Thameside Radio Revisited

The end of the Paul James show. The Intrepid Birdman takes over. Dave plays a demo tape from a band called Kite. Sent in on reel to reel!

He also plays a tape from Radio Centraal - a Dutch pirate - saying "hello" to Thameside. More about them on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio_Centraal .

Soem technical info:

There is another transmitter change. The beginning of his show came from the blocks by Edgware Road (overlooking Paddington police station), the second part from the blocks in Bentford (as featured in People Just Do Nothing - a BBC TV mockumentary sitcom 2014 - 2018, the film is now in production).

The broadcast ends when there there should be is another tape and transmitter change but instead it goes off air when it should have switched to a Petts Hill.

While Thameside were monitoring the Home Office radio channel there was a battery fault with one of the handheld radios that Thameside were using to relay information. As a result Bob Edwards and Dave Birdman were caught and subsequently taken to court.

 Paul James takes the show. Sarah is back from Devon specially for us.

Dave complains that Paul is talking down his nose rather than using his normal voice. Paul ignore him and carries on using his DJ voice and sticking close to the mic for extra extra warmth and bass.

We hear from BT's "Pope Line" because the Pope is visiting the UK but he doesn't answer. Fortunately after a second go we finally hear to Pope talking to us.

There is a bit of a pause while The engineers change transmitter.

The DTI were hot on the heels of Thameside Radio - by changing transmitter the team made it harder for the DTI team run by Eric Gotts and Brian Holder to locate and confiscate it.

Mentions for Bernard, Jellyfish, Chris, Denise and all intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society members, John Simmonds, Les Keely, Mazzie, John Henry

The last of 15 hours of Thameside Radio's 1982 Easter Bank Holiday 1982 broadcast. After a mammoth broadcast The Intrepid Birdman hands over Bob Edwards. Bob won't tell us where he was. Mark, Ian and Dave are still at the studio so we hear from them too.

The transmitter turns itself off duding quiet patches of songs - an eternal problem with the Thameside transmitter chain! It also says something about Bob's music taste, he liked songs that have quiet patches.

The "bits of a Thameside DJ" prize turns out to be some of Paul's hair!

Paul likes the surname Garfunkel and Bob tells Paul that he could change his name by Interpol. I think he meant "deed poll" though.

Mentions for Mark Lynden; Laurence from Carshalton ; Trev Holmes from Ruislip ; CD breaker "Chelsea Girl" from Pinner ;

Dave Birdman is in a mischevous mood - He is asking listeners for scurrilos rumours about where Bob Edwards is. Dave tells us about his problem his local AM breaker - CB radio was the wild west in those days... We hear more from from Mark, Ian the Engineer, Paul James and Paul's mum who has been providing snacks.

Mentions for

Bamber; Mark Linden of Willden Green ; Philanen of Kilburn ; Mike of Tottenham ; John of Wood Green ; Graham in Northolt ; No Class Fanzine ; Peter the Rad Man in Kingston ; Angie from Kinston ; Pippa from Harrow ;

In this part of the Easter Monday extended show the Intrepid Birdman asks where Bob Edwards has gone, and with whom?

He plays a lot of sketches including a classical spot featuring unfinished symphonies.

We hear from  the telephone ladies who turn out to be Paul James, Mark and  Ian the Engineer.

There's a Duracell advert too demonstrating how much longer they last on OAPs hearing aids before they get run over crossing the A40. Dave offers one of his lapel badges as a prize.

30 minutes in there's one of the long Thameside Radio 90.2 themes sent in by a (very talented) listener. Who are you? What are you doing now? Do write to al@fmthen.com

People mentioned include The Cran, A Curlyman; John Pico from Pinner; Margarey Murphy of Tennison Road NW6; Steve Scribbler; Mick in Carshalton; Funkmeter aka Ian Wright from Garrard Cross; Ben Nakoneczny from Kew Road who found the bit of Thameside D Jin Hammersmith, he says "get off my sister" to Paul Starkey; Mr & Mrs Rogers in Ealing; Richard from St Albans; Mothball for Alison and Paul; Dave of Eltham;

Dave is in the studio in Harrow. He has an "interview with ELO" on a broken phone box (only Dave could do this... ) and then inevitably credits the next track wrongly. You may have to explain to your kids what a "phone box" is, what those beeps mean when calling from one, and what "Button A" and "Button B" are.

There's a Duracell Battery advert - involving miners losing power in their lanterns in the poorest possible taste of course. There is also a quiz about finding a bit of a Thameside Radio DJ which is hidden by the Hammersmith Odeon in the grounds of St Pauls church. (Sorry, let the answer slip out there).

The engineers have locked Dave in the studio so he can't nip out to the loo!

There's a Birdman advert for "At It" magazine. At the time a magazine about being "At It" was quite outrageous, but soon they were available. Life imitating art again.

Music includes Kraftwerk, Patti Smith, The Who and The Kinks.

More from Sarah who is playing the top 3 from David Bowie, Supertramp and The Human League, she is only presenting for an hour as she  is about to go to the Hammersmith Palais to see The Thompson Twins, The Sound and China Crisis. She she hopes that someone is ready to take over. What a busy life!

We're also promised a Thameside listeners top 15 later on in the day.

Fortunately Sarah is followed by the Intrepid Birdman so it doesn't end here.

Sweatshirts are £6.50 and T Shirts £3.50. I wonder if we should do some more! Not sure we can keep the price at 1982 levels though.

Lots of dedications - some on the phone line, others collected from the picnic on the hill. They include - Mike of Chalfont who says "Hi" to Bernard, Andrew and Brian of Amersham, The Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society, Chris, Denise and Alex; The Ealing Headbangers and Eric the Fruitbat; Gerard from Hanwell says Hi to John Jill and Barry of Chingford; Bunny and Alan in Hanwell; Paul Shackleton and Heston; John Carr for his Mum and Dad; Robin for Kurt ; Gerry in Ward 8 in Harrow Hospital for all the nurses; Pete, Dave, PAul and Sean in Grenwich; Dave and Moira in Wimbledon; Dave, Benedict and Beatrice who is a Rubber Duck! (I'm guessing that's a CB thing)

We hear more from Mark who tells Bob to stop whatever he is doing as it's illegal and immoral! Sarah starts playing the top 3 songs from 4 of the artists in the Thameside Radio charts: The first three artists are David Bowie, Supertramp and The Police.

Mark takes over the show from Bob.

His music is less Middle of the Road, the studio is empyying leaving only Hilly and Mark there. He plays "All too Much" by Steve Hillage part of which was used in the Thameside Radio closedown when the station first launched.

There is a live link set up between the studio and the picnic and the Birdman pops in to the studio to have a chat with the Thamesiders on the Hill. Mark then continues chatting to the 30-40 listeners on the hill between records. He also plays a great demo by Vendetta called "Beneath the City.

Mentions for: Mike from Chalfont, Rodney the servered head, Paul McElwane, Roly, Bob, Wilberforce, Karen, Annette, Roj (Who loves thwe Mo-Dettes), Ali the Black Prince of Mount Twyford, Rick the Roach, Rent-a-Rabble

The other Thameside Radio DJs have gone to Harrow Hill for a picnic with the listeners and left Bob Edwards in the studio. This predates cellphones so he doesn't hear anything from them for a bit.

We do hear from the "tea girl" and the "record library girl". Bob tell us can see the hill from the studio in a tall building so tries to get the listeners to communicate by jumping up and down and waving their arms around.

Later on there seems to be someone on top of a tall building relaying the view to Bob.

More from the  mega broadcast from Harrow. Paul James finishes 5 1/2 hours of programming with traditional local radio stuff like football news. We discover that QPR are playing on Astroturf - that hurt if you fell over. I do wonder if Thameside could have gone on to become something like Radio Jackie FM which is the local station for south west London.

Paul plays A Flock of Seagulls and Lene Lovich (was she related to Bjork?). He is convinced by his sister that the Birdman jingle calls him "Uncle Ball" rather than "Uncle Paul".

We are  told that  The Thompson Twins are playing the Hammersmith Palais, tickets are between £3 and £4. Carole King is an outrageous £7! Bob is running late so Paul continues past midday. We promised a "big chart show" later on in the day and we will also hear from Mark who is one of the backroom boys. 

Mark is in the studio while we wait for Bob and building up for his show later that day. There is lots more about the picnic.

Bob takes over about 12:30. Bob chats with Dave who tell us that Ian has taken over the engineering from "10-1 Teddy" who was thrown off the roof of Thameside Towers.

Mentions include Annette for Karen, Martin and Lisa for Andy and Lynne, Sam and Peter, from Peter in Harrow. Andrew du Pre for Nervous System and all their fans, Winston Smith and Skinny Melanie and her fiancee from Paul in Clapham. The first 5 members of the Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society at the picnic will win a signed copy of the Birdman we're told.

