Good Vibrations & More…..

My career as a DJ began in my hometown of Margate , purely by chance, an appearance on a TV show called “Pop the Question” hosted by Muriel Young (go on, who remembers her?), led to being offered the Wednesday night DJ slot at the Dreamland Ballroom in Margate. I was still working as an accountant during the day but after a while I realised I was having a great time DeeJaying and that I could actually do this! On my 21st birthday I went along to one of the Radio London live sessions in London and spotted Dave Cash at the bar. Being a cheeky young sod, I told him I was a DJ and how about a job on the boat? Having zilch radio experience, that was a “no” but he mentioned there was a new station opening called “Swinging Radio England” and they were interviewing at the Hilton. I went straight round and later that night got offered a job - lucky or what? That was in May 1966 and I presented one of the evening programs until the station folded six months later. download a short clip of my 6-10pm show on Radio Swinging England. Next thing I knew, I was being offered a job on Radio Caroline - my dream job as I’d wanted to work on the ship (I thought that was just so glamorous) since I first heard it. During my time at Caroline I presented various shows including the Breakfast Show and the American Hot 100 Show, both terrific programs with huge followings. Whilst at Caroline, I was voted Top Broadcaster in the UK by a Record Mirror poll…cost me a fortune in stamps that did. It was at Radio Caroline that I was nicknamed “Twiggy” after the famous model, popular in the ‘60s, because I was so thin! I did my best to lose it but the moniker stuck all through my career. I can still be blown over by a strong wind! download a short clip of my last breakfast show recorded at Radio Caroline South on 2nd March 1968 download a short clip of my American Hot 100 show broadcast on a Sunday lunchtime early in 1968. When Caroline was taken off the air in March 1968 by the Dutch company who supplied the ship because of unpaid bills, I was offered a job at Radio Luxembourg which had been going for years and before the “pirates” was the best place to listen to pop music. many of the entertainment worlds best know names were there at some point including Tony Blackburn, Kenny Everett, Simon Dee, Dave Cash and Noel Edmonds (he was my replacement), also David Jacobs and Pete Murray. download a short clip of my show at Radio Luxembourg from September 1968 download a clip of me closing down Radio Luxembourg for the night Certainly one of the highlights of my career was being offered the opportunity to compere the Beach Boys UK tour of 1968, which culminated at the fantastic London Palladium. I’ve always been a big fan (I think that’s why they gave me the job) and to this day I always play a one of their tracks on every show, wherever I am. The Beach Boys were absolutely great, with no showbiz edge, very likeable and my time with them was just so much fun. I often look back to that tour with a great deal of fondness …and to think I got paid too! In 1970 I joined Radio Northsea International again on a ship, upsetting the government so much they jammed out transmissions. But still people listened. download a clip of me opening Radio North Sea International on 28th february 1970 download a clip of me again from RNI, from 18th March 1970. I couldn’t go ashore due to bad weather. I then worked for a radio station broadcasting to factories baking biscuits (no really). Then in 1974 I became the very first voice on Piccadilly Radio Manchester, the UK’s 5th commercial radio and had a fantastic time eventually becoming Head of Music. My favourite memories are the 74-hour Radio Marathon I did, broadcasting live from Manchester United’s hotel prior to the 1979 Cup Final and interviewing many stars. first broadcast from Piccadilly Radio Tuesday 2nd April 1974 It was at Piccadilly that I became friendly with many of the Mancester United team of the day and became a lifelong “red” and I have to say that the after match “wind downs” in the bars and clubs of Manchester were legendary! I tried to keep up with the likes of Jim Holton and George Best but really wasn’t in their league. After leaving Piccadilly Radio in 1979 I worked at BRMB Radio in the West Midlands then Radio West in Bristol and in 1984 returned home to Kent where I helped to set up Invicta Radio, staying there until 1992 ending up as Program Director. Then came Pirate FM in Cornwall until in 1994 I went back to Manchester joining what had become Piccadilly Gold. Stints at County Sound Guilford, Saga Radio in Birmingham followed and eventually in 2007 I took over the evening show for the BBC Radio Kent in the South of England. From 2016 I took over from my old mate Dave Cash (who sadly passed away in 2016) featuring tracks from the 1960’s to the late 1970’s. I now record weekly shows for BBC Radio Kent as well as a network sixties show on over 40 DAB and FM stations not to mention my weekly Sunday brunch show on Bay Radio, here on the Costa Blanca, from 11.00am to 3.00pm…phew it’s a busy life plus I’m currently writing my autobiography so watch this space! If you want a request on any of my shows contact me at rogerday@rogerday.co.uk . I’d love to hear from you. Roger

Now on the Costa Blanca

MP3 recordings courtesy of RBL, Offshore Echo's, , EAP, Albie Somerset, the Offshore Multimedia CD-ROM, The Offshore Radio Archive, Svenn Martinsen, Allan Krautwald, Robin Westhof and Lynne Sims with tapes from Martin Lynch's collection. Big shout out to The Pirate Radio Hall of Fame web site where you can find loads of info on Pirate Radio and UK DJ’s from the fabulous ‘60’s.

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