Thameside Radio Revisited

Dave takes over from Bob for an extended broadcast and we hear for the first time from Ian the Thameside Radio engineer who takes over from Dave for a while. Hi Ian!

The show finishes early (well just after midnight) because the transmitter was turned off before Dave finished his show.

Part 1 of a live broadcast that went on to midnight. The first two hours are the Bob Edwards show - at the end of the recording Bob hands over to Dave.

Because the pirates were monitoring the radio channels used by the DTI they knew when they were being tracked and when there was no risk.

The Sunday Civil Service overtime payments must have been great for the crews in teh detector vans!

Paul James stands in for Bob. This is the week after another Thameside Radio 90.2 party from Shepherds Bush. (The recording of that show is still being worked on).

Bob Edwards has returned after his long break where Paul James filled in. There is a Thameside party again next week at the Shepherds Bush Village Hall. The station changes site every 30 minutes or so to keep the DTI on their toes. Not for the first time Bob says that Dave sounds miserable on his show!

Dave tells us about taking someone to Covent Garden to get their ear pierced and reads the amazing leaflet they were given.

Bob finally gets to tell us about the funny things inside matchboxes that listeners have sent in. Dave sent Bob a flashing bit of jewellery - a heart with an LED in it. Bob describes the LED as "one of those modern things". Andrew Shepherd of Poplar sent Jelly Babies. Chris Brown sent a fried egg! John of Maidenhead sent a tape of Bob Edward mistakes. Other entries included the secret of life, money, a pair of gerbils feet, some transmitter components, Debbie Harry's phone number (Mark Bramley from Bromley) and a brain pacemaker. The winner was the gerbils feet embedded in resin.

Mark Hawkins of Brentwood wins five singles in the phone competition!

Listening to this broadcast shows how the Thameside Radio 90.2 superbeam easily covered the whole of London. The letters include listeners in Maidenhead, Bromley, Brentwood and Boreham Wood. All lie outside what is now the M25. That's a radius of at least 17 miles: A quick bit of O-level maths shows the Thameside transmitter covered an area of over 900 sq miles. Wow.

For the engineers out there: The photo shows a Thameside Radio transmitter of the time. The audio and power control circitry is in one of the die-cast boxes, the other box houses the driver board (exciter). On the front panel you can just see the meter which can show the DC voltage or audio levels. Switches on the front control power, meter readings and vox settings.

There are more poems for Sarah of Kew and a report on a Genesys concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. One of the new releases is Teen Romance by The Alsatians - who are regular listeners

Dave parodies the Hamlet advert. Remember when you saw cigar adverts on the TV? A lot of superquiz answers too as well as a new one. Simon Tindall (who wants to be a sound engineer) writes asking if he can visit the studio.

The Tony Lloyd fan club writes in to find out what has happened to him and to sell Dave a Tony Lloyd sweatshirt. Tony does appear briefly. (Where are you now Tony? Do email [email protected] or leave a comment here.)

Thameside Radio listeners mentioned include: Jeff (Goeff?) Hawkins for University College. Boris Bartkiw for 6S2 at Latymer Upper School including Steve, Stephen, Petra, Zena of Kenton, Ingrid and everyone else in Kew Gardens. Patricia Hickey for Richard. John Firth of SW7. Anthony Osterwell. John Tenton. Steve Petherich. Markus of NW5. Andy Midsen of Chertsey. John of Boreham Wood, Brian Gording, Marcus Gonzales, Colin Mainu, Warren Stephenson of Chessington, Exeter University. Gary Wilkins of Bromley. Tony Anagranza of East Finchley. Martin Greaves. G S Rocket of Uxbridge. Keith Lang of Petersham.

This recording comes from Radio Eric. I was sent cassettes of the show (along with the previous two) which I had started converting to mp3 when I came across this one so I took the easy solution!

Bob is going to be giving away Easter eggs and having Easter themed events.