Paul James continues with the Thameside Radio breakfast show. It’s a lovely morning, the skies are blue and the birds are singing

We hear more about the Free the Airwaves campaign stand at the CB 82 show in Wembley. Dave turns up with some breakfast from the local Wimpy.

Unusually Paul does some weather and traffic reports – just like local radio! We are also promised a live linkup later in the day with Uptown Radio, a listener picnic at the top of Harrow Hill, phantom phone box and other Thameside delights.

Mentions for Steve in the Thameside Radio kitchen and  Big Al for the Paraffin Ladies in a shop in Harrow

It's 8am on Easter Monday. Paul James is pretty much alone in the Thameside Radio studio. Dave Birdman is still in bed at home although Ian the Engineer is going there to pick some things up!

The show starts with The Jam and Start - which you don't hear much any more. Did you know that The Beatles sued them for because the riff and the bass line were lifted from Taxman? Of course Taxman was written by Goerge Harrison, who was himself sued for the similarities between "My Sweet Lord and "He's so Fine". That's the start of my question for RBQ! At least now we have standard rates for tracks that use samples from other artists.

Nine minutes in Paul plays the definitve Thameside Radio "Well Corporal" jingle.

There are a couple of technical problems at the start of the show - hum, hiss, setting levels and all that. Usually those issues were dealt with during the 10 minute warmup but it took a bit longer. They are all fixed in the end: so hang in there.

We are told that there will be a treasure hunt for an easter egg hidden somewhere in London. Also a picnic which we will be told more about later (it ended up at Harrow on the Hill).

Loads more from the 1982 Easter Monday show to come

Mentions for Dave in Croydon and Hilly.

This is the second half of the Thameside Radio 90.2 Easter Sunday broadcast starting at 10pm.

We're reminded that the pubs close at 11pm. Remember those days?.

Bob Edwards makes it into the studio and tells us he has been out with the transmitter guys.

Really Saying Something by Bananarama and The Fun Boy Three is a new release. We get the 12" version.

Later in the show Dave tells us about CB radio which has only been a "thing" for a few months  - Bob gets a CB radio and has a chat with a number of breakers on Channel 31 live on air.

We also hear a bit about CB 82 show in Wembley which also had a pirate radio stand.

There are still technical problems in the broadcast - interference from TV transmitters. And the transmitter is switching itself off during quiet moments in songs. The technical problems seem to get better about 11:30pm (an hour and a half in to the show)

Mentions include: CBers Orange Club, Action Man, Dopey,  Black Jack, Batman, Weazel and Photon

Also: Rupe from Barnes for Trisha and Josh, Dec and Prudence, Miker of Chalfont, Brian of Amersham for Denise, Chris and Sarah of Kew, Les Keely, Dave Booth for Mazzie & Andy, Anthony for Lyomie, Lynne, Kevin Tom and Catherine, CBers, John in Finchley, Elaine in LA, Annette for Karen, Gilllian and Buzz, Tigermoth, Dominic from Strange Pursuasion.

We're told about a game called Obliterate which BT have released on Prestel. You command a submarine and torpedo Argentinian submarines including one called "Fray Bentos". (You may have to look Prestel up on Wikipedia, it was like the internet but 1980).

The phone lines are open for the Thameside listener charts. This week's chart is - 10:Layla/Derek and the Dominoes; 9:I Ran/Flock of Seagulls; 8:Nowhere Girl/B-Movie; 7:More Than This/Roxy Music 6:Fantastic Day/Haircut 100; 5:Is it a Dream/Classix Nouveaux; 4:Ghosts/Japan 3:The Damned Don't Cry/Visage; 2: Love Cascade/Leisure Process 1:Ever So Lonely/Monsoon.

The broadcast is briefly introduced by Bob Edwards, but Paul James takes over. Paul has just come back from a working holiday in Cornwall, Sarah is also in the studio as is Ian the Engineer. After an hour (and a transmitter change) we get The Intrepid Birdman Show. There was a problem in the first 10 minutes with the batteries running flat in the cassette player. You can hear the the show sounding a bit slow. It then goes back up to speed.

Dave tells us about the CB show at the Wembley conference centre which is relaying the broadcast. There is a pirate radio stand at the show.

The first part of the show was broadcast from the Brentford tower blocks on Green Dragon Lane. This was used in 2014's "People Just Do Nothing" which started on YouTube and moved to BBC3 as the location for the fictional pirate Kurupt FM. Now Kurupt FM are real and playing festivals! Life imitating art imitating life.

We learn that the site changes are done by "10-1 Teddy" and Ian the Engineer who has injured himself.

There are brief moments during quiet patches of the songs where the transmitter switches off - the transmitter were designed to switch off quickly when the audio finished because it was the end of the show or when there was a transmitter change but they could be a bit enthusiastic and switch off briefly during a show! We're told about an experiment in 3D TV. However demand for the special glasses is so high they have had to delay the test to make some more. It will be broadcast on May 4th in a programme called "the Real World". 3D TV, 1982, maybe technology isn't moving on as quickly as we think. You can watch it here.

After an hour with Paul and two with Dave this podcast  finishes at 10pm or so. But keep an eye on your podcast feed or the siteas  there is more to come on Thameside Radio Revisited from the same day and the next. We have Bob Edwards from later on this evening and the  Thameside Radio picnic from Harrow on the Hill the next day (it was Easter Monday).

And finally: Did you know that the voice on the "Thameside Radio Plays Good Music" is one of Dave's children? Recorded in Hyde Park during an OB!

Dedications and letters from Robert, Mike of Chalfont, the Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society, Andrew Pearce from Hindhead, Steve Scribbler, John H, Richard, Annette, Dave and Pete. Hugh Gunning, John of Edgware, Bill Popstar, Tom Grady, Lynne Steele, Wendy and Cathy from Frank Kennedy from Norwood Green who gets a kiss from Sarah.  Paul Marshall (age 13) from Chalfont st. Giles. Chalfont Secondary School

Thameside started this live broadcast at 10:30 with Bob Edwards running through the Thameside Radio 90.2 listener charts for 1981. What a year: Fade to Grey - Visage; That’s Entertainment  - The Jam; Tainted Love – Soft Cell; Joan of Arc / Maid of Orleans – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark; Imagine – John Lennon; Don’yt you Want Me? – The Human League; Ine the Air Tonight – Phil Collins; Vienna – Ultravox;  what an amazing year… The Intrepid Birdman took over at about 11:15 with and extended interview with Eddie Grunt. The show carried on until about 1am on New Year’s Day.

The show was broadcast live from Shepherd's Bush.

The week after the incredibly successful Thameside Radio third birthday party in Chiswick. Bob isn’t there for the start of the show so Dave takes the reins, with a just few technical hitches. Alex and Sarah fill in with an early and extended news section.  John Lennon had been shot in the preceding week so Alex does a tribute to him before Bob finally gets to the studio. The lonely hearts club is going strong with a request for box number 69c since a and b have already gone.  We hear Rossmore Road by Barry Andrews - yaay!

Although the tape runs out at the end of the Bob Edwards show you might remember that the broadcast finished unexpectedly during the Intrepid Birdman Show because the Thameside Radio transmitter in Trellick Tower was raided by the DTI.

Mentions for: Seth of Hounslow. Tim, Tony, Ralph, Hugh Jars, Lar Jars, Richard and Mike. Andrew Simpson, After the Fire. Chris Brown, John O’Hannon. Michael of Chalfont. Detores and Andrew. Paul Byrne, Francis King and Jeannie, Tahiti Syndrome. Keele University.  Samantha from Holland Park. John from N15; Mandy Squires, Lynn Squires. Krishna and Stephen King. 

One of the final shows broadcast by Thameside Radio 90.2. The last broadcast was on May 15th, just 5 weeks later.

Thameside Radio have been broadcasting since 10am that morning. There are even some new jingles.

The show was broadcast in stereo, although this is a mono recording.

The recording is of the Paul James show at 7:00. He has just come down from Birmingham so has some bits from the Birmingham local press.

Paul also talks about the “Too Hot to Handle” concert at the Apollo Theatre in Victoria which featured Squeeze, Madness, Hazel O’Connor, Julie Covington, Paul Jones and UB40 amongst others featured. Tickets were between £5 nd £25.

Many thanks to Stephen who used to publish amfm magazine and Radio Today for this recording. Please do visisit his new site http://www.amfm.org.uk/ there is so much to look at.

Mentions for Stephen Garstang from Chalfont and Paul Adan in Ramsgate

Another show from a listener's house. This week Adrian Leaper from Harrow has invited the Thameside Radio 90.2 crew round . The studio is set up in his bedroom. Adrian tells us he saw a UFO hovering over the hill the day before.

