumpton Riots series examines the Crackerjack phenomenon and was heard on 26 December 1997.

In December 1979 Ed left both Junior Choice and Crackerjack: "My days as strictly a children's presenter were over. We all have to grow up some time!" Now playing requests for the grown-ups over on Radio 2 The Ed Stewart Request Show kicked off in January 1980, his first daily show after 13 years with the BBC.

Here are some clips from those early 80s afternoon shows. Note the use of the theme, dropped in 1981 I think, Don't Run Away by the Pierre Lavin Pop Band, a show from Ascot reminding us that Radio 2 was still the sports channel and finally, from July 1980, Ed continues to man the microphone for Much More Music when David Symonds is stuck in traffic .

This aircheck dates from 2 June 1981 by which time the programme was re-titled The Ed Stewart Show and had acquired the FamilyFavourites feature from Pete Murray's Sunday Show. With Ed is Ian Thompson of Radio New Zealand.

This programme from 10 March 1982 comes from the Ideal Homes Exhibition. No Family Favourites this time but there is a feature called Continental Call.    

In January 1984 Radio 2 Controller Bryant Marriott was minded to not renew Ed's contract. "Request programmes are old fashioned and out-of-date and we must move on", he was told.

Now unemployed, Ed leapt at the chance to work for Radio Mercury in Crawley when they launched in October 1984. Joining a team that included Pat Sharp, Peter Young and Tony Myatt (with whom he'd worked back in Hong Kong) Ed landed the weekday mid-morning show. As the biggest name at the station Ed was chosen to launch proceedings on Saturday 24 October, however, having prior golfing commitments in Spain, he had to record that opening show.

In 1990 Ed and Mercury parted company when, yet again, his contract was terminated. Adamant that he wouldn't make another sideways move he had to wait until the following year before he got the chance to re-join Radio 2. At first it was just the occasional show, but in the summer there was a short run on Saturday afternoons and in October and November he took over the mid-morning show from Judith Chalmers. By then he'd already been promised a daily afternoon show starting the following January.

This is part of the second hour of Ed's return to Radio 2 with a late-night show on 30 March 1991 featuring famous duets.

From 31 August 1993 part of an afternoon programme starting with a handover from Debbie Greenwood and featuring the Accumulator Quiz. With music from Count Basie, Bobby Darin and Perry Como it's hard to imagine this was indeed 1993. I should apologise for the fact that the recording ends on a cliffhanger, that was the problem with recording on C90 cassettes.

At a time when BBC radio seemed to enjoy generous budgets for OBs Ed's show took him to the Falkland Islands, Paris and technically challenging broadcasts from Ben Nevis and Snowden. More prosaically I saw Ed broadcast live from the Corner Cafe in Scarborough, though at the time of writing I've yet to track down the photo I took.

By July 1999 it was time to move on again. Controller Jim Moir was lining up Steve Wright for weekday afternoons so Ed was offered a two-hour Sunday afternoon show, live from Birmingham. That slot had just been occupied by Pam Ayres and before that Charlie Chester's Sunday Soapbox, so you can tell the age of listener they were expecting to appeal to. As a carrot Ed was also offered Wogan's breakfast show holiday cover, which he did during 1999.   

Those Sundays shows ended in April 2006 when Johnnie Walker, who'd given up Drivetime was offered an weekend show. This is Ed's final programme in full. As ever he is the consummate professional to the end; he acknowledges his time on Radio London and Radio 1 and signs of with Always Look on the Bright Side of Life.

Of course you can't keep a good broadcaster down. He popped up English-speaking Spanish radio stations Spectrum FM and Coast FM. In December 2006 Ed was heard on internet station Big L deputising for David Hamilton, some things never change!

When Radio 2 celebrated its 40th anniversary on 30 September 2007 it decided to resurrect some old programmes, either inviting broadcasters back to the station or running some archive recordings. At 10.00 am Stewpot was back with a one-off Junior Choice, this time assuredly nostalgic and just playing all the old favourites. Such was the listener response that he was invited to do it all again for a Christmas Day special. Thereafter, Junior Choice  became a Christmas Day fixture each year until his last broadcast just three weeks ago. It was the perfect accompaniment to peeling the spuds and steaming the pud.  

This is a recording of that 2007 special.

A week or so after Ed's last show he suffered a serious stroke and was taken to hospital in Bournemouth. Last Saturday he passed away.

In a business where notoriously egos can clash Stewpot remained great chums with many of his former colleagues. He regularly attended reunions, indeed he'd been part of the Pirate Radio Essex broadcasts a few years back, and he numbered David Hamilton and Pete Murray as close friends. Ed had gained something of a reputation for never getting his wallet out - as Diddy David once quipped 'what's the difference between Stewpot and a coconut, you can get a drink out of a coconut' - but he was always generous with his time and worked for many charities including the Grand Order of Water Rats of which he had long been a member. This year he'd planned to continue his Stewpot's Music Quiz Tour and this coming weekend he had been due to appear at the Radio Reunion event in London. That event will now include tributes to both Ed and to David Bowie.

Radio 2 is planning to broadcast a programme in tribute to Ed sometime next month. In the meantime I'll leave it to Paul Gambaccini to sum up Ed's impact on British radio and with a tune that will bring back a pang of nostalgia to all those who tuned into Radio 1 on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the 1970s.

Ed 'Stewpot' Stewart

1941-2016

Bye-eee!

Some Key Dates:

Radio London 5 July 1965 to 14 August 1967

Anything You Can Do ... 30 April to 30 July 1969 (subsequent series presented by Chris Kelly)

Junior Choice 24 February 1968 to 30 December 1979

Ed and Zed! 24 October to 19 December 1970

Crackerjack 3 January 1975 to 21 December 1979

Ed Stewart's Request Show 21 January 1980, Re-titled The Ed Stewart Show from 11 May 1981 when Family Favourites became a feature on the programme. Final show 20 January 1984.

Ed Stewart weekday afternoon show: 6 January 1992 to 2 July 1999

Ed Stewart Sunday afternoon show: 4 July 1999 to 16 April 2006  

With thanks to Noel Tyrrel