My first recollection of hearing and liking music is linked
to radio. It was 1972 in the kitchen of our maisonette, 20 Pennington House (it
no longer exists), in deepest Oldbury. The track was School’s Out by Alice Cooper
and I have to presume it was being played by Radio 1, though I don’t
specifically recall that bit.
I was probably in the right age group to appreciate the
growth and spread of radio in the UK without even being conscious of
it. I have great recollections of the presenters from that era and now
recognise our family must have changed loyalties to BRMB and Les Ross at some
point around the time that Dave Lee Travis took over R1 breakfast from Noel
Edmonds.
Into the 80s it becomes blurred. I was more of an active
participant, partly through knowing a few radio presenters and eventually
becoming one myself, sort of. Radio became a bigger part of my life – I
appreciated the craft and actively tried to get recordings (on cassette) of
great presenters like Chris Tarrant, Danny Baker, Howard Stern. These were the
days before podcasts of course and I recall first hearing Chris Evans on GLR
when travelling back by car from London .
There’s a couple of reasons I’m tip-toeing through my
memories for you, it ties in significantly to the debate over whether streaming
services, regardless of what they’re called, can rightly be referred to as
‘radio’. I think we can all appreciate that radio is so much more. Others have
covered this topic very well, particularly James Cridland (the debate rages below the main feature), Phil Riley,
David Lloyd covering the emotive issues and Adam Bowie.
Whatever generation of listener you are, your choice of
music and radio station is a personal issue. I have long been a fan of Kerrang
Radio in the West Midlands, I was delighted when they were awarded their
broadcast license some nine years ago and have been a listener ever since.
Naturally I’d have loved to work there (I did try!), many of my friends and
ex-colleagues did so and it is sad to witness its passing from the FM spectrum.
From today they will be no longer be such a great presence
in the West Mids and that is a great loss to our region, for a while it seemed
that they could become proof of a niche music station’s ability to succeed. A
far greater radio mind than mine has covered the business reasoning and
emotional response very well here.
The team at Kerrang Radio steered the brand into some great
new territories and will have introduced many great acts to a bigger audience,
that’s one of the many superb functions of music radio and it’s a proven fact
that ‘real’ radio remains the source of most new musical discovery in this
country. There is a massive human element to this and presenters like Johnny
Doom make that happen. He is one of a few who – with wit and style – make
almost any music listenable. That’s the difference that proper radio makes, no
algorithm can do the same.
We are fortunate in some ways given that the West Mids 105.2FM frequency is not being handed down to
some lowest-common-denominator pop/easy-listening hybrid of which there are so
many. Instead we have the pleasure of Planet Rock which could easily become an
even greater radio brand under the stewardship of its new owner. I will declare
an interest since I have worked with the team there over a number of years; it
has given me the opportunity to witness their commitment to continuing the UK ’s rock
legacy.
Regardless of what comes next, the ability to listen to a
vast range of music has never been greater or more widely available. People are
so conservative in their tastes though, left to their own devices they may not
explore. I’ve written before about the need for an arbiter of taste,
a guide to what you might like – yes, it is possible that the right software will eventually predict on your behalf but it will never take the
place of a great radio presenter.
To finish as I began (in the past) I have great memories of
when I encountered certain songs or acts. I first heard Alive by Pearl Jam,
courtesy of a play on Simon Bates and began a career-long worship of them. I
got into Mogwai via a John Peel session heard in the car as I went to pick my
mum up from the station when she was occupying the role of live-in nanny for my
now 16 year old daughter. I discovered Doves in a roundabout way after hearing
a Sub-Sub song (This Time I’m Not Wrong) on a visit to my mate Lloyd who was
then running a pub in Barnstaple . I could go
on – just remember (as I do) that there is no easy replacement for radio,
streaming will only repeat what you think you want to hear – sometimes you need
help.
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