Bob Edwards is reading a book that says stupid people are clever people and clever people are stupid. Hmmm. He also reads out listeners letters about the secret of life.

Mrs Leaper has made food and we get a guided tour of the meal and the house. Adrian has dozens of champion gerbils in his shed. Dave interviews Bill the Budgie. (That radio mic really came in useful.)

Listener Andrew Simpson reviews a a concert by by Rockpile (Featuring Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe) at Brunel University. Soundwaves magazine has a feature about Thameside Radio.

Thameside Radio 90.2 listeners mentioned this week include: Philip Chapel from Windsor. John Chapel.  John Brennan of Thornton Heath. Students at Kingston Polytechnic. Chris Parry of Ilford. Barbara and Trever Adams from Biggin Hill.  Joannie Conway aged 6 3/4  from Hampton Wick Infant School. Ron Stephenson.  Kevin Ball from Bromley.  Malcolm Fryer of Hendon. Frinton McCarthy of SE5. Mike Boardman of Harrow. John Lyon School. Dave Kenny for the  BDXC. Nick Doherty from North London Poly. Rapic Sandec. Andy Richards.

This is only the first half of the broadcast. If you have the other half or any other recordings please please do get in touch - you can use the comment field or email me at fmthen.com Al

Recently uploaded to YouTube: This is one of the Thameside Radio histories put together by Ian Stewart. There are clips and a commentary from the first year of broadcasting when the shows were just one hour long. Don't they all sound young!

http://youtu.be/5spFxbB1QaM

It’s the Intrepid Birdman’s birthday – so the first part of the recording has Bob chatting with the Birdman about records that have influenced him. We learn about Dave’s being a disco DJ and Dudley Moore. Bob mentions the Thameside birthday party the next day where listeners meet at Turnham Green station and look for the red dot on the map showing the location. I remember getting there at about 6:30 and seeing the station manager desperately trying the get the huge crowd of people out of his station forecourt.

There’s a fabulous superquiz and a sketch that implies that you can get away with anything if you wear a Thameside sweatshirt. Only £6.50.

Dedications include Alan Jameson Simon Miller from Fulham, Ian Hobbs from Bromley, Philip Chapel from Windsor, Richard Parkurst, Mick Taylor, Clive Barwood from Ascot, Kevin Waldridge from Ealing, Sebastian Peaty, Ann Bedral from Stanmore, Don DT from Putney, Simon from South Norwood, Martin from Hackney, Barry Wanrney NBK, Pedro from Beano’s, the Hitchhikers Guide fan club, Bruiser, Sean Eavan, Mark Bramley

A very short Thameside Radio show. The station was being targeted by the DTI so this was a very quick broadcast before the transmitter could be located. Quality is poor so this is for collectors only!

Welcome to any new subscribers - I've received a couple more recordings so will put them up over then next few weeks.

The first 90 minutes from an early Thameside Radio OB in June 1980. Bob presents a show from a party full of kids from Latymer Upper School (boys) and Godolphin and Latymer School (girls). It's very noisy and packed with people taking A-Levels who are probably all responsible adults now!

Helen from Twickenham is very nice to Bob Edwards.

There have been a few short recordings from this party already uploaded - but this is the complete first half. Thanks Roj.

Names include George Wood, Bob and Rupe, Jane Susan Sarah and Cathy, The Hoary Scab, Bishop's in Rayners Lane, George Johnson, Mouse, Inge, St Paul's School, Andrew Simpson, Rosemary Kelly Shaun Kelly (Sean?), Andrew from Reynolds School, Renata, Sue Everett, Harrow Weald 6th Form College, Ian and and John from the 1979 - 1980 6th form  from the Salesian School in Chertsey, Julian Cole, Roy Masters, Niall Stoddart from St Clement Danes.

45 minutes  from Thameside Radio’s first year with Tony Lloyd and Bob Edwards. Some listeners think that the news feature takes up too much time in the one hour show! There are a numer of converts from other pirate radio stations. Mentions for Thameside Radio listeners including: Tony of Arkley Paul of Gates Hill, Stephen Mulham, Fairlough the Builders, Mike of Mayfair, Nigel Barnes of SW9, Radio Invicta, Dennis Hough (Huff?) of Walton-on-Thames, Alan of Barkimgin, Knoxford FC, Rory from Hayes, Pete Turner of Wanstead.

Part of an extended broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2 with Sarah taking calls.  It’s so busy that we even get to hear  Sarah answering the phone on air with a call from Howard for Dave, Ian Lawrence and Bernie.At this point Thameside Radio had installed a permanent transmitter in Trellick Tower and set up a live Band III link so could broadcast as long as they wanted. (Band III used to be home to low quality 405 line TV but there were a lot of clear channels. It’s now used for DAB.)The phone lines are very busy with  an awful lot of dedications. Here are just a few Danny and Carrel in Swanley, Carl, Bruce Bill Dave and Anna; Andrew of Brentwood for Adam, Class 4D and Brentwood County High School; Bob Lawrence, The Royal Free Network, CMC motorcyclists, Mick of Carshalton, Carshalton 6th form, Neil Chris Arnold & Kevin. Rookie  for his wife Lynne, Jim Jim, Gary, Jane, Christopher. Steve for Alex and Bamber; Alex for Rachel Inge Biddy and Rabbi; Liam Simon the quick brew kid Leon; Bamber for Susan, Alex, Amanda, the Tony Lloyd fan club, Ken of Brentwood for his mum and dad on their 31st anniversary, Claire, Johnny, Stand and the fans, Dave and Mark; Jackie Rosemund and carol; Emily for Hillam and the outdoor cat Alan; John of Beckenham for Dave Dave Barry, Beryl, Kevin Ken;  Dave for Steve Bruce Carl,  Harrow Motorcycle Club; Nigel Richard Sharon Tracy; Andy Martin Trevor and Alan; Renata for Hilary; Stuart of Chiswick; Steve from Stevenage and wife Sharon; Jerry for Tony and his Revox, Roger and Stuart;   Dave Nicholls of North Kensington for ; Jim Clark, Leona Resumworth 5X Elizabeth;  Andy Dixon , Mill Hill School Larch Nervous Complaint; Pauline to Dan and Sharon; Chris of Highbury for John Richard and Sheila; Darren to Liam, Robert of Swanely to Jim and Pam; John of Beckenham; Bruce Perkins from Martin of  Brentwood; Margaret in Byfleet.

That's all the people mentioned in just 45 minutes. Now I remember why I don't include all the people mentioned in the show notes each week!

Following last week’s very extended broadcast Bob Edwards tells us that he is going to the USA next week for an indeterminate period and Tony Lloyd will be taking over DJ duties at Thameside Radio. We also discover that Bjorn Borg has just won Wimbledon!

Listener Steve is on the phone and wins the competition  – he tells us that he records all the programmes: you wouldn’t still happen to have them would you Steve?There are lots of songs from 1970 on this week's Thameside show.Listeners mentioned include: David Lewis of Pinner, Andrew of Southall, Colin of Bromley and his brother Ross, Len from 60 Burleigh Rd, Lawrence and Bruce from Barnet, Ross Patterson or Bromley,  Carol, Michael, Betty and Lesley of Chalfont St Peter, Chris Curtain of W8,   David Lewis of Eastcote, Richard in Tulse Hill, Gavin Cryable of Collingham Gardens W5  who is writing a book about flat hunting in inner London, Pat Sandrey of Kings Langley and his brother Michael; and  Kings Langley School.

The first  extended show from Thameside Radio. Instead of the usual one hour from 7-8pm  there is a second show with Tony Lloyd where he plays all the tracks from Rumours by Fleetwood Mac (probably recorded on the other side of the C120 that had the first show)

Dave has a jingle about Thameside helping you  to escape the BBC.   The competition prize is still a packet of Spangles (the answer is  “Debbie”, Debbie the phone girl used to take phone calls for Thameside Radio). Mentions for Bernard O’Brian from Ilford, Neal, Kevin, Danny Osbourne from Putney Hill, Jeff and Cindy from Imperial College, Stephen Cruickshank from Croydon, Philip “The Fiddler” Cull of Rickmansworth, Radio Telstar One.

A 45 minute section of an early extended broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2.  This went out about 7 months after their initial broadcasts.

Thameside listener and regular competition winner Rupert Bailey is the special guest on The Intrepid Birdman Show. Rupert also DJs for a while on Bob Edward's show, he even interviews Bob!

Boris wins the phone competition.

Bob also features Sarah from Kew who reveals that in addition to reading the Thameside Radio news she answers listerners letters too. She tells us that Thameside  receive about 30 letters each week but they hope to have 100 letters next week.

