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Thameside Radio 90.2 |
The Thameside Radio 90.2 Story
EndingsBy the 5th birthday the growth in quantity was not always matched by a growth in quality. Increasing numbers of raids by the DTI meant that Thameside Radio's legendary 100% reliability was no longer there. The presenters became less innovative and the DJ's - while ever professional - sometimes sounded less enthusiastic. After a while listener input began to drop off - there were fewer letters and special events.There was a growth in competition. Some of it came from the original members of Thameside who set up Hilltop Radio which pioneered the (now more common) "zoo" format in contrast to the personality DJ driven approach. Finally the BBC realised that there was a need for rock/pop shows on Sunday evenings and launched the Annie Nightingale Show on Radio 1 in direct competition to Thameside. Annie had exactly the same format as Thameside: strong listener involvement - especially through letters, an identical music policy and even used the same competitions and quizzes. The station gradually wound down on and following a raid on 15th May 1983 Thameside never reappered. In a final blaze of glory Thameside pulled off another technical first - they set up the first pirate TV station. Thameside TV broadcast to north and west London: The first week Bob and Sarah ran a Christmas special and showed the Beatles' "Yellow Submarine". The next week they showed music videos while sitting by a Christmas tree. While this was a major technical feat, and received coverage in the national press it was a one-off. After that Thameside was no more. |
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Special thanks for mp3s, writing in or sending pictures to (amongst others) , Carol H, Olaf Star, Jessica D, Pyers E, Warren S, Stephen Sykes, John G, Mike E, itrilby for Radio Eric, Alex Wright, Aidan S, Dave "The Birdman", Alan Dolby, Rachel McIntyre (for Terry Anderson), Al at fmthen.com for the Thameside Radio Revisited podcasts, Terry/Decibel90 and Steve Scribbler. I know that a lot of Thameside listeners and friends would like to get in touch with each other again. If you are happy to have e-mail forwarded do write in. Even if you don't have any new information it would be great to hear from you. The content of this site is avalilable under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Martin Wood |