September/Oktober 1972
Het blad Deejay publiceerde elke
maand nieuws en feiten rond Radio Luxembourg en de DJ’s. Dit zijn de highlights
uit het blad van Oktober 1972
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208 Tamla nights go down a bomb !
The recently
started Radio Luxembourg/Top Rank Tamla Disco nights got off to a fantastic
start with the first two sessions at Doncaster and Reading. In each case the
attendance at these locations was almost trebled. "It's fantastic",
said 208 Press Officer Jimmy Parsons, "it's almost reaching the heights of
Beatlemania with screaming young ladies mobbing the DJs". These shows will
be continuing right through to the New Year (see Pull page advertisement in
this issue of DJ & RM) and at each location records, pictures, etc of the
various Tamla artists will be given away.
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Fourth grand prix for radio Luxembourg
The fourth
annual Grand Prix for record producers will be held by Radio Luxembourg on
October 19 in Luxembourg. The competition is open to record producers from
Great Britain, Germany, France, Holland and Luxembourg. Each country submits
three record productions as their entries, and all the European services of
Radio Luxembourg International will promote the event, which will also receive
television coverage throughout Europe. At the same time the British Service of
Radio Luxembourg will announce its Artists Of The Year.
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Dave Christian to leave 208
Radio Luxembourg
have announced that DJ Dave Christian is no longer broadcasting with the
station, and that he has now returned to London. Plans were recently announced
by Radio Luxembourg for the formation of a radio production unit available to
commercial radio advertisers. It is intended that Dave Christian shall be part
of this new venture.
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"I probably
have the honour of being the only DJ to throw up halfway through a
commercial..."
Paul Burnett talking to dee jay's editor
Ben Tree about life on Radios 270 and 208
Popular 208 DJ
Paul Burnett joined Radio Luxembourg in October 1967, making him the longest serving
member of the current team. He still remembers the date ... October 26 ... when
on "the most fantastic day of my life" he drove from Ostend through
to the Grand Duchy. But Paul's involvement in the radio scene goes back much
further, and with show business even further than that. Let Paul take up the
story ...
"My parents
at one time were a theatrical double act - my father was a pianist and my
mother a singer, and during my early years we lived in a caravan. I went to
about 12 different schools because my father worked summer seasons, and even
when my mother retired he still carried on as a band pianist - so about every
six months or so I would change schools.
"Then for a
few years, after my parents were divorced, I had nothing really to do with show
business, until I took up radio as a hobby when I was in the RAF.
"I was
stationed out in Aden where there was a fully fledged radio station, with
commercials and everything but regarded as a recreation facility for the lads,
and after I'd finished my duties as an equipment clerk I'd go down to the
station in the evening. We'd work all the hours God sends, but we really
enjoyed it.
How did you make
the change from forces radio to, I believe, one of the pirate stations?
"When I
came back from Aden I was stationed in the North of England. I really wanted to
keep up what I'd started so I immediately approached Radio Caroline. They were
encouraging but had no vacancies, so for a time I worked in the Top Rank
Discotheque in Darlington, which was just down the road from where I was
stationed. While I was working there one evening somebody came up to me and
asked if I would be interested in working on a new pirate ship which was to
start off the Yorkshire coast. Of course I said yes, and that was Radio 270 -
which I auditioned for and was offered the job. So to get out of the Forces,
because I had signed on for five years and still had some six months to serve,
I borrowed £125 from my mother, and that's the best 
money I've ever spent!
Tell us a little
about Radio 270.
"I don't
think there was ever another ship like 270. She was definitely the most
piratical. You see we had a sail at the back of the boat - I don't think it
ever served any real purpose but it looked good. We always figured on painting
a skull and crossbones on it, but we were told that if we did the Royal Navy
would shoot us out of the water - so we scrapped the idea.
"I remember
we were due to go on the air at midday on 1 April. They had a big reception at
one of Scarborough's top hotels, with all the directors of the company with
radio sets around the room together with the press. Unfortunately, someone had
forgotten to put in the crystal, the heart of any transmitter, and, of course,
we had no way of telling them on shore. So there they all were desperately
searching round the dial for 270 metres ... and getting nothing! Everybody
thought it was a very bad taste April Fool's Day joke - wasting their time.
"In fact it
was June before we finally got on the air - because we had so many setbacks.
Even the mast blew down - it was higher (154ft) than the boat was long (139ft)
and two thirds of it snapped off in a very heavy gale.
Did you have any
problems such as sea sickness out there in the North Sea?
"I was the
worst seaman in the world, I was ill every day - in fact I probably have the
honour of being the only DJ to throw up halfway through a commercial. It was
for a supermarket who had a special offer on, for Danish Bacon or something
very similar, and I had to describe how beautifully juicy and lean this bacon
was. I didn't have time to reach for the cough button, and I threw up right in
the middle of the commercial. I don't know how the supermarket people felt, but
I bet it got lots of attention!