Thameside listeners mentioned include Bob Lawrence, Jeff Hawkins, The Tony Lloyd Fan Club, The Alsatians, James Warren, Denise (Buzby),  the TV production class at Richmond College,  Martin Greaves of Wathmstow,  Andy Kearns, Peter Young from Capital Radio (who is a regular listener), Mick Kelly , Chris de Souza , Keith Harrison, Pablo Cabello, Micheal Galivn, Charlie Gibbons, Jeremy Voisey, Peter Bailey, Christopher Bailey, Austins the newsagent in Molsey,

This is the first half of a 3 hour broadcast. If you have any Thameside recordings please get in touch, you can email, comment or  @fmthen

al

How any white blood corpuscles are there in the average human body? That is the question for this week’s superquiz. Next week Dave asks for their names and addresses. Mark takes over at midnight – but sadly I don’t have this recorded. If you have any Thameside recordings please get in touch. Email or twitter @fmthenThameside Listeners mentioned includePete Cooper, Bikers Mike, Ian, Nigel and Andy, Malcolm Fryer

Bob Edwards continues his show. Bob continues to arrange Dave’s bike trip to the south coast. Amongst other records he plays The Message by Grandmaster Flash.  Goodness – it’s 1982 and rap is already mainstream. There is a 20 minute gap in this recording towards the end of the Bob Edwards show.Bob is followed Dave who tells us more about the bike trip.Thameside Listeners mentioned includeAnita in Highbury, Andrew Simpson, Ruth from Harrow, Dominic from Wimbledon, Everyone at the Green Belt Festival. Paul Wedell in Coulsdon,

Dave Birdman starts this Thameside Radio broadcast with apologies for problems in the previous two weeks. The DTI were raiding Thameside quite regularly at this time. There are studio problems so he doesn’t have any prefade when means some awkward segues between records, the show goes well though. He tells us about rat infestations in Hillingdon and edible snails in Heathrow.Bob Edwards takes over at 8pm Thameside Listeners mentioned includeKaren Scott from Epsom Downs, David Scott (who has passed 10 O-levels),

More mayhem with the Thameside Radio crew broadcasting live from Notting Hill in the middle of the 1982 carnival.

This extended show came from the Notting Hill Carnival - which was smaller and a little more edgy in 1982 than it is now. The main Thameside Transmitter was on top of Trellick Tower in the middle of Notting Hill while the lower roof (still 35 stories up) was used by the police to watch what was going on in the carnival.

Of course there was no interference between the police walkie-talkies and the Thameside Radio setup but still - it must have been "interesting" for the engineers.

 News includes the death of a second Pope, Johnny Rotten promoting his Christmas show for kids and a film to be called Quadrophenia - all in 60 minutes with Bob Edwards!

There are two tracks from the new Meatloaf album called Bat out of Hell. The warm up music includes an Intrepid Birdman jingle whcih says Thameside is on 90.4 VHF if I hear it correctly. Of course Themside radio did move to 90.4 (or was is 90.45) to avoid interference with a cable station on the Rediffusion network in Grenwich (who were Thameside listeners too) but the advertised frequency always remained 90.2 - in the days before digital radios it really didn't matter.

Mentions for Ian of Dulwich and Andrew Feely.

Tony Lloyd hosts a one hour broadcast from Thameside Radio's first year. I’ve included the run up music because it has a Birdman jingle just before the 7pm start of the show. There are lots of Birdman jingles during the show too and Tony provides a more rocky slant to the music.

The competition has the traditional prize of a packet of Spangles. The news includes an item about luminous records and how much the Musicians Union are asking the Marquee Club to pay support acts (£9.50 per band member per show)

This recording finishes just before 8pm while the phantom phonebox in Harrow is ringing.

Mentions include Nigel, Mark and Vince Barnes from Kennington; Karen Chin; Stephanie from Lowlands Junior College; Radio Invicta; Barry Benson; Martin Crew; Trevor Llewellyn; Philip Sharp; Jeanette Harris of Mill Hill;

Tony Lloyd looks for cars with Thameside stickers, he also reads the news on this early one hour show broadcast during Thameside Radio's first year. There are already a lot of listener letters, Adrian Leaper wins the competiton.

Thameside Radio listeners who get a mention  include  Patrick Sullivan in Streatham.  Listeners at John Lyon School.  Steve Marshall (from Radio Invicta). Gavin Robson.  Kevin Hargreaves of Welwyn. Trevor Ball from Harlesden.

This broadcast coincided with a Thameside Radio party at the Shepherds Bush Village Hall.

Because of transmitter changes the recording stops after 45 minutes - but later on during the show there were recordings from the party - almost live, but not enough for the DTI to  visit!

Part 2 of Bob interviewing the Mystsics followed by The Intrepid Birdman Show on Thameside Radio 90.2

Part 2 of 2

Dave opens up another extended broadcast. He has some surprises for Bob who interviews the Mystics and learns  more about electronic music.

Part 1 of 2

The Mark Ashdown show closes this extended Thameside Radio broadcast.

Mark asks for suggestions for new listener events.

Part 3 of 3

The Intrepid Birdman produces another inimitable show for this extended Thameside Radio broadcast.

Part 2 of 3

Bob is late so Dave starts his show. Bob takes over and then hands back to Dave. The broadcast went on to midnight. We hear from  Mark for the the last hour. 

Thameside Radio were subject to a lot of attention from the DTI at this time - but still managed to have occasional extended broadcasts!

Part 1 of 3

The show has  highlights from the Birdman’s holiday at Hayle in Cornwall where his bike broke down – so he had to buy a new one (well new to him, it was a 1963  Triumph T90 which needed new tank badges and a speedo). The bike makes  a terrible racket. Paul James has been on the “Voice of Peace” for the last 4 weeks or so.

Bob tells us that “I Eat Cannibals” by the Belle Stars is the best record out at the moment.

Mark brings in an unrelased live Genesis track from a flexidisc on the cover of “Flexipop” magazine.We hear lots more from The Mystics.

The first show presented by The Curlyman who ran a comedy telephone answering machine service which was featured on the Thameside Radio news and the London Evening standard. Sadly there were no premium rate phone lines then so there was no viable business model.  The Curlyman also took calls from Thamesde listeners which were played on next week's show.

One of ther callers complains that Thameside used up all but 30 minutes of drinking time.  In 1981 pubs used to close at 10:30pm sharp on Sundays

This is the final hour of a 3 hour broadcast. I don't have the first two - do you?

If you have any more Thameside recordings please get in touch.

Following a couple of Thameside broadcasts which ended early due to technical problems Bob Edwards hosts a limited two hour broadcast. Everyone else seems to be on holiday.

Bob plays more from The Mystics and tells us about a girl that he spent 24 hours with!

Bob plays a track from Bruce Springsteen’s new album called “The River”. There’s more from Incognito – one of the bands that Thameside championed as well as a Garry Glitter SpeciaL as Gary Glitter is in court for bankruptcy!

Tony Lloyd is in Australia. No-one mentions Bob's Triumph Spitfire blowing its big end on the M4.

Mentions for: Dave Rowan, Habs (Haberdashers' Aske's Boys' School), Julian Cole, St Georges Medical School, Arian from Harrow, John Lyon School, Buzby's Mum, Shari, Martin Gould,

The show includes a recording of the rather wonderful Radio 1 interview with Bob Edwards and Dave Birdman about Thameside Radio on Adrian Love’s B15 show (photo). The interview was originally broadcast by BBC Radio 1 at 4pm 12 Oct 1980. Some things change, some stay the same: The Thameside Radio music news includes: WEA being accused of accused of “chart rigging” (what’s that?), The Specials playing a gig in Trafalgar square in aid of the Campaign fo Nuclear Disarmament (what’s that?) and Blondie have a new album out (still happening), Stiff records are fined £50 for a t-shirt  that says “If it ain’t Stiff it ain’t worth a f***” (now every other chart record has that word in!). Mentions for: Ealing Green High,  Sparrow Throng, Her Majesty's Borstal in Medmenham,  Mandy Squiers, Alan Thorogood, Boris, Annette, Bamber, Teddy, Graham Stapleton, Adrian LoveThis is the first half of a 3 hour broadcast. If you have any Thameside recordings please do get in touch with me: al @ fmthen com

We hear from Mark for the first hour. He is sitting in for Paul James who is spending some time on The Voice of Peace in Israel. Later Bob Edwards chats with the Mystics about making electronic music.

The recording finishes early with a burst of static. The hot weather had set off the sprinkler system at the Thameside transmitter site!

