45 minutes  from Thameside Radio’s first year with Tony Lloyd and Bob Edwards. Some listeners think that the news feature takes up too much time in the one hour show! There are a numer of converts from other pirate radio stations.

Mentions for Thameside Radio listeners including: Tony of Arkley Paul of Gates Hill, Stephen Mulham, Fairlough the Builders, Mike of Mayfair, Nigel Barnes of SW9, Radio Invicta, Dennis Hough (Huff?) of Walton-on-Thames, Alan of Barkimgin, Knoxford FC, Rory from Hayes, Pete Turner of Wanstead.

Following last week’s very extended broadcast Bob Edwards tells us that he is going to the USA next week for an indeterminate period and Tony Lloyd will be taking over DJ duties at Thameside Radio. We also discover that Bjorn Borg has just won Wimbledon!

Listener Steve is on the phone and wins the competition  – he tells us that he records all the programmes: you wouldn’t still happen to have them would you Steve?

There are lots of songs from 1970 on this week's Thameside show.

Listeners mentioned include: David Lewis of Pinner, Andrew of Southall, Colin of Bromley and his brother Ross, Len from 60 Burleigh Rd, Lawrence and Bruce from Barnet, Ross Patterson or Bromley,  Carol, Michael, Betty and Lesley of Chalfont St Peter, Chris Curtain of W8,   David Lewis of Eastcote, Richard in Tulse Hill, Gavin Cryable of Collingham Gardens W5  who is writing a book about flat hunting in inner London, Pat Sandrey of Kings Langley and his brother Michael; and  Kings Langley School.

The first  extended show from Thameside Radio. Instead of the usual one hour from 7-8pm  there is a second show with Tony Lloyd where he plays all the tracks from Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (probably recorded on the other side of the C120 that had the first show)

Dave has a jingle about Thameside helping you  to escape the BBC.   The competition prize is still a packet of Spangles (the answer is  “Debbie”, Debbie the phone girl used to take phone calls for Thameside Radio).

Mentions for Bernard O’Brian from Ilford, Neal, Kevin, Danny Osbourne from Putney Hill, Jeff and Cindy from Imperial College, Stephen Cruickshank from Croydon, Philip “The Fiddler” Cull of Rickmansworth, Radio Telstar One.

A 45 minute section of an early extended broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2.  This went out about 7 months after their initial broadcasts.

 News includes the death of a second Pope, Johnny Rotten promoting his Christmas show for kids and a film to be called Quadrophenia - all in 60 minutes with Bob Edwards!

There are two tracks from the new Meatloaf album called Bat out of Hell. The warm up music includes an Intrepid Birdman jingle whcih says Thameside is on 90.4 VHF if I hear it correctly. Of course Themside radio did move to 90.4 (or was is 90.45) to avoid interference with a cable station on the Rediffusion network in Grenwich (who were Thameside listeners too) but the advertised frequency always remained 90.2 - in the days before digital radios it really didn't matter.

Mentions for Ian of Dulwich and Andrew Feely.

Tony Lloyd hosts a one hour broadcast from Thameside Radio's first year. I’ve included the run up music because it has a Birdman jingle just before the 7pm start of the show. There are lots of Birdman jingles during the show too and Tony provides a more rocky slant to the music.

The competition has the traditional prize of a packet of Spangles. The news includes an item about luminous records and how much the Musicians Union are asking the Marquee Club to pay support acts (£9.50 per band member per show)

This recording finishes just before 8pm while the phantom phonebox in Harrow is ringing.

Mentions include Nigel, Mark and Vince Barnes from Kennington; Karen Chin; Stephanie from Lowlands Junior College; Radio Invicta; Barry Benson; Martin Crew; Trevor Llewellyn; Philip Sharp; Jeanette Harris of Mill Hill;

Tony Lloyd looks for cars with Thameside stickers, he also reads the news on this early one hour show broadcast during Thameside Radio's first year. There are already a lot of listener letters, Adrian Leaper wins the competiton.

Thameside Radio listeners who get a mention  include  Patrick Sullivan in Streatham.  Listeners at John Lyon School.  Steve Marshall (from Radio Invicta). Gavin Robson.  Kevin Hargreaves of Welwyn. Trevor Ball from Harlesden.

 Tony Lloyd presents a lovely laid back show with contributions from Dave Birdman and Debbie the phone girl.  The star prize for the Thameside competitions is a packet of Spangles. There is a recorded feature on life in the US sent in by Bob who is still on holiday.

Listeners include: Dick Gustavsen from Sweden. Jean Fooks from Epson. Barclays Bank in Ewell. Keith Archer from Romford. Dave Collins. Graham King from Orpington. Andrew Shaw of Bromley. Philip Casell from Harlesden. Trevor Ball.  xxx

Judging by the number of letters and calls the station is growing rapidly in popularity. By now Thameside 90.2 is definitely a major part of the London radio scene.

The recording improves significantly half way through.

