MONITOR SPRING ISSUE 1972 - Page Three - after became Chief DJ. For some reason, I didn't really get to know Alex, Paul or Chris well, but Dennis the Menace and Rick were really helpful in explaining the techniques of broadcasting to a very green DJ. Although we are good friends (I hope) today, Tom eyed me with some suspicion because he felt, possibly rightly so, that I copied his style. However, having got the word through a third party, I tried to get over this. This, in fact, is the most difficult problem (unless you're a natural genius like Kenny Everett) - namely evolving a personal style in the beginning. It is very easy to be influenced by others. For example, witness the number of Everett type DJs, even today! In early 1966, following the departure of Alex, Dennis, Chris and Rick, Ian MacRae, Paul Kramer, Eric Martin, Adrian Love and Ross Brown all joined with Tom as Chief DJ. There were also brief visits from people like Mike Hayes and Terry Dawson!! The first half of 1966 was, to my mind, the best period of Radio City. We had a fairly good signal, due to our monster mast (the tallest of all the stations) and a good crew working together with some solid pro DJs from Australia plus the relatively new English jocks. City's advertising never competed with, say, London's but it was there, particularly religion! Our broadcasting time was extended to midnight, giving us eighteen hours a day on the air. We had City discos in places during the week, where DJs made personal appearances, plus two cooks fresh out of catering college preparing all kinds of delicacies for the crew's stomachs! The London office moved into better premises and the engineers worked wonders with the equipment. At this point, given a larger power output, City would have seriously challenged the big stations with some revamping of the programmes. However, there were other things in the air unknown to most of us at the time and the story took an unfortunate twist. I remember doing the afternoon show one day, when the tender arrived bringing visitors. Much to my surprise Keith Skues and Duncan Johnson entered the studios! They insisted I made no mention of their presence, which would certainly have astounded some of the listeners. The reason was the proposed UKGM changeover in conjunction with Radio London. I also recall the City DJs filing in one by one into Big L's Curzon Street offices to be told plans for UKGM. Although it was never mentioned, I can't help wondering whether the 299 personalities would have remained had the changeover taken place. Radio City would have been a useful asset for either of the big stations. When I first joined Radio City we were Radio Caroline's sister station, carrying Caroline's news and plugs for Caroline programmes. Now, we were to become part of Radio London. Subsequent events put paid to that idea. I'll never forget the boarding party which took over the station for a week. They literally woke us in our beds (presumably all of us !) with flashing torches and implied threats. Some of the men wore knives in their belts - opposition was out of the question. So much has been written about this episode and so much is still confused. One member of the programme staff joined the station immediately prior to the incident and left immediately afterwards. One well known person was associated with it in some way. Cameras with photos of the boarders were mysteriously smashed. Letters were sent off the station to the Press during this time. Messages for help were sent out on a ham radio unknown to our captors. I went ashore a couple of days later and cashed a pay cheque bearing Reg Calverts signature. I left the bank and bought an early edition of an evening paper with the headline "Pop Pirate shot dead'". The shock was immense. After this tragic incident, the station carried on with Mrs. Calvert at the helm. Things were never quite the same from here on. As DJs we became too influenced by the relatively new Radio England. Our engineers produced a fine new studio but advertising dropped off. As you know, the station closed abruptly on February 8th 1967 at midnight after we had received the message at 5.30 pm that evening. The last few days out there were spent in gathering one's things together and sitting around wondering what to do next. As it turned out, most of the City DJs went on to other stations - Tom, Ross, Ian, Adrian and myself have all been broadcasting more or less continually ever since on various outlets in various parts of the world. I'm sure none of us will ever forget those incredible times on the Tower of Power. I know I won't. PS. For personal reasons, I'd very much like to obtain a tape of my first City show (November 1965) or, failing that, any of my early programmes. If anyone can help in loaning or selling me the tapes I would be most grateful. Please contact through this magazine". SIGNED: ALAN CLARK « « « to the previous page to the next page » » » to the "Monitor Originals" index page ... or ... to the Monitor Magazine home page