It’s a sunny day and everyone has been  at the Barnes Common fair. Dave Birdman returned from holiday in Spain – his show was looked after by Alex and then The Curly Man while he was away. He makes up for his absence by playing lots of great jingles, looking for a new tag line for the show  and finishes by fiddling with the  “Do you ever have difficulty” jingle after the show finishes. During the week Bob drove through a riot in Southall - see photo…  People throwing bricks, police with riot shields. Remember then? Has anything changed?We hear about Fireball (who have had their demo played by Thameside) plaing a concert at St Benedict’s school hall in Long Lane Hillingdon. They are supported by Alexandria. I remember both those demos – Fireball’s Chinese Takeaway was very catchy and Alexandria were definitely anthemic. Whatever happened to them? Bob also tells us that this week Radio 1 are  running a series called “25 years of Rock”. That would be over 50 years of Rock now…The third fast food sees Alex taking the listeners to Mcarthurs in Barnes – who are rude and serve disappointing food. They’re closed now. Next week the Thameside Radio fast food survey comes from Huckleberries in Oxford Street.The Curlyman appears after his stint as a DJ with dedications from listeners who called his phone line.The week following this show Thameside broadcast live from a picnic in Hyde Park.

Mentions for: Francesca, Giles Farrow, Putney Park, Shan Hilling,  Saxon Militia at Kendall Rise Studios in Nottingham, Steve Scribbler, Andy Cooper, John Brennan, Mazzy’s friends at her party, Dave Booth, Paul Reynolds, John and Brian Gording (Goulding?), Mrs Atkinson, Richard Jeffries, Mrs R Williams, John Aird School.

The Interpid Birdman presents the last two hours of this extended Thameside Radio broadcast from the Summer of 1982. He has lots of unlikely sounding police reports.

Of course with the Birdman the show isn't over till it's over. Keep listening after the official end of the show.

Part 3 or 3

Paul James says "goodbye" to Thameside Radio for the next 3 months as he is going to work on "The Voice of Peace" in Israel.

Bob plays songs from a demo tape by the Mystics who use "a lot of new electronic equipment" to quote Bob. There aren't many demos that have stuck in my mind since the early 80's - but this is one of them.  The first track starts 48 minutes in, the second is  1h30m, third at 1h59m. Band members include Dave Booth, Sandra Cook, Dave Newson, Yvonne Carns, Nick Hogarth, Gavin Blair Watson.

The band come in to the studio and tell us a bit more about who does what. Whatever happened to the Mystics?

Mentions for: Mike of Chalfont, Paul Marshall, The Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society, Mazzy Margaret, John Brennan, Ian Bell, Bob Gower, Cindy of Ealing, Mothball, Hairy Pete, Dave Booth, Gary Williams, Colin Pratt.

Part 2 of 3 of this extended broadcast

Paul James and Dave Birdman take the first two hours. The authorities had been chasing the Thameside Radio crew for the previous few shows, but they weren't out this evening so the Thameside crew extended the broadcast to 1am.

Part 1 of 3

Nice to hear from Ian Stewart (who is also the Thameside Radio engineer) who takes the first hour while Paul James is on holiday in the south of France. His show is followed by The Intrepid Birdman.

Sadly the transmitter knew that the engineer wasn’t paying it full attention and started having problems with the PLL circuit – so the transmission finishes early.

Part 2 of this broadcast from the Summer of 1982. Bob Edwards tells us that Thameside Radio is now the most powerful and longest running pirate station in London.

He also mentions that  that “the good news that we’ve nearly got them in the Falkland Islands”.

Listeners letters include: Jeff Dawkins E2 Bethnal Green. The Mathematics department at  University College London. North London Polytechnic Law students. Nick Doherty in Elgin Road. Listeners at the BBC.

Paul James and The Intrepid Birdman host the first two hours of this four hour broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2.

Paul tells us all about the difficulties of doing exams (he’s doing his exams at the moment too) and plays the sax solo from “Will You” by Hazel O’Connor for Rosalind – one of the behind the scenes people who help keep Thameside going.

The Birdman tries to finish a little early so Bob Edwards can start on time.

Bouncing Bob Edwards presenets the second half of this broadcast from Thameside Radio 90.2 VHF.

Paul James and Dave "the Intrepid  Birdman"  from the summer of 1982.

Part one of a 4 hour Thameside Radio show.

Because of problems with the power supply (it had been lent out and not returned on time!) for the first  45mins the transmitter was powered by a car battery with charger across so there is some background hum.

Alex (photo) takes over for the  last hour as Dave is on holiday.

The first of the fast food surveys comes from McDonalds in Hammersmith where listeners decide that the boxes are more tasty than the burgers!

This is a 3 hour show put together from two separate recordings: The recording of Bob's show has some of the the music edited to fit onto a C90 but Alex's show is complete. Alex has a cast of thousands in the studio including: Buzby, Hilly, Natty, Bamber, Aidan and Chris - who all tell us why theylisten to Thameside Radio.

9-11pm Dave hands over to Bob who has just turned 24 now and thanks the listeners for for all the cards and presents including an extra long moustache! The team have been on a 12 mile sponsored trail to raise money for Oxfam. The next Thameside Radio disco is on Friday Jun 4th at the Tabard pub in Bath Road Chiswick.  Listeners are still writing in for copies of Time Out (50p) which had a feature about London’s radio pirates.There is also the official statement on the two Thameside staff who were fined £25 each for stealing 0.25p of electricity. They weren’t charged under the Wireless Telegraphy act though!Paul James tells us that he eats two packets of Maltesers a week (that’s almost £100  / year)

7-9pm with Paul James and The Intrepid Birdman show. Dave Birdaman (photo) has passed his motorbike test. Paul assures us that Radio Caroline will be coming back. He also tells us about a new film called Polyester  (produced by John Waters). The exciting thing  about the film is that it was released in in in Odorama so Paul got a scractch’n’sniff card to use at key points in the film. Sounds better than 3D. I wonder why it never caught on?We also hear from Ian the engineer. The news includes an item about 2 members of Thameside Radio staff who appeared at Marylebone court last Tuesday charged with stealing ¼p of electricity. The magistrate was more concerned at the waste of police time than the negligible theft of electricity. Thameside Radio listenerers mantioned include: Cindy of Ealing. Gary in Hillingdon. Martin Gould of Greenford and Janice.  Jamie Witcombe in Colin Gardens NW9.  Alan of Kingsbury for Francine. Nigel Collins from Muswell Hill.

Bob talks a lot about his upcoming birthday. He also discusses a new book called Alternative London which has a section on pirate radio and mentions Thameside

It is a sunny day and the show starts late because the Thameside Radio team were distracted by a girl walking past the studio. (It’s 1982 and sexism hasn’t yet been discovered yet).

Paul has passed his driving test thanks to Tony Gregory his driving instructor. Dave is about to take his test too.  The Paul James competition asks for “Thameside” in the phonetic alphabet: (Tango, Hotel, Alpha etc) At the time Eric Gotts from the Home Office used to refer to Thameside Radio as “Tango Hotel”. The team are collecting sponsorship for a walk which they are doing for OxfamThe second hour comes from the Intrepid Birdman.  The superquiz needs you to be in the bath!Bob starts the third hour and tells us that he is going to be 24 years old next week. The show was broadcast from the Arndale Centre in Wandsworth which has good coverage over south and east London but is not so good to the west and north so reception is a bit poor on this recording.

Two hours of Thameside Radio with Bob Edwards between 9 and 11pm this Sunday. He has a demo from South Side Dynamos, chats about how often we have baths and pays a lot of Status Quo. Sarah from Kew turns up. She’s been down the pub with The Birdman. (She’s definitely grown older while we’ve been listening over the last few years hasn’t she?)  Dave talks about the new fangled Walkman radios – and mentions obliquely  listening in to the Home Office radio channels on the Bernardphone. Bob chats with some of the crew about the favourite songs. We discover that: Dave’s favourite record is Grooving with Mr Bloe by Mister Bloe which he remembers from the juke box at  The Macabre coffee bar in Meard Street in Soho. (Probably the coolest place in the universe in the 60s) Sarah’s favourite record is Follow you Follow me by Genesis. It reminds her of her 16th birthday party which ended in total chaos with broken banisters and broken doors. (How did she explain it all to her long suffering parents?) Bob’s fave is Dire Straits and Skateaway. Wow – I’m now right back to my teens – endless summer, endless music, no responsibilities and amazing parties. 

After a major raid a couple of weeks earlier the Thameside Radio team are back with an extended broadcast Paul James is about to take his driving test. The Birdman tell us that story about a couple who were served their dog in a Chinese restaurant. He also reads out a pamphlet on the Dangers of Knitting in a public place.

The first 50 minutes of the show are missing from the archive - but may turn up yet.

