Offshore Radio
Royal Academy
Offshore Radio
Celebration
After a tea break, it was time for “It’s Smooth Sailing”, a tribute to Radio London with Tony Blackburn, Norman St John, Pete Brady, Ed Stewart and Duncan Johnson. The session was chaired by Trevor Dann, Chairman of the Radio Academy (photo right).
Tony described his feelings when, as a DJ working for Caroline South, he had first heard Radio London and been totally taken with the sheer professionalism of the station, its jingles and its well-defined Top 40 format. Pete Brady disclosed that the station went on air before it was really ready. There was a lot of banter on board ship which lead to everyone being given a nickname, a girl’s name. Tony Blackburn had been named “Bessie” by Head DJ, Tony Windsor.
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Tony Blackburn and Norman St John |
Pete Brady and Ed Stewart |
Ed Stewart and Duncan Johnson |
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Duncan Johnson wondered how today’s safety oriented world would have reacted to the situation on board the Galaxy, for example, there were no lifejackets.
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Ed Stewart talked about the fun times they had at the Big L discos, where the DJs did guest appearances. He also talked about the system whereby Radio London had its own publishing company Pall Mall Music which was a source of revenue for the firm, and how records from the publishing company would appear in the Fab Forty. Tony Blackburn said he could see the writing was on the wall for the offshore stations and left Big L early so he would be well placed to get a job on Radio 1, adding that he had never been loyal to anyone other than himself.
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Emma Freud |
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Tony described how Big L’s closedown had been piped around the internal system at Broadcasting House - as far as he was concerned successful radio was all about personality.
The DJs then talked about the legendary John Peel, who didn’t really fit in with the other DJs. He had been given the midnight slot, which he made his own as “The Perfumed Garden”, ditching the Top 40 format and playing underground music.
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| Rolf Harris |
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Ed Stewart said there had been a tremendous team spirit on board ship and recounted how Big L had received the world exclusive copy of the Beatles’ “Sergeant Pepper” album. He had played a couple of tracks from it but passed on the rest of the album to John Peel, for him to play on his "Perfumed Garden" show. During the session, I spotted a few media celebrities in the audience, including Emma Freud and Rolf Harris - it turned out the latter was a friend of fellow countryman “Norm” St John, as he called him!
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