Tony Lloyd the Thameside Radio newsreader takes over behind the mic as Bob Edwards has gone on holiday to the USA.

The wonderful Thameside Radio wander mic comes into its own as the crew celebrate 6 months of untroubled broadcasting. Bob is in the garden with the Birdman making helpful contributions. You can hear the birds tweeting in the background when Bob is on.

Bob tells us that  Richard and Tony are running the desk in the studio upstairs and that his  little sister is handing out the beers.

This is the first 30 minutes of the show. If you have the other half – or any recordings of Thameside shows please do send me a note.

Listeners include John Dodds of Putney, Kevin Tunstall in N19 and Keith Baker,

Al (@fmthen.com)

One hour with Bob Edwards from the 1978. Confusingly the competition has the Radio Invicta theme tune in it.

Many dedications - just a few here: Tony Harrison , Andrew Dolginski, Derek Astell, Montana Red, Roadrunners Trucking in Harrow, Sarah Costell.

Maybe the estimate of 20,000 listeners for Thameside Radio 90.2 really was too low. 

More from 1978 with Bob Edwards and Tony Lloyd. This follows the 4 hour spectacular extended birthday broadcast  http://media.libsyn.com/media/fmthen/Thameside_781199a.mp3. Thameside Birthday Cake being offered as  a prize. They have a phone out competition. Bob plays a bootleg of Brown Sugar with Eric Clapton on guitar.  

We all now get our choice of music streamed on the Internet, using Spotify or over DAB this was broadcast just 4 years after the first ever  independent FM radio station was launched in the UK. We all still thought that listening to a non-BBC station was pretty exciting - and then along came Thameside Radio 90.2

Actually it was only 8 years after the launch of any radio station in London (BBC Radio London - thanks Wikipedia). So the idea and the technology were still very new.


More Thameside Radio listeners: Terry Williams; Ron Calston; Arian Leaper for the John Lyon school; Martin Crew of Se22 from Exeter University; Andy Feely; The Barry Banson Appreciation Society;  J D Deam; Dave Williamson of Hendon ; Tim Radford of Uxbridge who found out about Thameside Radio 90.2 when he saw a car sticker;  Patrick Kingholm of Winchmore Hill; Bob Tree; Malcolm McIntyre;

Back to April 1978. Thameside Radio 90.2 is only 6 months old and a very young sounding Bob presents a one hour show. Tony Lloyd reads the news. Last week was an extended broadcast with Tony doing the second hour. Debbie is taking calls. (What happened to Debbie the Phone Girl?) Dave from the BBC is in the studio as well as a photographer and listener Simon Wallace.


Loads of mentions and dedications. Many of them say that it's the the first time they have tuned in to Thameside Radio 90.2: Here are some that had surnames or additional information so might pop up if they're Googled - there a many more mentions on the recording:  Downtown of Romford, Roger Scott from Epsom for his wife Linda and children Tristan and Lucinda, Steve Tarling fron Surrey University, Neal Oldfield of Appleton, Paul searle of Upminster for the 1st Boys Brigade, Steve Pagnall of Greenford, Alan Cooper of Edgware, Bernard O'Brien of Hainault, Kevin Keele, Tony and Kim Chiffey and Stephen Cruikshank. 

More birthday celebrations with Tony Lloyd and The Intrepid Birdman
The Birdman hasd made a show around the making of the birthday cake.

Tony Lloyd calls more listeners, shares recordings of Bob Edwards fluffing his lines when reading the music news and plays impeccable music ranging from Pink Floyd to Ian Dury. Whatever happened to the Tony Lloyd fan club (TLFC - see picture)?

Mentions on the phone for John of Dulwich, Dave / Barry Banson from Alleyns School, GM Roberts of Woolwich,  Rory of Hayes, Malcolm Mcintryre from Sidcup, Miller and Mariosa from Earls Court.

Technical note:  The FM reception wasn't perfect, the cassettes are showing their age and the azimuth isn't quite right, but it's really great to hear the show again.

An early live extended broadcast.

Bob Edwards plays music from 1978 and phones listeners who wrote in over the last 12 months live on air.

Bob tells us about a guest appearance from the Intrepid Birdman (who later became a regular presenter and a key part of Thameside). Loads of jingles mostly created by the Birdman many of which seem to have disappeared since. Music news from Tony Lloyd. Loads of people mentioning their mum and dad. There is discussion about whether Thameside should extend hours - this 4 hour extravaganza was quite a contrast to the usual 1 hour shows.

The team are drinking Light Ale (can you still buy that?)

At the end of Bob's show there is a 30 minute retrospective on the first year - Thameside had put out 52 shows uninterrupted and were basking in the glory.

Thameside Radio 90.2 listeners mentioned in the phone calls include Dave Williamson from Hendon, Robert of Chelsea, Debbie Wooley, Simon Michelsberg from Barnet,  Martin Smith of Pinner, Jim Stockwell, Graham King from Orpington and Richard Sugarman from Stanmore.