Bob Edwards plays Sailingby Rod Stewart for 'The boys sailing out to the Falklands.'  The computer continues to tell the presenters what  to say.  Paul complains that he didn’t get a cup of coffee from the tea lady when he was doing a show. Dave says he was overcharged for his tea (55p instead of 20p). Where can you get tea fpr 20p now?Not many letters or dedications this week (apart from a very flattering note from Jo English in Teddington). No jingles either. The music is great though. This is part two of the Thameside Radio broadcast which went through until 11pm. There’s a lovely snatch of BBC Radio 3 right at the end. Goodness me didn’t the presenters sound stuffy back in 1982?

Paul James starts the show followed by Dave.   Bob is apparenly installing a fully computerised system in the studio that will tell the DJs what to do on a digital display in the studio. All sounds very unlikely to me – surely it’ll never catch on! Dave says that all computers seem to achieve are inflated phone bills.  Dave plays a fabulous selection of records – from the sublime to ridiculous, literally - as well as some great sketches. The tea lady also makes an appearance on the Intrepid Birdman show with her trick tea spoon. She pretty much steals the show really.The show was broadcast from a tower block on the South Acton estate which has since been demolished.

This is the first half of a 4 hour programme. The second half with a full Bob Edwards show is coming next week.

Bob chats with the lovely Buzby about the Kew Green OB a fortnight ago. (Whatever happened to Buzby?) and announces the Thameside Radio Pen friends / lonely hearts club. Mazzy gets box number 1. Later we hear Bob’s “Desert Island Discs” where Alex interviews him and we discover a bit more about his holidays and that  beloved Triumph Spitfire. We also learn what started Bob (and his older brother) on being radio pirates. He talks about Thameside Radio’s  early days when the station transmitted from Hampstead Heath for an hour each Sunday.  

Dave’s DIY spot tells us how to make a nuclear fall out shelter out of sticky tape, vacuum cleaner tubing, and old cornflake boxes. (Protect and Survive anyone?)  

The music is so perfectly early 80s. Motels, Silicon Teens, Gary Numan, Siouxie and the Banshees, Stiff Little Fingers, The Police (as well as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and The Who)

Listeners mentioned include: Graham Copeland of Cobham. Gary Williams. Mick Taylor. Alan Jameson. Basil of Harpenden. Jilly Newman. Mike Skinner. 

Thanks to Basil (see comments) for additional information about this broadcast - he reports that "We got perfect reception in Harpenden, 25 miles (40Km) north west of London!"

Bob announces that there is a surprise outside broadcast – listeners meet at the Star and Garter pub at the north end of Kew Bridge where they will be escorted to the OB site. Alex is running the OB at Kew Green which is linked back live to the studio. He is joined by Bob Edwards, Sarah and Dave when they’re not actually doing their shows. There are games and competitions including a race to a mystery phone box with 20 people in the box.  There’s fabulous music too. The Intrepid Birdman has a live superquiz. Someone made it from Brentwood in Essex. Pretty much the other side of London!There is an article about a new pub cinema called “The Hollywood Greats” in Acton – There was a Thameside listener visit there a few months later. The airwaves were busy that night with superbeams – There was a radio mic linking from Kew Green to the studio near Kew Gardens station, then the the studio linked to the transmission site (Trellick Tower) and from Trellick the signal was broadcast all over London. Thameside Radio listeners at the Kew Green OB include: Steve from Hayes. Victor from Ascot. Bamber from West Acton.  Ian Buzwell, Peter Buzwell. Renata (who fancies Tom). Matthew from Greenford. Hilary (and Jeanette). Someone with a Thameside Radio sticker in Park Drive Harrow. Walthamstow Swimming Club. Pete from QEC.  Tommy Graney from St Marks School Hounslow. Tim who works at Jayes. George Wood from Latymer.  The wonderful Incognito (who sent a demo tape) comprising Sarah Connor, Andy Francis, Andrew Gibbons, Ian Grimble and Greg Shepherd. Cindy, Penny, Grace and Belle.  Mick Taylor (who writes occasional jingles).

Alex reports on the first Thameside Radio Circle Line picnic. He also meets Thameside listener  Vanessa Newman. There are lots of complimentary letters even one from America. The Birdman has Marks (Marx?) in the studio demonstrating his award winning scream. He also tells us that the July 29th Evening News (a one time competitor to the Evening Standard) had an article about  Thameside Radio . Listeners include: Paul Dancer. Susan Baker. Roger Vosene. Len Galbraith. Tommy Reisley. Ashcombe School.  Park High School. Rupert Bailey. Susan Baker. Martin Baker. Arlene Philips. Mandy Squires. John Firth. Karen Hardy. Dermot Scanlon. Robert Bly.  The Southall punks. Andrew du Pre

Bob was meant to be on holiday touring southern Europe and North Africa but as his P reg orange Triumph Spitfire was stolen in Spain so he is back  after just 1 week. It wasn’t insured either. (The car was found by the Spanish police a few weeks later). Alex who was was standing in for Bob  is going to hosting the first Thameside Radio Circle Line Picnic at 2pm next Friday. It’s in a no smoking carriage (remember those). Listeners have to wear a hat, daffodil or something Thameside and bring sandwiches to swap and a bottle. Songs include Sue Wilkinson's “You’ve got to be a hustler if you want to get on” – one of my favourite records that no-one else remembers. You can see it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0HHQ7s2R3w.  Banana Split by Lio   is the listeners most popular new release (and another of my favourites)Dave makes up for playing long records the previous week by playing a lot of his old sketches – remember Dangerous Animals of the World?  The superquiz is impossible as ever. He also has the winner of the scream of the week competition where listeners had to send in a recording of themselves screaming.Thameside Radio Listeners include: Andrew Simpson who is at the Green Belt festival and invites Thameside listeners to join him for a cup of tea. Jeannie from Southall who is besotted by Frances King, Vivienne Smith from Wembley. Mark Haybittle. Ramsey Margolis. Tim Cutcliffe for brother Tony. Valerie and Robert Taylor. Varessa (Vanessa?) Newman from W2.  Latymer Upper School. Godolphin and Latymer. Dave Geer-Moring. Heather Jackson. John Gallagher. Catherine Brockelhurst. Carshalton Boys School. Gary Knight of West London Radio.

The fifth of the regular Intrepid Birdman shows on Thameside Radio 90.2 - Dave is  definitely getting into his  stride now: it's full of fun, horror and fiendishly difficult quizzes.

This recording starts with a some of the ten minute "warmup" which Thameside Radio used to broadcast before the official 7pm start.

The warmup originally formed part of the early broadcasts because the entire  transmission setup was portable and needed setting up afresh every week. The 10 minutes of music before the 7pm start time provided a few moments to verify that everything was working perfectly. It would be used to align the link aerial, check power supplies, make sure the leads were  plugged in properly and to check the tape player if the show was prerecorded.

After a few months there was a  permanent transmitter installation in Trellick Tower and fixed studios in Kew, Chiswick and Ealing so you could be sure that everything would come to life at the flick of a switch. But by then  warmup had proven itself useful in catching listeners tuning over from Radio 1 charts just after (or before) the Number 1 record was played (lets face it - there are only so many times that you want to listen to "Mull of Kintyre" and 9 weeks at number 1 was just too much and 9 weeks of You're the One that I Want " is pushing it a bit too. Oh and don't get me started on "Bright Eyes" please!

So the warmup stayed and the music was carefully chosen  to catch people tuning away from the Radio 1

First half of a 3 hour show.

If you have any other Thameside Radio recordings please get in touch or leave a comment.

This was the  second week that Dave Birdman took over  from Tony Lloyd. Also clue 2 for the treasure hunt and part 2 of Norman Normal. There's a jingle explaining how listening to Bob Edwards can cure dandruff.Bob wants to play all of "the Wall" but Dave won't let him.

Bob of Camden Town wins the mystery tune competition - he is a DJ at the Royal Free Hospital.

Mentions include: Martin Gould. Another letter from Pat Hickey for her family (big fans they were). The heavy rockers at Ealing College. Su Everett.  Nick Luxford of Chelsea everyone at Notting Hill nick.  Steven Cruickshank. Marcus Gaugales. Hammersmith and West London Collegs. Dave Watson. Andy and Madeleine of Richmond whho are getting married. Tony Alegranza from East Finchley. St Cartwright Gardens. Diana Evans. Derek Card of Shepherds Bush. Ian Oakey of Caterham School. John Turner. Richmond upon Thames College. John Peak from Inperial College. 

Sadly this is only the first half of the 3 hour broadcast. If you have any recordings of Thameside Radio shows do please get in touch. 

The Intrepid Birdman explains haw he gets inspiration for his Thameside Radio jingles with the help of a warm bath and a piano. He also interrupts Bob a lot. Danny Webb of Hammersmith enters the mystery voice competition as does Alan Dolby.  There is another treasure hunt where listeners have to find an envelope hidden somewhere in London. – with new clues each week. Listener Jonathan Wilmot of Wembley tells us that he was awarded an out of court settlement after being caned at his school in Harrow.

