Greetings Comrades, Cave-dwellers, Fellow members of my club (whom meet for lunch 12:00 till 2:00, every Friday in The Churchill Gardens Hall) The ETAT Massive, and last but not least, The Paddington Farm Angling Society. I’m Kev…born St Mary Abbots. High St Kensington. Westminster Children’s Hospital was busy at the time due to a baby boom of Brobdingnagian proportions in The City of Westminster, after the ascendency of The Queen to the throne in 1952.
A long time wireless fan, I enjoyed myself that much during a stint on another station that shall remain nameless, I’m thrilled to bits to be asked to have a go at doing a show on Radio Free Pimlico! Oh, and I’m a published poet in case anyone reading doesn’t know!? So you can expect to hear poems read-out, listeners have mailed into the show plus a few of my own.
My taste in music….how long have you got? Ranges from, The Hucklebuck, by The Royal Show-band first heard played on the wireless in Cork City, while on holiday there as a kid, or Winkle-picker Shoes/Hole In The Ground by Bernard Cribbins, to loads of absolutely blinding new stuff by Radiohead, Calexico, Bright Eyes, and the sadly now defunct Stornoway, all of whom I listened to avidly during the recent pandemic.
I’ve a habit, ever since I can remember of cracking tunes reminding me of the places I first heard them (not the date!). For example, I remember as a teenager browsing through record stalls around Electric Avenue in Brixton, searching for blue-beat and ska imports, being blown away on first hearing Swan Lake, by The Cats, wafting off this tinny, tiny little portable record-player, in the middle of a bustling street-market beneath the overhead railway lines. The kind of introduction to a tune, that stays stuck in the mind for ever.
I feel fortunate to have been around when the wireless, as we referred to it, was awash in not only great Dee-Jays who know their stuff, but terrific pirate radio stations, where they served their time at producing wonderful entertainment. I could go on and on…but hey, why not tune in to my soon to be aired first show on…Radio Free Pimlico?
A huge shout goes out to Colin Staplehurst and the crew, for sticking at it, in bringing this new station to air. Those of us in the know, know t’was touch and go at times there!
Stay sage. Bode well.
Peace. Love, and Understanding.
Kev.