I'm a DJ and I've Got Believers

cue, danmachold, 2005

A few weeks back I was in the barber's and I was watching BBC News in the mirror - I think this was the same day Gordon Brown stood down as PM. One of the employees then changed channel to the Radio 1 feed. I stopped listening to R1 at the end of 2003. As the Radio 1 Festival was around the corner, the presenter decided to play an "oldie" from years gone by. It was Avril Lavigne's 'Sk8er Boi'.

Radio 1 was not a particular loss to me as I'd only been a regular listener for less than five years. When I started secondary school in 1998 I had stopped watching kid's tv (with the minor exception of L&K). With this new time in the afternoon to game and build stuff with lego, I decided to put the radio on. Initially I listened to the local station, Clyde 1, but I switched to Radio 1; catching the end of Mark and Lard as I came in from school and Chris Moyles. Evenings were more genre-specific, though I did like Lamacq Live (where I heard and bought Swastika Eyes).

I was a dedicated follower of shock-jock Moyles in the days before his ascendency to the breakfast show. As a young teenage male I was probably more his target audience than the 18-30 demographic of the station. I remember a lot of funny moments and characters, in classic zoo-format; there was Comedy Dave, recurring guests in various slots and even the half-dozen producers over the years. When he announced in October 2003 that he would be moving to the breakfast show I decided it was time to part ways. Firstly I wasn't getting up in the morning to hear it; and secondly, like kid's tv, I was outgrowing it.

As I mentioned above, the early evenings on R1 were centred around genre music. If I recall correctly, Monday to Wednesday was Lamacq and Thursday was dance/trance with some guy named Dave. The late evening was John Peel which I kind of regret not listening to much. Because of this, during my first exams in 2002 I decided to switch over to Radio 2 (no longer just for the fogies). With a lot of spare time spent not revising, I would be up late online and listening to Janice Long beyond midnight. R2 was the perfect antidote to R1's incredibly short musical memory induced by the top 40 playlist. When I ditched R1 I already knew where to head - unless it was 2-5 pm and Steve Wright was on, then I'd prefer silence.

My particular favourite on the nation's second station was Mark Radcliffe, who had also recently left Radio 1. I was surprised to hear him in August 2004. I loved his 1030 to midnight graveyard slot which was a relaxing anti-zoo setup - just the presenter and the music, and the occasional live performance. I have a lot of music that I heard on his show that I wouldn't have heard otherwise - Kraftwerk; and also Charlotte Hatherley most prominently, as her third album sits immediately to my left. Unfortunately, the show was tampered with in April 2007 when a station shakeup had him paired with Stuart Maconie from 8-10. I don't mind Maconie, but I felt the simplicity and closeness of the graveyard show was gone and the timeslot wasn't good for me. R2 was signing people like Russel Brand at the time and I felt things were headed into R1 territory with the contemporary playlist creeping in. So I stopped listening all together.

The only radio I hear is in work where I have no control over it. I quite like Real Radio's golden hour in the mornings since I like to play guess the year. My knowledge of 80s music is second to none even against people who lived through the 80s.

Maybe I'll give Radcliffe & Maconie another go.

I've been struggling to begin this post for over two years and then suddenly, whilst half asleep in the shower at 6AM, the intro appeared in my head.


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