Thameside Radio Revisited

It’s a sunny day and everyone has been at the Barnes Common fair. Dave Birdman returned from holiday in Spain – his show was looked after by Alex and then The Curly Man while he was away. He makes up for his absence by playing lots of great jingles, looking for a new tag line for the show and finishes by fiddling with the “Do you ever have difficulty” jingle after the show finishes. During the week Bob drove through a riot in Southall - see photo… People throwing bricks, police with riot shields. Remember then? Has anything changed?We hear about Fireball (who have had their demo played by Thameside) plaing a concert at St Benedict’s school hall in Long Lane Hillingdon. They are supported by Alexandria. I remember both those demos – Fireball’s Chinese Takeaway was very catchy and Alexandria were definitely anthemic. Whatever happened to them? Bob also tells us that this week Radio 1 are running a series called “25 years of Rock”. That would be over 50 years of Rock now…The third fast food sees Alex taking the listeners to Mcarthurs in Barnes – who are rude and serve disappointing food. They’re closed now. Next week the Thameside Radio fast food survey comes from Huckleberries in Oxford Street.The Curlyman appears after his stint as a DJ with dedications from listeners who called his phone line.The week following this show Thameside broadcast live from a picnic in Hyde Park.

Mentions for: Francesca, Giles Farrow, Putney Park, Shan Hilling, Saxon Militia at Kendall Rise Studios in Nottingham, Steve Scribbler, Andy Cooper, John Brennan, Mazzy’s friends at her party, Dave Booth, Paul Reynolds, John and Brian Gording (Goulding?), Mrs Atkinson, Richard Jeffries, Mrs R Williams, John Aird School.

The Interpid Birdman presents the last two hours of this extended Thameside Radio broadcast from the Summer of 1982. He has lots of unlikely sounding police reports.

Of course with the Birdman the show isn't over till it's over. Keep listening after the official end of the show.

Part 3 or 3

Paul James says "goodbye" to Thameside Radio for the next 3 months as he is going to work on "The Voice of Peace" in Israel.

Bob plays songs from a demo tape by the Mystics who use "a lot of new electronic equipment" to quote Bob. There aren't many demos that have stuck in my mind since the early 80's - but this is one of them. The first track starts 48 minutes in, the second is 1h30m, third at 1h59m. Band members include Dave Booth, Sandra Cook, Dave Newson, Yvonne Carns, Nick Hogarth, Gavin Blair Watson.

The band come in to the studio and tell us a bit more about who does what. Whatever happened to the Mystics?

Mentions for: Mike of Chalfont, Paul Marshall, The Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society, Mazzy Margaret, John Brennan, Ian Bell, Bob Gower, Cindy of Ealing, Mothball, Hairy Pete, Dave Booth, Gary Williams, Colin Pratt.

Part 2 of 3 of this extended broadcast

Paul James and Dave Birdman take the first two hours. The authorities had been chasing the Thameside Radio crew for the previous few shows, but they weren't out this evening so the Thameside crew extended the broadcast to 1am.

Part 1 of 3

Nice to hear from Ian Stewart (who is also the Thameside Radio engineer) who takes the first hour while Paul James is on holiday in the south of France. His show is followed by The Intrepid Birdman.

Sadly the transmitter knew that the engineer wasn’t paying it full attention and started having problems with the PLL circuit – so the transmission finishes early.

Part 2 of this broadcast from the Summer of 1982. Bob Edwards tells us that Thameside Radio is now the most powerful and longest running pirate station in London.

He also mentions that that “the good news that we’ve nearly got them in the Falkland Islands”.

Listeners letters include: Jeff Dawkins E2 Bethnal Green. The Mathematics department at University College London. North London Polytechnic Law students. Nick Doherty in Elgin Road. Listeners at the BBC.

Paul James and The Intrepid Birdman host the first two hours of this four hour broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2.

Paul tells us all about the difficulties of doing exams (he’s doing his exams at the moment too) and plays the sax solo from “Will You” by Hazel O’Connor for Rosalind – one of the behind the scenes people who help keep Thameside going.

The Birdman tries to finish a little early so Bob Edwards can start on time.

Bouncing Bob Edwards presenets the second half of this broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2 VHF.

Paul James and Dave "the Intrepid Birdman" from the summer of 1982.

Part one of a 4 hour Thameside Radio show.

Because of problems with the power supply (it had been lent out and not returned on time!) for the first 45mins the transmitter was powered by a car battery with charger across so there is some background hum.

Alex (photo) takes over for the last hour as Dave is on holiday.

The first of the fast food surveys comes from McDonalds in Hammersmith where listeners decide that the boxes are more tasty than the burgers!

This is a 3 hour show put together from two separate recordings: The recording of Bob's show has some of the the music edited to fit onto a C90 but Alex's show is complete. Alex has a cast of thousands in the studio including: Buzby, Hilly, Natty, Bamber, Aidan and Chris - who all tell us why they listen to Thameside Radio.