There are no letters because Bob forgot to pick them up from 1 Grosvenor Parade W5. (Now a restaurant - at the time it was a printers.) It was a great address because it doesn't appear in the A to Z.

Capital Radio had been giving plugs for Thameside Radio on their "Help a London Child" weekend. I know that at least one of the DJs used to listen regularly because he wrote in. It was Roger Scott I think.

Bob calls Alan Jameson from Hampton who correctly guesses that an egg thrown out of the studio window wouldn't break!

Dave is on the end of the radio mic having a sticky bun fight with the neighbours before having an egg and spoon race live on air with Bob. Dave (The Inrepid Birdman) spends his show throwing raw eggs for Bob to catch. He has a great advert for the "self adjusting door knocker" which makes an appropriate sound for the person who is at your front door! Pirate Radio was such fun!

Mentions for: Psychopath Kiev. John Webb of N5. Steve of Acton. Richard of Hornchurch.

A classic show from Thameside Radio 90.2 - 3 hours with Bouncing Bob Edwards and a final finely crafted hour with the Intrepid Birdman. One of the very early Birdman shows in fact.

Bob tells us that accidents are Freudian - they all have a meaning if you think about them; later we discover he has lost his tortiose: I wonder what that meant?

Bob phones listener Pete (for the mystery voice compettion) who is making a Welsh dresser!

The write in competition this week has a prize for putting something interesting in a matchbox. I think there were some quite unusual entries! We'll find out on next weeks podcast.

Rupert of East Molsey won a prize for knowing that the Intrepid Birdman's favourite Spangles were the black ones. Someone proposes to Sarah from Kew in verse.

Dave plays outtakes from an interview in the Laseraruim where Bob chatted with the laserist Howard Sachs. (The Laserium was a music and laser show at the London Planetarium). The superquiz is still fiendishly difficult. You'll have to listen...

Mentions also for Marcus Gonzales, Paul Turtil, Mark Hawkins, Radio Caroline, Ian of Ickenham, Paul Cambridge from Catford (who had his Thameside Radio badge stolen), Andrew Bell from Plumstead, Keith Lang, F W Conrad,

I think that this is Thameside's first stereo test transmission.

While the show is still mono the opening and closing "do you ever have difficulty" jingles are remixed and in stereo. I wonder how they did that?

Paul James has a brand new Beatles spot. It's very hot in the studio and he assures us that Sarah is reading the dedications with her clothes off. (In our dreams!) Sarah mentions (amongst others) Thameside listeners at Hammersmith Hospital, Windy Miller, snoopy, cupcake, the copycats club, Robin Holbert.

As well as more ILR outtakes Dave has CB dedications for Red Rooster, Blue Wheeler and Orange Club in the Rayners Lane area. He also talks about Steve Walsh from Radio Invicta (another fine London pirate) who is advertising Svenson hair weaving in the local press.

Thameside always had amazing birthday parties. But this had to be the best. Bob presented to first section from the studio - the second half was presented by Dave with Alex live from a boat filled with listeners sailing up and down the Thames. So Thameside Radio 90.2 holds the record for the first pirate radio broadcast from inshore waters!

The weather was so snowy we had to leave from Kingston Pier rather than Richmond Pier. The captain really didn't believe that anyone wanted to have a boat party in the mid winter in such attrocious conditions. Then he headed upstream away from Brentford where the main transmitter was located. We worried about losing the link signal between the boat and the main site but couldn't exactly explain to him why it was so important that we went towards Brentford, especially as it was dark, cold, snowy and there was absolutely nothing for the passengers to to see. He turned round though - thank goodness.

An unforgettable evening.

Many many thanks to Radio Eric for the recording (I'm pretty sure it's from their archives originally)

The first part of the show is presented by Bob Edwards from the studio. The second part, hosted by Paul James, was recorded earlier that evening at the Thameside Radio 90.2 party in the Shepherds Bush Village Hall.