Thameside Radio Revisited

A classic Thameside show. There is great music and the jingles archive has been resucitated.

Bob Edwards phones up some listeners including Margaret from Brooklands College. Dave tells us about a bit of "SFX" which was was a music magazine published on cassette - what we'd call a podcast now! There's also has a very obscure Billy Connoly B-side.He spots the similarity beteen "The Pappadom Song" by The RJ Wagsmith band, "Toast" by Paul Young and "Car 67" remember those?

Dave (The Intrepid Birdman) is in fine form. There's the first of Dave's short stories about Al Puck - the character later developed into a major series called "Return to the House of Puck".He also does a full over the top production on one of Mazzy's letters!

And just before the end of the show - Thameside Radio is raided again by the DTI.

Loads of letters this week including ones for Thameside Radio listeners in Queen Mary College. John Shakespeare. Richard Pomford. Bamber in Bristol. Students at City Univerity.

Welcome back to a regular podcasting service for Thameside Radio fans.

To keep one step ahead of the DTI who were having a crackdown on radio pirates the Thameside Radio 90.2 crew were changing transmitters during the show. Again there were losts of chances for the listeners to meet the presenters as they had the traditional Thameside firworks around London. Dave (The Intrepid Birdman) was in Harrow on the hill. Sarah from Kew was on Richmond Green (not too far to travel then!).

Thanks for all the emails asking about the shows. There are a lot more to go.

An Intrepid Birdman show from the Thameside Radio 90.2 archives.

One hour with Bob Edwards from the 1978. Confusingly the competition has the Radio Invicta theme tune in it. Many dedications - just a few here: Tony Harrison , Andrew Dolginski, Derek Astell, Montana Red, Roadrunners Trucking in Harrow, Sarah Costell.

Maybe the estimate of 20,000 listeners for Thameside Radio 90.2 really was too low.

There is a problem in the the first part of this recording with short wave interference - it does disappear after the first hour. Dave opens the show: The Thameside Radio 90.2 4th birthday on 13th December gets a lot of plugs. Bob phones out to Richard Baldwyn who was at the last birthday and is coming to the next one. Mark was off sick so Jim did the band interview with 4TFZ. Bob also phones out to a listener called Wolfie (who is 13).The Intrepid Birdman Show is its usual high standard. Wild, whacky, thought provoking and he is still playing the Portsmouth Symphonia. Oh and there arethe Duracell adverts. Denise (secretary of the The Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society) now has badges and has a fact sheet available. Dave reads out a letter with a rumour that Sarah is Bob Edward's sister, Tony is his brother and Dave is his dad - what can I say? I wonder if I should split these podcasts between Bob and Dave? What do you think? Thameside Radio 90.2 dedications for Richard Baldwyn, Tony Fletcher, Mazzy sends in a 3 part poem that the team read out, Wealdstone College of Technology, 9th Wembley Venture Scouts, Les Keely, Alan Dolby.

Back to the 80's. One of the evenings where Thameside Radio 90.2 changed transmition sites throughout the show so reception quality varies. Still it kept the DTI away! Also some of the Bob Edwards show is missing from the recording. Sarah was at a halloween party till 6 am the previous night! When did she do her homework? She out a poem written by a listener called "It's a Typical Day". There is also a big plug for Rudi who have a single called "When I was Dead". Mark is in Ealing Broadway giving away tickets for Acellerator in concert at Ronnie Scotts. Bob is trying to give away a kitten! Everyone is looking forward to the Thameside Radio boat trip.A hung over Intrepid Birdman has some amazing new jingles and a funky new version of the Thameside Radio theme at the start of his show. (Do you know who recorded them - I never did find out. Please email or comment.) He also plays the Sir Henry & His Butlers - Rolo sensation which is weird. More new Thameside 90.2 listeners: Richard Baldwyn of Feltham, Stephen Garstang, Surbiton High School, Tiffin School, Jamming Fanzine (who are writing an article on Thameside), Tony Fletcher, Rough Trade Records, Dave Cutcliffe

More from 1978 with Bob Edwards and Tony Lloyd. This follows the 4 hour spectacular extended birthday broadcast http://media.libsyn.com/media/fmthen/Thameside_781199a.mp3. Thameside Birthday Cake being offered as a prize. They have a phone out competition. Bob plays a bootleg of Brown Sugar with Eric Clapton on guitar. We all now get our choice of music streamed on the Internet, using Spotify or over DAB this was broadcast just 4 years after the first ever independent FM radio station was launched in the UK. We all still thought that listening to a non-BBC station was pretty exciting - and then along came Thameside Radio 90.2 Actually it was only 8 years after the launch of any radio station in London (BBC Radio London - thanks Wikipedia). So the idea and the technology were still very new.More Thameside Radio listeners: Terry Williams; Ron Calston; Arian Leaper for the John Lyon school; Martin Crew of Se22 from Exeter University; Andy Feely; The Barry Banson Appreciation Society; J D Deam; Dave Williamson of Hendon ; Tim Radford of Uxbridge who found out about Thameside Radio 90.2 when he saw a car sticker; Patrick Kingholm of Winchmore Hill; Bob Tree; Malcolm McIntyre;

Back to April 1978. Thameside Radio 90.2 is only 6 months old and a very young sounding Bob presents a one hour show. Tony Lloyd reads the news. Last week was an extended broadcast with Tony doing the second hour. Debbie is taking calls. (What happened to Debbie the Phone Girl?) Dave from the BBC is in the studio as well as a photographer and listener Simon Wallace. Loads of mentions and dedications. Many of them say that it's the the first time they have tuned in to Thameside Radio 90.2: Here are some that had surnames or additional information so might pop up if they're Googled - there a many more mentions on the recording: Downtown of Romford, Roger Scott from Epsom for his wife Linda and children Tristan and Lucinda, Steve Tarling fron Surrey University, Neal Oldfield of Appleton, Paul searle of Upminster for the 1st Boys Brigade, Steve Pagnall of Greenford, Alan Cooper of Edgware, Bernard O'Brien of Hainault, Kevin Keele, Tony and Kim Chiffey and Stephen Cruikshank.

A 3 hour recording. The station is still changing transmitter every hour. This show includes Bob Edwards, Dave Birdman and Sarah from Kew.Bob plays a whole side of "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd and tells us that his car has sprung a leak so he got a wet posterior when going to a party with Sarah (but "not in that way").Sarah is back with her dedications show at 8pm. Many many new sketches from Dave Birdman throughout Bob and Dave's shows - one comparing Thameside 90.2 to other radio stations like you compare washing powders. Dave also plays the wonderful Portsmouth Symphonia and tells us about The Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society pub crawl - which he didn't make it to!The music this week is pretty eclectic - it includes Joy Division, Kraftwerk, Saxon, Pink Floyd, Tom Lehrer and the Sex Pistols.Thameside Radio listeners mentioned include Renata, John Simmons for everyone on the CND rally yesterday, The gang of five, Thick as Thieves, November Criminals, Andy Cooper, John Shakespeare, Ian Hobbs, The operators at Castle House Exchange including Mrs Herne and Pam Roxborough from Michael Champion.

The Thameside Radio crew changed transmitter locations 43 minutes in to the show so that there wasn't enough time for the DTI to track the broadcast transmitter down. This was the first time they had done this. Bob tells us about the upcoming 4th birthday party on a boat on the Thames on the 13th December. (It was amazing) Also the Broadway Blues Band are going to play a Thameside Radio benefit gig soon. The first part of a full 3 hour show. Do you have the later part recorded somewhere? Full 3 hour podcasts will resume shortly!