Radio WestRadio West
"The music you want, the information you need"
"Radio West for you"
238m, 1260kHz, 96.3FM
| Beginnings | Early Programmes | Problems in 1982 | |
| October 1983 | Stability and expansion | Greater Wiltshire Radio | Closedown Pictures |
| Sounds | A personal view | Radio West People | My home page |
Updated 23 August 2007
West's 25th anniversary took place on 27 October 2006...
Radio West won the Independent Local Radio
franchise for Bristol after a hard battle - in fact, Radio West was the on-air
name chosen after a merger of two groups, Radio Avonside and Bristol Channel.
The name was chosen after several years of free publicity from the BBC - Radio
West was the fictional local radio station in the series "Shoestring".
Chris Yates from Radio 210 became the first Managing Director, and the legendary
Dave Cash was hired as Programme Controller. The station moved into new studios in the
Watershed complex in Bristol and, after months of preparation and tests, the
station went on the air at just before 6 a.m. on 27 October 1981. Hear the
opening here.
The first
Breakfast Show was presented by Nino Firetto, who just used "Nino" as his
on-air name. Daytime programmes were presented by John Hayes (9:30 a.m.), Bryan
Chalker (1:20 p.m.) and Dave Glass (4 p.m.). At lunchtime, there were 20 minutes
of news in West at One. After Dave's show, more local news was featured in West
Tonight at 6:30 p.m. and then at 7:15 p.m. speech programmes under the generic
title of Feedback. Specialist music was aired at 8 p.m. and then at 9 p.m. Late
Night West was presented by Ray Edwards. In the first hour, a variety of
special-interest groups, such as ethnic communities and students, were featured. The station closed down at
midnight. Weekend programmes included The People's Chart
(chosen by phone votes) on Saturdays at 9 a.m. and on Sundays "Big Hits,
Odd Bits and Oldies", presented by Dave Cash, at 11 a.m. Later on Sunday,
the station featured a weird mixture of programmes and styles, although this was
quite common on ILR at the time. At 4 p.m. rustic music introduced a "Down
Your Way" type programme, "Our Village". Then at 4:30 p.m. Dave
Luck presented the UK Top Twenty. At 5:30 p.m. it was drama in "The Last
Rose of Summer", a science fiction series, and then at 6 p.m. in the
tradition of the time, Chris Yates presented a classical music programme. At 8
p.m. the station looked at the local arts scene in Western Arts, and then at 9
p.m. it was time for the news documentary Decision Makers. From 9:30 p.m. to
midnight, Tooki Garrett, the station's librarian, entertained late-night
listeners with quality music in "A Little Touch of Tooki in the
Night". See the complete original schedule here.
The music played on the station was diverse to say the least. Mainstream pop featured strongly in the breakfast and mid-morning shows, but in the afternoon Bryan Chalker, who had been a researcher on Dave Cash's "Cash Country" show on Capital Radio, played a great deal of country music, and Dave Glass played lots of good-quality British and American AOR on his drivetime show. Ray's Late Show concentrated on soul. The station also had a large recording studio, which they planned to make us of in recording session material from local bands, which would be used as part of the mainstream music output.
Nino Firetto lasted six weeks on breakfast before being shunted abruptly to the weekends, where his "Nino's Gang" on Saturday and Sunday mornings began to make quite an impact on the area's pre-teens. He was replaced by weekend breakfast host Mark Stevens. The Falklands War saw the station extending its opening hours to 1 a.m. The DJs seemed to be having fun, audience response seemed good and the station made a profit in its first year on air. Alas, it was the last!
The first official JICRAR figures proved to be rather a shock for the station. Its weekly reach figure of 30% and share of 13.2%, although excellent by today's standards, was one of the lowest in the ILR network at the time, and locally the station was being beaten by both Radio One (share 26.1%) and the BBC local station Radio Bristol (16.9%). The main problems with the output seemed to be the absence of any direction in the music policy and some rather overenthusiastic "meaningful speech" in the daytime programmes.
Fairly radical changes
were made in autumn 1982, with the arrival of Johnnie Walker. With the prospect
of the return of Radio Caroline, Johnnie had returned home from the US, but
found himself working in ILR for the next five years. Johnnie started presenting
an evening alternative music and discussion show called "Modern
World". Meanwhile, the station's management started making changes to the
breakfast show. Presenter Mark Stevens scurried back to the weekend as a rolling
news format was introduced, with updates every ten minutes - or so it seemed!
