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Thameside Radio 90.2 |
Special Events - do you remember these?Following the first birthday hardly a week went by without there being a Thameside Radio special event or outside broadcast which involved the listeners.Do you remember? The first Thameside birthday (November 1978)This was a live broadcast from Hyde Park. It was dark. We all met a Lancaster Gate wondering what would happen, and how many others there would be. In the end there were about 40 of us all huddled round Bob Edwards with our portable radios tuned to 90.2 and turned down low so as not to attract attention. We all also kept an eye out for any passing people from the DTI, which added to the excitement. (Thameside Radio first broadcast in November, so all the birthday parties started in the dusk!) Live broadcasts from listeners homesThe first broadcast from a listeners house was from Meon Road in Acton. We heard them eat spaghetti on air (eugh), Another show came from "Tatty's or Cathy's" house, Bob, Dave and Tony broadcasting live again. Listeners flashing their lights in time with the musicBob Edwards' show also had a section where we all flashed our lights to the music. We would look out of our windows to see if there were any other listeners in the street. Live broadcast from Kew GreenIt wasn't a birthday but nevertheless the station ran a live broadcast from Kew Green. Alex had a radio mic and the show would link to us every so often, once Bob had done his show he joined us too. The second birthday (November 1979)This time the Thameside Radio team held a party in a hall behind Ealing Police Station. Instead of just having the DJs talk with the records being mixed in at the studio they had twin decks and big speakers - so it was more like a party with music. We didn't need our portables tuned to 90.2 ! There were a lot more of us listeners there than at the first birthday - over 100. Not bad for a surprise venue that was announced just at the start of the show. There was even a birthday cake. Tony Lloyd did a show, probably one of his last, as well as Bob and Dave. You can download a recording here. Watching the FireworksEvery Guy Fawke's night Bob would go up on a hill that overlooked London - it was Hampstead Heath (I think) - We would launch fireworks during a break between the records and he would tell us which ones he could see. The Circle Line picnicsOne Saturday each summer we would bring food and drink and have a party on the Circle Line. It was a great chance to meet some of the other Thameside Radio listeners. The highlights were broadcast the next day! The lonely hearts clubWe could write in about ourselves and the station would forward letters. I'm not sure if anyone actually got together, but some of us exchanged photos. Listener interviewsIn addition to the live broadcasts from listeners home Alex also interviewed listeners in their homes for broadcast the following week. One of them actually lived in Trellick Tower - where the station broadcast from - but from the interview it sounded like she didn't realise. Many programmes included chances to meet the crew; these included a visit to Bromley which had a huge listenership, one from Tower Bridge and a broadcast from outside the dolls house shop on the corner of Lisson Grove and Rossmore Road. "Rossmore Road" by Barry Andrews was one of the singles that Thameside championed, along with his "Win a night out (with a well-known paranoiac)".
3rd Birthday (7 December 1980)Another audacious live broadcast - this time it was at the Thameside Boys Club off Devonshire Road in Chiswick. About 300 listeners turned up and there was a live band: "Tahiti Syndrome" aka "Incognito". Bob and Dave played records from the studio was in a room off the main hall and Alex had a radio mic so we could all read out our dedications. It was the first time that the lovely Sarah (the newsreader) had come to live broadcast, so we all flirted like crazy! The hall was was behind Chiswick police station (something of a theme here). The DTI raided Thameside's hidden fixed transmitter site in Trellick Tower the following week - possibly because the broadcast was so audacious. Summer in Hyde Park (1981)
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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 |