What's Your Station?

One of my most vivid memories is completing my Silver Duke of Edinburgh Expedition in the New Forest one October half term. It must have been 1987 as Mike Smith was the Radio 1 breakfast host and I remember cooking bacon on the Trangia stove, in a field behind a scout hut in Fordingbridge, whilst listening to T'Pau's new single China in Your Hand, it was a gorgeous Autumn morning. 

http://asymptotia.com/wp-images/2007/08/Radio_dynamo.jpg

I had a red plastic battery operated radio that we listened to as we walked. That radio once got us into trouble on a snowy February in Dartmoor as the magnet in the speaker affected our compass, a rookie error that put us out a couple of miles searching for a postbox on Rough Tor.

 

Radio 1 was the station to listen to, the new music was heard first on this station, and alongside Mike Smith the line-up included Simon Bates, Mike Read, Simon Mayo and of course Steve Wright.


Whilst at Uni I still enjoyed listening to Simon Mayo's breakfast show and the 'confessions' - the hamster in the model aeroplane was a classic. Simon Bates and 'Our Tune' - you couldn't make some of those stories up and of course Steve Wright in the afternoon-does anyone remember those Arnie and Teenage Murant Hero skits?

I now occasionally tune into Radio 2 and am amazed to hear Steve Wright still doing what is essentially the same show he did 20 years ago - it's like being in a time loop - with the factoids still as irritating as they always were. Last year Simon Mayo started his confessions again on the 'Drivetime' show and repeated some of the classics, it was like an episode of Life on Mars!

Something happened to me a couple of years ago that might have started to signify the onset of my middle age - I found myself tuning into Radio 4. I now listen to 4 whenever I am in the car and often on Saturday mornings as well.

I quite enjoy the segment of Today between 7.30 and 8.10am and PM with Eddie Mair. It's basically news.

There is a downside, I am now quite out of touch with the new music which will cement the fact that I am old and out of touch as soon as my daughter becomes a teenager.

Not all is lost though - at work Heart 106 is often playing on the radio in the office - this means I can keep up to date with the 5 most popular songs from 2010 played over and over and over and over...

 

Comments

  1. Anonymous28 June 2012 at 17:51

    A slippery slope indeed!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sah28 June 2012 at 18:14

    .....you need a bit of 6 Music! Also, can't beat 5 Live last thing at night or on a Sat, when Danny Baker sails his pirate ship across the airwaves. You would love that, aaaaarrrr!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous28 June 2012 at 19:50

    I like heart in the morning after the Today programme. Keeping up to dat - listen to Absolute at drive time

    ReplyDelete
  4. Unknown28 June 2012 at 22:34

    Could be worst Ed, you know you are in real trouble when you start listening to LBC !!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous28 June 2012 at 23:07

    Nothing middle aged about Desert Island Discs, did anyone hear the session with Doreen Lawrence? So terribly sad and moving.

    ReplyDelete

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