Dave Cash himself became the show's presenter - but only for a few months.
The next set of JICRAR figures were a disaster for
the station. Although average hours had improved, both reach and overall share
had dropped, the reach to a disastrous 26%. By February 1983, Chris Yates had
left the station, later being replaced by John Bradford as MD, and Dave Cash had
quit as programme controller, although he did present a few more Sunday shows
until Capital Radio gave him "his old gig back". The Head of News,
Mike Stewart, took over as Programme Controller, and Roger Day joined from BRMB
in Birmingham as Head of Music and Presentation. Roger tightened up the music
output of the station and introduced - a playlist! A new jingle package arrived
(a rather badly-sung version of a TM package called Airworks - hear a jingle here)
although the original jingles continued to be used alongside, and important programme changes
were made. John Hayes moved to breakfast and Roger Day took over the mid-morning
show. Johnnie Walker took on a lunchtime show while continuing with a shortened
Modern World, which lost its discussion elements. Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. a
speech block was introduced, with programmes on local politics and religion, as
well as the innovative computer programme "Datarama". Bryan Chalker
moved from his afternoon show into late nights. By this time, many presenters
who were later to become very familiar voices were with the station - Trevor Fry
had been presenting for some time, while Paul Phear took over from Trevor on the
Sunday Late Show in the summer of 1983. See the complex Spring 1983
schedule here.
By October 1983 it had become obvious that the changes had done little to boost the audience figures, while adding significantly to the programming costs of the station, which was just not generating enough advertising revenue to survive. Centre Radio in Leicester had gone bankrupt, and soon after Radio West announced losses of a third of a million pounds, the decision was taken to concentrate remaining resources on the daytime period. The station reduced its hours, and began to close down at 7:30 p.m. Just before the change, John Bradford sacked presenter Dave Glass, and Johnnie Walker was tempted away by an enormous salary offer from Wiltshire Radio. A reshuffle saw Pete Reeves join as the new drive-time presenter, Roger Day take on breakfast, Trevor Fry move to his long-running Morning Show and John Hayes replace Johnnie in the afternoon, but soon afterwards, John left to join Essex Radio.
The station entered 1984 with its future far from
assured, and became a much tighter and more mainstream ILR station. A new David
Arnold jingle package arrived in January, which tightened up the station sound
considerably: hear a jingle here. The station's
March 1984 programme schedule can be seen here. Pete
Reeves left the station soon afterwards. Roger Day also left to take up a management position at
Invicta Sound in Kent, and was replaced on breakfast by Tom Clapton from Mercia
Sound. Similarly, Mike Stewart left to become Programme Controller at the new
Radio Broadland in Norwich, and was replaced as "Programme Organiser"
by Mark Seaman from Metro Radio. Although audience figures failed to move very
much, by September the station felt confident enough about its financial
position to extend its hours, and once again started to close down at 1 a.m.
Nino Firetto presented the new evening show, and Andy Westgate joined from
Severn Sound to present a new Late Show, which contained a phone-in element. The
station's new programme schedule for Autumn 1984 can be seen here.
Although obviously a much-improved station, Radio West was still not making money, and up the road at Wiltshire Radio, which had made considerable profits in its first few years, Ralph Bernard was already planning expansion. In May 1985, Radio West announced that the two stations planned to "merge", and offer services under the name "GWR". Hear the first GWR promo here.
Although the programming plans for the new service were not revealed until just
before Radio West finally closed, presenters started leaving, and it became
obvious that what GWR had in mind for Bristol was an opt-out from the main
Wiltshire service. Tom Clapton left in August, and Nino Firetto left at about
the same time, to pursue a career in children's TV. By the last few weeks on
air, Andy Westgate was on breakfast, and some exchanges had taken place with
Wiltshire Radio: for example, Dave Bowen appeared on the lunchtime show. Finally, Ralph Bernard appeared on the
late-night phone-in programme, to explain the format of the new station. Only
Trevor Fry retained his slot, although his show was reduced to two hours. Paul Phear was shunted into the middle of the
night, Mark Seaman's regular programme became a one-hour afternoon Tradio-type show, Andy Westgate was given a
drive-time show for West Wiltshire (the separate West Wiltshire programmes were
dropped six weeks after GWR began, due to "poor reception") and all
West's specialist programmes, including the award-nominated classical music
programme and Datarama, were summarily dropped, either completely or in favour
of their equivalents on Wiltshire Radio. The Watershed studios would broadcast
eight hours a day of their own programmes, with the remaining output being
networked from Wootton Bassett.
