Monitor

Bulletin boards, non stop hits.

Telephone Talk

Chris England dials into the latest radio news services.

The fact is that Radio Today is produced totally by a computer. Well, with a small amount of help from Steve Hamley, of course. The computer stores all the information about what appears where, the typeface, the places where the pictures go, etc., etc. Only when the final layout is finished do we get to see an actual printed version of the magazine.

This is fully understood by people like Steve, who are young and, I suspect, run from a battery pack, but us olduns find it a bit confusing. Even more confusing is the fact that computers can actually get on the phone to each other and chat.

Obviously, you need equipment to interface your computer to the telephone line, but once all that is set up, you just press a key and things start happening.

One Saturday, I was sitting in the Radio Today office, when Steve, the Editor, had to leave the room in a hurry.

He'd left the computer on, and temptation got the better of me. Hoping he'd not notice I pressed an auto dial key, and the computer automatically connected itself to a telephone line and dialled 01-761 XXXX.

The screen in front of me told me that my (or at least Steve's) computer had now connected to `Alternative Viewdata', a computer run by Direct Line Radio. Apparently, anybody with a computer capable of speaking over the phone can dial 'Alternative Viewdata'.

The screen listed a number of options which I could take by pressing different keys. It looked very similar to Ceefax or Oracle on the television. `P' would take me to 'Piratel', so, half looking over my shoulder to see if Steve had returned from his problem with last night's curry, I pressed `P'.

Well, what can I say. There, on the screen in front of me, were lists of all the stations that could be heard in and around London. There was news, comment, and page after page of information.

Some of the information seemed not too up to date, but there were stories about Tony Blackburn, Caroline's mast, and the latest on radio in London. The whole service is edited by Danny T, from Direct Line Radio. At certain times of the day you can 'page' him via the computer, and he'll pick up the phone for a chat.

There is also an area where you can write what you think about radio, ask questions, or make comments, for other callers to read and make comments on. If you wish you can type electronic 'letters' to other radio enthusiasts. And, all from your home computer.

I was just in the middle of typing a message about how I hated one of the dejays on RFM, when in walked Mr Hamley. He was as surprised to see me playing on the computer, as I was to see him wearing a different pair of trousers.

He explained that a lot of computer enthusiasts had set up 'Bulletin Boards' for anybody to ring up and connect to, and 'Alternative Viewdata' were the first to provide a free service for free radio enthusiasts. I was impressed!

Then I wondered out loud why Radio Today didn't provide a similar service, but Steve bowed his head and mumbled that his computer was not too good at that sort of thing, but Radio Today would be using a vastly superior machine to provide a similar service from April 1988.

He showed me a test version of the Radio Today 'Bulletin Board' by dialling 01-509 XXXX. It didn't look as pretty as 'Piratel', but was full of information about the next issue of Radio Today.

So, if you're into all this computer stuff, I suggest you give both a ring sometime, and let us know what you think. You could leave Radio Today Electronic Mail on its own board.

I am considering purchasing my first calculator soon. That'll prove to Hamley I'm not scared of modern technology.

Hit Me!

Ken North tunes in to Hits FM

One of London's most popular pirates that doesn't play soul music is Hits FM. The station began last autumn and although its format is oldies based, surprisingly its DJs are mostly in their twenties.

Tim Stewart is one of the jocks behind Hits FM. He stakes his claim as one of the youngest ever fans of the pirates 'When I was five I was tuning around on a medium wave radio and heard Radio Northsea International. Later I started listening to the landbased pirates, like Radio Jackie, whilst at school.'

He moved to the other side of the dial in 1986, working on Short Wave station Radio Sovereign. 'It was a one-man show, I used the name Tim Stevens at the time. We had loads of letters, including one from a certain Jay Jackson who asked me to change the name of the station. I then met up with Tim Allen and Duck International was born.'

From there he moved via several stations to Hits, helping to mold its format of classic oldies from the sixties and seventies. He was in the original line-up when the station launched one mild Saturday last September.

Hits FM's audience is rapidly growing, pulling in a wide range of listeners. 'We get an amazing response. A lot of people like us and we get loads of phone calls.' There's no hurry for expansion though, 'We'll just see how things go' comments Tim.