IanI was listening to talk radio one morning this week and the discussion turned to old radio shows. This took me back to a time when, assuming you had a TV at all, there was nothing on during the day apart from test transmissions and the radio was king.
As a family we would sit down to lunch at a weekend, turn on the Roberts radio (it had a spinner on the bottom if I remember correctly, so you could angle it towards you) and listen to Two Way Family Favourites with various presenters including Sarah (Bunty) Kennedy from Singapore. I can still sing the theme tune (With a Song In My Heart). This was followed by an hour of comedy with shows like The Clitheroe Kid, Round The Horn and The Navy Lark and I bet a lot of you will remember the catchphrases from the shows.
I remember these meals with a huge dollop of fondness and they cemented a love of radio in me that is still with me to this day. I still listen to far more radio than I watch TV.
As a young teenager I had an old valve radio in my bedroom on top of the wardrobe. On this I used to listen to Radio Luxemburg in the evening. The music fading in and out as the ionosphere did its stuff did not bother me at all; this was music gold to me. The only other thing that came close was Pick Of The Pops, which my sister and I used to listen to religiously. For some reason, we used to sit in the airing cupboard to listen to it. To this day I am not sure how that started but it was above the hot water tank in my bedroom, had shelves to sit on and was warm and dark. Fluff Freeman was required listening!
So many radio memories come to mind as I write. Sing Something Simple was another show that we listened to as a family. The Cliff Adams Singers would gently sing melodic and popular songs that we could all sing along with. The Billy Cotton Bandshow was another. Wakey Waaakkkey!
I am sure all of you will have similar memories of radio in years gone by. To my mind radio has much better pictures. I love listening to Radio 4 Extra with its wonderful plays. Somehow listening to Inspector Morse on the radio is better than watching it on the TV.
I hope this has rekindled some memories and I would love to hear them!
Ian