There is also a recording of the Intrepid Birdman's "OK Ron" at the end of the tape

Dedications include Tracy Leatham of Chingford. Alan Jameson of Hampton. Kim Walsh. Dave Kenny of Twickenham. Kingston Poly. Jim Stockwell. Sharon Slezer. King College. John Lyon School. Marie Rosa. Haverstock School. Linda-Jane Hickey (age 3½)

This is the first half of the broadcast - as ever if you have any more Thameside recordings do please get in touch

Al

 Tony Lloyd presents a lovely laid back show with contributions from Dave Birdman and Debbie the phone girl.  The star prize for the Thameside competitions is a packet of Spangles. There is a recorded feature on life in the US sent in by Bob who is still on holiday.

Listeners include: Dick Gustavsen from Sweden. Jean Fooks from Epson. Barclays Bank in Ewell. Keith Archer from Romford. Dave Collins. Graham King from Orpington. Andrew Shaw of Bromley. Philip Casell from Harlesden. Trevor Ball.  xxx

Judging by the number of letters and calls the station is growing rapidly in popularity. By now Thameside 90.2 is definitely a major part of the London radio scene.

The recording improves significantly half way through.

Tony Lloyd the Thameside Radio newsreader takes over behind the mic as Bob Edwards has gone on holiday to the USA.

The wonderful Thameside Radio wander mic comes into its own as the crew celebrate 6 months of untroubled broadcasting. Bob is in the garden with the Birdman making helpful contributions. You can hear the birds tweeting in the background when Bob is on.

Bob tells us that  Richard and Tony are running the desk in the studio upstairs and that his  little sister is handing out the beers.

This is the first 30 minutes of the show. If you have the other half – or any recordings of Thameside shows please do send me a note.

Listeners include John Dodds of Putney, Kevin Tunstall in N19 and Keith Baker,

Al (@fmthen.com)

Time Out have just run a centre page spread on the London pirate stations featuring Thameside Radio so the team are sounding pleased. It’s clear that there are radio pirates broadcasting pretty much every day and throughout the weekend in London.

 This was an interesting week behind the scenes: Rather than just responding to reports of interference Eric Gotts, who ran the Home Office detection unit, was actively trying to close down all the pirates. Many of the pirates had now discovered the radio channel that the detection unit used so they were able to stop broadcasting or change transmitters as soon as they were being tracked. However this week half way through the evening the detection team were heard to say that they were “going home as all the pirates have gone off” so many of the pirates came back on. In fact the Home Office switched channels and ran a number of successful raids.

 This does illustrate how this was something of a personal battle between Eric Gotts and the pirates. It was wasn’t just about preventing interference it really was a vendetta which was probably made worse when Eric was successfully prosecuted by Radio Jackie for violent conduct!

 The recording has most but not all of the show. If you have more please drop me a note.

 You might notice that  the VOX was set a bit tight on one of the transmitters – this is the circuit which automatically switches the transmitter off when the broadcast stops. Unfortunately it set so that it switched off even if there was just a quiet bit in a record. It comes back on when the record gets louder though...

 The number of transmitters being lost to the authorities around this time meant that some  engineers had started to specialise in building and selling VHF transmitters and link equipment to the pirates. Funnily those entrepeneurs are still doing it but they now run major businesses building equipment for mainstream broadcasters throughout the world such as the BBC and have moved away from the pirate market completely.

Dave takes over from Bob for an extended broadcast and we hear for the first time from Ian the Thameside Radio engineer who takes over from Dave for a while. Hi Ian!

The show finishes early (well just after midnight) because the transmitter was turned off before Dave finished his show.

Part 1 of a live broadcast that went on to midnight. The first two hours are the Bob Edwards show - at the end of the recording Bob hands over to Dave.

Because the pirates were monitoring the  radio channels used by the DTI they knew when they were being tracked and when there was no risk.

The Sunday Civil Service overtime payments must have been great for the crews in teh detector vans!

Paul James stands in for Bob. This is the week after another Thameside Radio 90.2 party from Shepherds Bush. (The recording of that show is still being worked on). 

Bob Edwards has returned after his long break where Paul James filled in. There is a Thameside party again next week at the Shepherds Bush Village Hall. The station changes site every 30 minutes or so to keep the DTI on their toes. Not for the first time Bob says that Dave sounds miserable on his show!

 Dave tells us about taking someone to Covent Garden to get their ear pierced and reads the amazing leaflet they were given.

Bob finally gets to tell us about the funny things inside matchboxes that listeners have sent in. Dave sent Bob a flashing bit of jewellery - a heart with an LED in it. Bob describes the LED as "one of those modern things".  Andrew Shepherd of Poplar sent Jelly Babies. Chris Brown sent a fried egg! John of Maidenhead sent a tape of Bob Edward mistakes. Other entries included the secret of life, money, a pair of gerbils feet, some transmitter components, Debbie Harry's phone number (Mark Bramley from Bromley) and a brain pacemaker. The winner was the gerbils feet embedded in resin. 

Mark Hawkins of Brentwood wins five singles in the phone competition!

Listening to this broadcast shows how the Thameside Radio 90.2 superbeam easily covered the whole of London. The letters include  listeners in Maidenhead, Bromley, Brentwood and Boreham Wood. All lie outside what is now the M25. That's a radius of at least 17 miles: A quick bit of O-level maths shows the Thameside transmitter covered an area of over 900 sq miles. Wow.

For the engineers out there: The photo shows a Thameside Radio transmitter of the time. The audio and power control circitry is in one of the die-cast boxes, the other box houses the driver board (exciter). On the front panel you can just see the meter which can show the DC voltage or audio levels. Switches on the front control power, meter readings and vox settings.  

 There are more poems for Sarah of Kew and a report on a Genesys concert at the Hammersmith Odeon. One of the new releases is Teen Romance by The Alsatians - who are regular listeners

Dave parodies the Hamlet advert. Remember when you saw cigar adverts on the TV?  A lot of superquiz answers too as well as a new one. Simon Tindall (who wants to be a sound engineer) writes asking if he can visit the studio. 

The Tony Lloyd fan club writes in to find out what has happened to him and to sell Dave a Tony Lloyd sweatshirt. Tony does appear briefly. (Where are you now Tony? Do email al@fmthen.com or leave a comment here.)

Thameside Radio listeners mentioned include: Jeff (Goeff?) Hawkins forUniversity College. Boris Bartkiw for 6S2 at Latymer Upper School including Steve, Stephen, Petra, Zena of Kenton, Ingrid and everyone else in Kew Gardens. Patricia Hickey for Richard. John Firth of SW7.  Anthony Osterwell. John Tenton. Steve Petherich. Markus of NW5. Andy Midsen ofChertsey. John of Boreham Wood, Brian Gording, Marcus Gonzales, Colin Mainu, Warren Stephenson of Chessington,Exeter University. Gary Wilkins of Bromley. Tony Anagranza of East Finchley.Martin Greaves. G S Rocket of Uxbridge. Keith Lang of Petersham.

This recording comes from Radio Eric. I was sent cassettes of the show (along with the previous two) which I had started converting to mp3 when I came across this one so I took the easy solution!    

Bob is going to be giving away Easter eggs and having Easter themed events.

There are no letters because Bob forgot to pick them up from 1 Grosvenor Parade W5. (Now a restaurant - at the time it was a printers.) It was a great address because it doesn't appear in the A to Z.

Capital Radio had been giving plugs for Thameside Radio on their "Help a London Child" weekend. I know that at least one of the DJs used to listen regularly because he wrote in. It was Roger Scott I think.  

Bob calls Alan Jameson from Hampton who correctly guesses that an egg thrown out of the studio window wouldn't break! 

Dave is on the end of the radio mic having a sticky bun fight with the neighbours before having an egg and spoon race live on air with Bob. Dave (The Inrepid Birdman)  spends his show throwing raw eggs for Bob to catch. He has a great advert for the "self adjusting door knocker" which makes an appropriate sound for the person who is at your front door! Pirate Radio was such fun!

Mentions for: Psychopath Kiev. John Webb of N5. Steve of Acton. Richard of Hornchurch.

A classic  show from Thameside Radio 90.2 - 3 hours with Bouncing Bob Edwards and a final finely crafted  hour with the Intrepid Birdman. One of the very early Birdman shows in fact.

Bob tells us that accidents are Freudian - they all have a meaning if you think about them; later we discover he has lost his tortiose: I wonder what that meant?

Bob phones listener Pete (for the mystery voice compettion) who is making a Welsh dresser!

