I AM A DJ, I AM WHAT I PLAY....
As 1996 dawned, i'd started going to see local bands, having been introduced to a couple through Emma, a woman at work whose boyfriend played guitar in one called Sugar And Lust, an upbeat Lemonheads-esque indie band whose ranks included a lad who'd been a couple of years above me at school, but who i'd always got on with through our mutual love of music. Emma was quite a good laugh and loved her music, and was really the only person at work i liked. Having suggested that i join her in going to see her fellas' band play, i decided it was time to end the drought in my social life, and went along. There were three bands on that night in a Nottingham pub called The Hearty Goodfellows, and although i can't remember the names of the other two, i do remember enjoying the music. Sugar And Lust were pretty good, and whilst they were never going to set the world alight their cheerful manner and obvious enjoyment in playing was infectious. The headlining band were playing a farewell show and ended with a raucous cover of ABCs' "All Of My Heart". I resolved to see more local bands play after that, and followed Sugar And Lust for a while, even writing a letter to the Melody Maker championing them and several other Notts bands. My letter was printed and recieved a sarcastic reply stating that "no bands of any note have ever come out of Nottingham, Our regional office there closed in 1957". Which was true to some degree: there was a 70's pop band called Paper Lace who had a few hits, and an awful cheesy dance act called KWS who basically covered old disco songs to varying degrees of success. It would take another 16 years before anyone from Notts gained national success and acclaim. Not that i was put off: i was quite determined to give these bands some publicity, and writing to the music press was just the start......
Around the beginning of the year, two brothers - local DJ "Jumpin'" Paul Jenner and his businessman brother Steve announced their intention to start a Hucknall radio station, having applied for an RSL (restricted service licence) for a MW frequency. The plan was to do two separate month-long broadcasts before applying for a permanent licence. Having gained the support of local businesses in exchange for advertising (it was a commercial station), they appealed for local aspiring presenters. I jumped at the chance, and after a few meetings i was given the saturday night graveyard slot, midnight till 6am, which given that i had no experience and wanted a non-playlist show, was fine by me. My plan was to get local bands to send me their demo tapes, or come down and play an acoustic session and do an interview. Given that the studio was in the basement of Paul Jenners' home, the only rule was for no-one to turn up pissed, which was swiftly ignored by the lead singer of Storm Clouds, a band heavily inspired by The Jam and Paul Weller. But i'll get to that later. First we had 3 months of studio training, rehearsal shows, meetings, and helping promote the station. The presenters were a good mix of seasoned DJ's, well known local figures - my old P.E. teacher from secondary school, Bob Donnison, was helming the saturday afternoon sports show - and people like me with no experience but who wanted a crack at it. I planned to play a mix of old punk and new wave, recent indie and dance music, along with demos from local talent. My shows were thrown together: no scripts or real solid layout, just me armed with a load of cds and music magazines, and a vague idea of what order things were going to be in. Out of the four shows, the two i had with a band in the tiny, cramped studio were the most enjoyable. A couple of acoustic songs, interspersed with interviews and selections of their favourite music. I remember Sugar And Lusts' lead singer and lead guitarist being quite pleased to be there, despite the late hour the show went out and the likelihood that probably not many people would be listening. The second band were the aforementioned Storm Clouds, who despite their singers' very obvious state of inebriation, managed to play a couple of songs and get through an interview without any cock-ups. Being sat in the studio alone in the wee small hours did get a bit boring towards the end of the show, but i enjoyed it otherwise. In the second month of broadcasting the following March, i bought in a music-loving workmate, with the idea of bringing an element of comedy to the show, having been very inspired by Mark & Lard on Radio 1. It didn't really work out as i had hoped, although we still had a good time. I haven't had another chance to work in radio since, and the Jenners' soon abandoned Hucknall to apply for a licence in Chesterfield (which failed), and now run Peak Radio in Derbyshire. Maybe fate will give me another shot.
I carried on seeing the local bands for another year or so before a change of jobs and working hours put a stop to that. It was an enjoyable three years, and chimed with my musical tastes at the time - i was very much an Indie Kid, and had started to look outside the Top 40 for more interesting music, although quite a lot of great alternative music was still fighting it out with the identikit dance, boybands, and pop fluff.
Around the beginning of the year, two brothers - local DJ "Jumpin'" Paul Jenner and his businessman brother Steve announced their intention to start a Hucknall radio station, having applied for an RSL (restricted service licence) for a MW frequency. The plan was to do two separate month-long broadcasts before applying for a permanent licence. Having gained the support of local businesses in exchange for advertising (it was a commercial station), they appealed for local aspiring presenters. I jumped at the chance, and after a few meetings i was given the saturday night graveyard slot, midnight till 6am, which given that i had no experience and wanted a non-playlist show, was fine by me. My plan was to get local bands to send me their demo tapes, or come down and play an acoustic session and do an interview. Given that the studio was in the basement of Paul Jenners' home, the only rule was for no-one to turn up pissed, which was swiftly ignored by the lead singer of Storm Clouds, a band heavily inspired by The Jam and Paul Weller. But i'll get to that later. First we had 3 months of studio training, rehearsal shows, meetings, and helping promote the station. The presenters were a good mix of seasoned DJ's, well known local figures - my old P.E. teacher from secondary school, Bob Donnison, was helming the saturday afternoon sports show - and people like me with no experience but who wanted a crack at it. I planned to play a mix of old punk and new wave, recent indie and dance music, along with demos from local talent. My shows were thrown together: no scripts or real solid layout, just me armed with a load of cds and music magazines, and a vague idea of what order things were going to be in. Out of the four shows, the two i had with a band in the tiny, cramped studio were the most enjoyable. A couple of acoustic songs, interspersed with interviews and selections of their favourite music. I remember Sugar And Lusts' lead singer and lead guitarist being quite pleased to be there, despite the late hour the show went out and the likelihood that probably not many people would be listening. The second band were the aforementioned Storm Clouds, who despite their singers' very obvious state of inebriation, managed to play a couple of songs and get through an interview without any cock-ups. Being sat in the studio alone in the wee small hours did get a bit boring towards the end of the show, but i enjoyed it otherwise. In the second month of broadcasting the following March, i bought in a music-loving workmate, with the idea of bringing an element of comedy to the show, having been very inspired by Mark & Lard on Radio 1. It didn't really work out as i had hoped, although we still had a good time. I haven't had another chance to work in radio since, and the Jenners' soon abandoned Hucknall to apply for a licence in Chesterfield (which failed), and now run Peak Radio in Derbyshire. Maybe fate will give me another shot.
I carried on seeing the local bands for another year or so before a change of jobs and working hours put a stop to that. It was an enjoyable three years, and chimed with my musical tastes at the time - i was very much an Indie Kid, and had started to look outside the Top 40 for more interesting music, although quite a lot of great alternative music was still fighting it out with the identikit dance, boybands, and pop fluff.
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