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.