Steve Wright-In-The-Afternoon (that is his name isn’t it?) has a rather baffling item on his show where people text in saying what they’re doin’ only without the g at the end. The item is called ‘serious jockin’ – at least I think that’s what it’s called – and I’ve never quite been able to understand the point, but maybe that’s because I lack the necessary brain cells to completely comprehend Radio 2. But I like most of the music they play; it being the aged version of Radio 1 which has, so to speak, moved over and taken the listeners with it. But in fact it’s a lot better than R1 used to be because it’s not restricted to a playlist of the top 20 plus up-and-coming tracks with a few oldies thrown in: R2 plays a wide variety of music and treats its audience with a great deal more respect. Even so, I used to have R1 on all day long because it was virtually all we had. On a good day when the wind was in the right direction you could get Radio Caroline, a pirate station broadcast from a boat somewhere in the North Sea, and eventually in London we got Capital Radio which featured the wonderful Kenny Everett who had been sacked from the BBC more times than I’d had hot dinners.
Nowadays I’m mostly a Radio 4 person, but there are times in the day when I need music: when I’m driving and don’t want to put a CD on, or when I’m doing the washing up or the decorating. Nowadays there are a thousand channels you can listen to on your iphone or tablet or laptop or sound system – but back then it was very restrictive. One of the ways people got round the restrictions was with CB radio. CB (or Citizen’s Band) radio was very big in the States and had its own language, as shown in this terrible song:
But it was illegal over here, I think because it interfered with police frequencies. This did not stop enthusiasts from installing them in their cars; the big giveaway being large twin aeriels sprouting from the car. One such nutter was stopped by the police:
PC Plod: Excuse me sir, is this your car?
Mad Eddie: Ay, so what?
PC Plod: It’s equipped for CB radio
Mad Eddie: Well I’m equipped for rape but I don’t go out and do it
Soon afterwards it became legal and therefore much less fun (CB radio I mean.)
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 