Thameside 5Oct80 Lonely hearts and Bob’s desert island
Nov 28, 2010
Bob chats with the lovely Buzby about the Kew Green OB a fortnight ago. (Whatever happened to Buzby?) and announces the Thameside Radio Pen friends / lonely hearts club. Mazzy gets box number 1. Later we hear Bob’s “Desert Island Discs” where Alex interviews him and we discover a bit more about his holidays and that beloved Triumph Spitfire. We also learn what started Bob (and his older brother) on being radio pirates. He talks about Thameside Radio’s early days when the station transmitted from Hampstead Heath for an hour each Sunday.
Dave’s DIY spot tells us how to make a nuclear fall out shelter out of sticky tape, vacuum cleaner tubing, and old cornflake boxes. (Protect and Survive anyone?)
The music is so perfectly early 80s. Motels, Silicon Teens, Gary Numan, Siouxie and the Banshees, Stiff Little Fingers, The Police (as well as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Who)
Listeners mentioned include: Graham Copeland of Cobham. Gary Williams. Mick Taylor. Alan Jameson. Basil of Harpenden. Jilly Newman. Mike Skinner.
Thanks to Basil (see comments) for additional information about this broadcast - he reports that "We got perfect reception in Harpenden, 25 miles (40Km) north west of London!"
Hi Basil. Thanks for the comment.
I do vividly remember the 3rd birthday where Incognito played. So many people turned up, quite unexpected.
In true Thameside style it was right at the back of Chiswick police station! The staff were sittting at their desks looking down at us.
You could ask the Birdman if he still has a copy of the Duracell advert: He's on Facebook and there is a Thameside Radio page there as well.
Or email me an I'll pass it on request.
al (at fmthen.com)
Al
EEK! Correction:
The party was on 7th December 1980
Some of the music would have been dedications from me and two others whom I'd turned on to
Thameside.
I was into The Motels and probably requested Total Control. Mike Skinner was into Led Zep
and Jilly Newman (correct spelling) was into pretty much all of the others, especially the
punky ones.
We got perfect reception in Harpenden, 25 miles (40Km) north west of London!
I went to the party on 3-12-80 where Haiti Syndrome (née Incognito) played and I won the
weekly competition once. nb. I'm the one who got the Thameside pen that *did* work. I'd have
swapped that for "the boomerang that doesn't come back", but couldn't work out the answer.
My only other interaction was in asking for the spoof Duracell advert to be dedicated to a
friend in Australia who was going to retransmit it on the Brisbane radio station, VK4ZZZ. I
taped the broadcast, but the transmission stopped half way through the ad. D'OH! If the tape ever resurfaces and hasn't been wiped, I'll certainly upload it.
There was no mention of the break the following week, but I'm confident that they would have done the dedication, though I'm not sure Anne would have remained a 'Triple-Zed' DJ for long once she'd played the ad!
I'd love to have a copy of that advert, but I've yet to find it anywhere.
If you're reading this (quite likely) and you've got your own Thameside anecdote to tell (nearly as likely), then please post a reply. After all, I've sacrificed my evening of tidying my bedroom to read and write here, so you can do the same.
Postpone your next dentist appointment and prioritise your time as I have to write something
here.
A big thank you to everyone connected with Thameside Radio and all the best to my fellow
ex-listeners.
Cheers,
Basil