Groovin' with Mr. Bloe

I have previously written about some of the tracks which for me at least were synonymous with listening to free radio on shortwave during the 1990s. It is perhaps with some irony that most of them were of a previous vintage, in other words not contemporary to the pirate broadcasts which I heard during the decade.

Such examples would be Acker Bilk's Fancy Pants, favoured by the genre defining Weekend Music Radio. Other notable aural delights include Magic Fly by Space, Man of Action by the Les Reed Orchestra, as well as Ozone Radio International's fondness for Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall. Although located across the Irish Sea, Prince Terry's broadcasts were for many years a weekly institution for those who listened to 48 metres on a Sunday morning. The Wizard/WMS championed Sniff and the Tears' 1978 track Driver's Seat. 

One tune that previously escaped the blog post dedicated to music often heard within free radio broadcasts was Mr. Bloe's eponymous harmonica influenced Groovin' with Mr. Bloe. Now, am I right in saying this was a popular tune with the free radio cognoscenti of the time, albeit particularly so with Dutch operators?

In other news, it was pleasing to hear the Xenon Transmitting Company (XTC) and Radio Blackbeard (on 1512 KHz) this weekend. Others flying the flag for the UK, well England, were Radios Jennifer, Pamela, and Pandora, as well as Nova on 6940 KHz. 

Radio Blackbeard

There are still a few of those who were broadcasting in the 1990's around to this day, in other words fighting against the dying of the light whilst many of their peers have long since hung up their microphones. 

These hardy perennials include XTC's Matt Roberts, perhaps the youngest of the weathered station operators, and the old(er) guard of Radio Pamela's Steve Most as well as Steve St. John of Radio Pandora. Agewise the mercurial and enigmatic artist formerly known as Mike Wilson and the Bogus Jobseeker, still fronting sporadic shows albeit via the legal German-based transmitters of Channel 292, falls in between Matt and the two Steves.

With thirty years of broadcasting under his belt, the evergreen Dave Norris sounds to me at least the same as he did in 1994, when I first heard pumping dance tracks that makes up the staple diet of Radio Blackbeard. This by the way is meant as a compliment! Although the station's roots extend back to broadcasting on FM, so much so that until fairly recently its Buzz FM appellation was still used in its medium wave transmissions, there is now a feeling of going full circle back to when I first heard Dave as Radio Blackbeard, the name he now uses on 1512 KHz.

I was pleased to hear Radio Blackbeard last night, albeit via the Stone, Staffordshire-based SDR, with Olive's 1997 track 'You're Not Alone' adding credence to the station's unashamed focus on back in the day dance classics, but also those that wouldn't necessarily be regarded as commercial tunes plus a smattering of more modern mashups and remixes. Heck, there was even talking and interaction between the tunes, something that has very much become a dying art on UK-based free radio. It is undoubtedly true that levels of communication in modern society have fallen of a cliff in tandem with the large increase in ways of being able to converse with each other. So much time is spent using SMS, WhatsApp, Messenger, and the like that many people are unable, and perhaps unwilling, to communicate orally with each other. It is far easier to hide behind keyboards and devices but that doesn't make it right, does it?

It is doubly pleasing that Radio Blackbeard is still 'out there' as for a while Dave's health was not quite what it could be, but for many, although not as many as in the past, free radio is a habit that is hard to shake off. Life has markedly altered in the last three decades but despite doing so, as well as the inevitable change in personal circumstances we all go through and fluctuating health, such perseverance is impressive, and I'm sure appreciated by Blackbeard's listeners. 

Have a listen to 1512 KHz tonight and in the coming days. If you manage to hear Radio Blackbeard, drop the station an email at studio@radioblackbeard.co.uk - it will I am sure be gratefully received. 

Mike James - Weekend Music Radio

It is unfortunate that the first news item in nearly seven years on Weekend Music Radio's fine website is to announce the death of former presenter Mike James, or 'Jamesie' as I remember him.

Now, that is not to say that my recollections of Mike, or Neil Carnegie to use his real-world name, are particularly strong. I do recall him presenting shows in the second half of the 1990s, perhaps nearer to the present millennium than the mid part of the decade. Whilst Weekend Music Radio was always synonymous with the main man Jack, and Acker Bilk's track 'Fancy Pants' which topped and tailed each broadcast, Mike James is certainly someone who I heard regularly on I would guess to be 6400 and 3945 KHz. 

Weekend Music Radio (WMR) was of course an already well-established presence on shortwave by the time I started listening to free radio in 1990, at this point with a good ten years of broadcasting experience already under its belt. I think Mike became more of a regular presence in the late 1990's but the only other 'guest' presenters I can recall are Radio Stella's Jock Wilson, Bill Lewis of Live Wire Radio, and perhaps Andy Winter of Radio London. There will certainly have been others post 1990, but I've never suggested what I can bring to mind about any free radio station from the era equates to their definitive history.

The loss of any free radio personality from the 1990s is particularly sad as even those who began broadcasting in the years before will still only be relatively young. Indeed, Mike/Neil was only 66, no age at all, but joins the likes of Paul Johnson and Norman Nelson amongst others who've passed before their time. 

At the start of his tribute to Mike Jack intimates that WMR may return to the air after what has been an especially hectic time for the station operator. That indeed would be a fillip for a UK shortwave free radio scene that has sadly tailed off in the last 15-20 years into a diet of canned or no announcements, negligible interaction with/from operators, and continuous music. 

Jack's very detailed tribute to Mike James can be read below:

Weekend Music Radio - Obituary - Neil Carnegie aka Mike James (wmrscotland.com)