So, on Sunday 8 September 1985, Radio West closed
down. The last day contained many interesting retrospectives, including
favourite records chosen by members of the team, a "Final Hour", and
some well-chosen words. The first, and last, record was "Ain't No Stopping
Us Now" by McFadden and Whitehead. Hear the final closedown here.
To promote a "fresh start" for the new service and to allow the studios in the Watershed to be rebuilt, the next three weeks consisted of rather ghostly tests of non-stop music, interspersed with promos for the new station, and local and national news.
Closedown Pictures (Thanks to Chris Napier for these)
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A sombre Mark Seaman gets ready to make the last announcement |
A thoughtful Trevor Fry |
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Rather happier looks! From left to right: Paul Riley, Bill Sims, Chris Napier and Andy Fox |
The sounds are in MP3 format. If I have inadvertently breached any copyright laws, may I offer my apologies - let me know, and I shall remove the sounds. These are all quite large MP3 files, to preserve the quality. Thanks to Julian Watson who sent me some new clips in July 2007.
Test transmissions
New! Test transmission, October 1981. Authority Announcement by Dave Glass
New! Test transmission, October 1981. The voice is Dave Glass, but who is Michael Campbell?
Opening and Closing
Opening of Radio West, Tuesday 27 October 1981
Mark Seaman on the Light Lunch, Friday 6 September 1985
Richard Evans concludes the last West at One, Friday 6 September 1985
Mark Seaman closes the station, Sunday 8 September 1985
Commercials
Relive the 80s with this Topol Smokers' Toothpolish commercial (1984/5)
A commercial from early West. It might be at 1979 prices, but did you really want an Allegro?
Another commercial. Think of warmth...think of Fishponds?
Another commercial. Your first house...at what price? Well, it was in Warmley
Jingles - First package (1981)
Make it love (?), make it strong
The original theme. "Make it fine, make it good..."
New! Julian Watson sends me this (annoying) music bed from early West. 2 3 8 - Check it out!
Jingles - Second package (TM Airworks, 1983)
Jingles - Third package (David Arnold, 1984)
David Arnold in folksy mood! No matter where you go...
David's magnificent news intro. "It's eight o'clock. Radio West News, this is Richard Evans..."
Conclude your news bulletin with this equally magnificent news outro
Paul Phear uses the news jingle on his Sunday afternoon Top Thirty, Sunday 18 March 1984
The shape of things to come
The first GWR promo on Radio West, summer 1985. "You know all these people..."
There are more sounds on the "Radio West People" page.
The pictures above are stolen from various other web sites - again, I hope their owners do not mind! It is perhaps interesting to note that all but two of the pictures on this page come from the BBC. Please view, and listen to, this site in the spirit in which it is intended - a celebration of radio in general, and in particular of what was, for me, a very special station.
When Radio West began, I was seventeen, and when it closed, I was twenty-one. Young men of my age were supposed to be listening to Radio One, but I found the family atmosphere of Radio West far more appealing than the overbearing celebrity style of the national BBC network. The station introduced me to a host of recording artists that Radio One would never play, such as Stephen Bishop and Peter Allen. Presenters like Dave Glass, Trevor Fry, Mark Seaman and Paul Phear were approachable and real in a way that Mike Read, Simon Bates and Steve Wright never could be. John Bradford once told me that if a new listener gives your station fifteen minutes, then you are lucky. So it was a pity that it made such fundamental mistakes with the music policy at the beginning - otherwise it still might be there today, as "West FM" perhaps. How different the history of radio could have been!
Here's
the cover of a book written for children, "The Local Radio Station".
It shows the wild and wacky Watershed in autumn 1982. Unfortunately, my scanner
would not co-operate in producing more images from the book (so we cannot see, among other things, a young and very
hairy Trevor Fry in the studio).