"Mark
Wesley was out there with me for a time, only about a month or so and then I
left to join Manx Radio. That came about because my agent knew I was very
anxious to make a move - one could see the writing on the wall
as far as the
pirate stations were concerned. I know that this sounds like a rat leaving a
sinking ship, and I know that a lot of pirate radio fans thought of it that way
when DJs did this - but I didn't want to be around in September when there
would be so many DJs chasing only a few jobs. I wanted desperately to stay in
the business, and I didn't want to end up like a lot of them did with great
experience and everything thrown away. It doesn't take long once you're out of
the business to be forgotten and lose what ever it is you've gained. So I took
about a £10 cut in pay and joined Manx Radio.
Was it very
different working for Manx Radio?
"This
period really gave me a lot of experience, because this was real local
commercial radio ... where you do everything. I really feel that a lot of guys
who are sitting around waiting for the new local commercial stations don't
really have an inkling of what real local radio is all about. Here on 208 we
handle thousands of pounds of commercials, usually part of huge campaigns - but
on a local station you are dealing actually with the customer himself, the
butcher who has paid his pound for his commercial and will listen in and if he
doesn't like the way you do it he'll phone up immediately and tell you. If you
were ever a few minutes late they'd be on the phone straightaway - it's good
because it keeps you on your toes, but it wasn't really fair because in the
early days Manx Radio didn't have too many facilities. Oh yes they had Gates
turntables, which as you know are fantastic - but no cassette machine! Now I
was doing the breakfast show, and because of the very low rates everybody, but
everybody, wanted to advertise during the breakfast show! All the commercials
were on little separate reels of tape, and with only two tape recorders you
were kept pretty busy! Anyway around August they got the Spotmasters, which
made all the difference.
So how did you
come to make the move to Radio Luxembourg?
"Well one
Sunday Pete Murray came out to the Isle of Man to compere one of the Sunday
concerts - lots of the top DJs came out, and I always used to go and watch
them. Well, I got into conversation with Pete Murray who turned out to be a
really charming guy, one of the nicest people I've ever met, and he asked me if
I was interested in working for Radio Luxembourg. I tried to look all
nonchalant and said yes - so Pete suggested that as they were looking for a DJ
that I should send a tape in, and following a diabolical audition in London ...
there I was on my way to Luxembourg.
Is it right that
you joined the station when they were still using the old format?
"Working
with Luxembourg in those early days was something in itself - I mean the other
guys just don't know what it was like tinder the old system where we were just
link men between tapes ... and you'd sit there and watch the tapes go round and
just give time checks between each one.
"Of course
there were the odd programmes early in the evening and late at night and that
was your big chance. I suppose I got about an hour a day on the air and then in
1968 they changed it and went live. That's when new guys like Tony Prince, he
was one of the early fellas, Kid Jensen, Dave Christian and I think Noel
Edmonds came in. Oh and there was Roger 'Twiggy' Day - but he didn't stay with
us long as he didn't like living in Luxembourg. A lot of people forget that
it's not just a case of being a reasonable DJ - you have to settle down and
live just about all of your time in a foreign country ... which is not as easy
as some people think. Sometimes you'd really love to be able to sit 
and watch a TV show and live a normal life
that way. So you have to be able to adapt.
"As I say
Twiggy left, and Noel Edmonds left and has gone on to great things at the Beeb,
Tony Murphy was with us for a while and now he's one of America's top DJs in
New York. Various people have been and gone and we now have our present team
which with the exception of Mark Wesley has been together now for almost four
years, which I think is pretty good.
Paul, what are
your thoughts on the forthcoming UK commercial radio scene?
"Well now
commercial radio in Britain is just around the corner, and I'm very excited
about it. I always read the papers for every item of information. Of course
there are lots of details still to be sorted out, but it's certainly long
overdue and it's what all that pirate radio scene was all about.
"I'm a
little bit worried about the DJs. When I'm talking to DJs who are working in
discos and places, I think a lot of them have the wrong idea - you get the
impression that they think because they are great personalities, and I'm not
knocking this - I mean I was resident DJ in a Top Rank Ballroom and I know that
you have to know how to
work an audience
and know the people and what they are like - but that's not radio! Obviously
it's a step in the right direction, you have microphone technique, etc - but a
disco DJ has a lot of time to be visual and as much as anything they must
realise this and think in terms of purely lust sound - and know what local
commercial radio is all about. What sort of music do you like to listen to
"off duty" so to speak?
"At home
now I like to listen to the music of Crosby Stills Nash and Young and Don
McLean. I also admire greatly the Rolling Stones for the very fact that they
are still entertaining. The business went through an awful time during the last
couple of years, entertainment became a dirty word. You know a group would go
on stage and tune up for about half an hour between each number. I think the
very thing that
killed jazz,
when I was a good deal younger I got very hung up on jazz, was that it got very
introspective and pseud. But now the scene is getting back to T. Rex and the
like, and I'm glad to see that the screamers are coming back ... because then
you know that the excitement and the glamour which is show business is still
there."
But surely this
is where we came in ...
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