Talkback

Christopher England with your letters, comments and questions

Left out

I purchased the last two copies of your magazine from the Virgin Megastore and I found the articles quite interesting. But, what's all this interest in Clockwork Wireless? How can they be so good when they are only on the air for 2 hours each week. I have tried to listen to the station but all I can hear is RJR. Most stations on the air in London play black music. In issue 16 you gave no programme details at all about RJR, Fresh, Time, Traffic Jam or Sky? Have you got something against these stations?

Lee Jones, London N4

Radio Today can only ever present in depth articles about the stations who are willing to be interviewed, and out of those we try to concentrate our efforts on the stations trying to provide something original or different. This way we can highlight the lesser known stations, rather than printing similar articles to the black music press, who are always going on about the more well known stations. As for programme details, what we print depends on what the stations have let us know, and that ever present problem of the lack of space. We certainly have nothing against any particular station, and always try to be as impartial as possible. If you are particularly interested in more about a particular station, why not compose an article for this magazine, yourself? We'd be pleased to print it...

Famous names

I've been wondering about the New York 11518 address of Radio Caroline for some time. I can't believe the station is so famous in New York that the American Post Office can deliver letters to such a limited address. Or is '11518' some sort of private mailbox like British Monomarks who do the BM and BCM boxes in London. Also, do you know how many people work in Caroline's New York office? Do they sell airtime direct to religious organisations or do they use an agency? What else do they do? I hope you can answer some of my questions.

Nicholas Pitt, Reading,

What's Radio Caroline? No, seriously, you are right about the address being a special mailing facility in New York. No one over there has heard of Caroline either. As for the New York office, there's an official answer, or a true answer to that question. Suffice to say that the `office' is quite big, and always has plenty of activity, especially on the phones. This causes a problem for the smooth running of whatever other business may or may not be there as well. The religious programmes come direct from America, booked with a little effort on all sides of the pond. Obviously, walls have ears, Nick, so `Nuff Said. Nearly forgot, £10 to you for the star letter.

Informed view

I'd like to know why you're so interested in these land based black music stations. I mean, are you some sort of left wing organisation? All you seem to be interested in is black stations like all this VHF/FM rubbish. The only decent ones are RFM and Radio Caroline. There's no need to mention any others because most people don't even listen to them. So obviously you're pretty uninformed, and I'm not uninformed in case you're thinking otherwise. No one wants those stations on the air and only fools listen to them...

Anonymous, London.

When I read your accusation that Radio Today may well be part of some left wing organisation, my false black moustache fell off. I clicked my heels, and strode over to the editor's desk, greeted him with a ``Heil Stephen'', and asked him. ``Neit, nein, nicht'', he said as he whipped my face with his black leather glove, and spat onto my uniform.

So, we're not part of any political organisation. Neither are the vast majority of the radio stations we write about. Certainly, I can see no connection between black music and the left! We report about a lot of black music stations, simply because there ARE a lot of black music stations. Please do contact us again after your next frontal labotomy...

Getting involved

I am writing to you to see if you can give me any advice. A friend of mine who gets Radio Today thought you would be the right person to contact. A little about myself. My name is Richard and I've just returned home from Israel where I've been working as a presenter on the Voice of Peace which was a great experience. Before working on the VOP I was involved with Hospital Radio (Charing X) for a year and a half and also a mobile disco a friend and I set up. Now that I've returned to London I would love to carry on working in radio. Looking though Radio Today, I realised that in London there are a lot of pirate radio stations and I would love to get involved. Because they're pirates it's very difficult to find any information concerning them and thought maybe you could help. Maybe you would know the way I could go about finding the information I need, so I could send my tape off to them. Can you help?

Richard, Leyton E10

Your best bet Richard is to concentrate your efforts on getting together a really brilliant audition tape, and sending copies of that off to the legal stations in this country. That way, you'd get paid if you got a job. If that fails, then go to Ireland or to Italy or France where the laws are less rigid about unlicensed radio operation. Only as a last resort try to involve yourself in one of the London stations. In most cases, disc jockeys with these stations (the black music stations), are reasonably well-known club deejays, and are well into the music they play. I get the feeling you aren't a well-known club deejay, so you might be wasting valuable drinking time trying to get involved. Besides, it's illegal!

That's all for this time. Don't forget we always welcome your letters and comments on any aspect of radio. Write, phone or now leave us a computer message on 01-509 XXXX.

You could win £10 for the star letter!