The write in competition this week  has a prize for putting something interesting in a matchbox. I think there were some quite unusual entries! We'll find out on next weeks podcast.

Rupert of East Molsey won a prize for knowing that the Intrepid Birdman's favourite Spangles were the black ones. Someone proposes to Sarah from Kew in verse.

Dave plays outtakes from an interview in the Laseraruim where Bob chatted with the laserist Howard Sachs. (The Laserium was a music and laser show at the London Planetarium). The superquiz is still fiendishly difficult. You'll have to listen...

Mentions also for Marcus Gonzales, Paul Turtil, Mark Hawkins, Radio Caroline, Ian of Ickenham, Paul Cambridge from Catford (who had his Thameside Radio badge stolen), Andrew Bell from Plumstead,  Keith Lang, F W Conrad,

I think that this is Thameside's first stereo test transmission.

While the show is  still mono  the opening and closing "do you ever have difficulty" jingles are remixed and in stereo. I wonder how they did that?

Paul James has a brand new Beatles spot. It's very hot in the studio and he assures us that Sarah is reading the dedications with her clothes off. (In our dreams!) Sarah mentions (amongst others) Thameside listeners at Hammersmith Hospital, Windy Miller, snoopy, cupcake, the copycats club, Robin Holbert.

As well as more ILR outtakes Dave has CB dedications for Red Rooster, Blue Wheeler and Orange Club in the Rayners Lane area. He also talks about Steve Walsh from Radio Invicta (another fine London pirate) who is advertising Svenson hair weaving in the local press.

Thameside  always had amazing birthday parties. But this had to be the best. Bob presented to first section from the studio - the  second half was presented by Dave  with Alex live from a boat filled with listeners sailing up and down the Thames. So Thameside Radio 90.2 holds the record for the first  pirate radio broadcast from inshore waters!

The weather was so snowy we had to leave from Kingston Pier rather than Richmond Pier. The captain  really didn't believe that anyone wanted to have a boat party in the mid winter in such attrocious conditions. Then he headed upstream away from Brentford where the main transmitter was located. We worried about losing the link signal between the boat and the main site but couldn't exactly explain to him why it was so important that we went towards Brentford, especially as it was dark, cold, snowy and there was absolutely nothing for the passengers to to see. He turned round though - thank goodness.

An unforgettable evening.

Many many thanks to Radio Eric for the recording (I'm pretty sure it's from their archives originally)

The first part of the show is presented by Bob Edwards from the studio. The second part, hosted by Paul James, was recorded earlier that evening at the Thameside Radio 90.2 party in the Shepherds Bush Village Hall.

Sarah is off with a throat infection - so Bob is standing in for her.

There are some technical problems at the start of the show - I edited about 15 minutes out as there isn't much to hear.  There is a Thameside Radio  Valentines Day party at the Shepherd's Bush Village Hall next week. And the team tell us they will be broadcasting from a new studio that week as well.

Aidan Schulkes of Hammersmith wins the Paul James competition (did you know that Ready Salted was the most popular flavour of crisps in 1980).  Bob interviews Sarah with a squeaky voice in her sick bed.

Dave has some recordings from the cutting room floors of various radio stations - including a Guinness advert which assures us that  "not a lot of women like it". He also plays a a few tracks from the the new Eddie Grunt album. Well - bits of tracks to avoid the language!

There's a CB spot too - Dave sets up the  Thameside Breakers club.

Two hours with Paul, Sarah and Dave. Paul is eating the Spangles that  Thameside gave out as prizes.

Paul chipped his tooth at a party last night!

Eddie Grunt is in the Thameside Charts (do you remember him?)

There are some slick site changes with great Birdman Jingles - the first one is 30 minute in.

Dave Sarah has a report from the Chinese New Year. Dave has a CB section. He reads an article from City Limits (a competitor to Time Out) about Eric Gotts whose job it was to close down the pirates. There are also some more bloopers from other radio stations.

Dedications include: Les Keely, Mike of Chalfont, Mazzie, Aidan from Rent-a-rabble,  Simon Marlborough from Chiswick, Brother Illiano Pertrowich, St Paul's School in Barnes, Wolfie in East Croydon, Mark Unwin, NESCOTASS at Espsom RAC club. 

A two hour show from Thameside Radio 90.2  The first hour with Paul James and Sarah from Kew, the second with the Intrepid Birdman. Bob is clearly still away.

The opening by the massed Thameside Listeners was recorded at an Outside Broadcast in Hyde Park as far as I can rememeber. 

Paul reviews "An American Werewolf in London" which was recently released. Sarah tells us that there is going to be a Valentines party on Feb 14th. There's a pretty neat transmitter change when Dave pulls a plug out. Reception was a bit rough after this though.

Listeners mentioned include Steve Scribbler. Eddie Grunt. Gary Bearnd. Les Keely. Andy from Hillingdon. Paul Deacon. Neal Stoddard (who won the competition).  Radio Alpha (Mondays on 90.2 VHF). Gary Steele.

Paul James is standing in for Bob again in this two hour show. The first 30 minutes has techincal problems - all is resolved after the transmitter change in time to listen to Sarah reading out dedeications.

There's an interview with Tony Fletcher who runs the Jamming Records and Jamming fanzine.

Dave plays Henry at Rawlinsons End, tells us about heroic failures and plays some bloopers from other radio stations. The Intrepid Birdman Superquiz asks which record has been in the charts the longest (122 weeks). 

Thameside Radio listeners mentioned include. Carnelia who has been on holiday in Goa where a meal costs 70p. Alan Murrel in Hackney.

Sarah interviews Rat Scabies fron The Damned at the beginning of this Interpid Birdman Show. Dave tells us that there is a new voice on Thameside Radio: While Bob Edwards is away Paul James (ex Radio Floss) presents the first hour. Dave still has the second hour. Paul (see photo) became a regular Thameside presenter.

Following a mammoth New Year's eve broadcast Thameside Radio has decided to go down to  two hour shows. Bob is going away to somewhere he describes as "a bit like Colditz" (true - see photo) for a couple of months. This week the first half hour has Dave running the show playing Bob's favourite songs - with chat from Bob. Something like Desert Island Disks. 

Sarah then has a 30 minute show for dedications etc. 

The second hour is a full Intrepid Birdman Show. Dave has even reintroduced the Superquiz. Next week there is an interview with Rat Scabies from The Damned.

This is a replacement for the pervious podcast which was linked to the wrong file.

The show after the 4th Birthday boat trip - which was the first ever pirate radio broadcast from the inshore waters on the Thames.

The Thameside Radio 90.2 Christmas party is next Sunday 27 December 1981 at the Shepherds Bush Community Hall. Were you there? There will also be an extended Thameside broadcast on New Year's Eve (which only just kept me awake as far as I can remember).

Bob Edwards plays records from the year for listeners to vote on for a chart on New Year's Eve. Many of them have  definitely stood the test of time.

Sarah has a spot at 8pm. She reads a couple of the 10 letters that Mazzy wrote this week.

Dave Birdman tells us about the trip. It really was quite unreal being on a pirate ship in the snow on the Thames playing music - he had a driving test which was cancelled due to snow. Dave plays Christmas in Dredland by Judge Dredd and wishes he hadn't. Loads of new sketches too.

There are some snippets from the boat trip - including Mothball being given the bumps for his birthday.

There are a number of transmitter changes. It takes up to an hour to track down a pirate transmitter so the regular changes kept the Home Office at bay. It does require a lot of technology and staff to do it though - especially without the benefit of mobile phones. Each site is temporary so the  aerials have to be put up, the equipment connected, the show broadcast  then it's  disconnected, dismantled and moved on. Sundays were very busy for the Thameside crew. Busy for listeners too as they had to move their aerials around. 

  I have assorted recordings of most of Thameside Radio's 4th birthday almost ready to podcast  but it's a bit of a jigsaw with some better than others. The end of the birthday show is sadly missing. Do you have the end of the broadcast somewhere?

Thameside Radio 90.2 listeners mentioned include Keith Murray from Pinner, Nower Hill High School, Andrew Simpson, John Graves, Clive Barwood, Jerry Sinclair, John Brennan, Doug McLane, Dave Booth, David Swift of West Ealing, Adam Raven.

First half of a 3 hour show.

Last week Tony Lloyd was cut off in his prime during a live broadcast from a listener's house (Julian and Vebecca in Meon Road Acton) where the crew ate spaghetti on air. That was the first of many shows from listeners' homes like Tatty's party a couple of months later.

This show has loads of musical jingles by Dave.

Elton John, B52s, The Motels, Supertramp,  Queen .. what a varied musical selection.

Bob calls more listerers with the long running Thameside Radio mystery voice competition. Steve Petherick of Hayes doesn't win tbut  thinks the authorties should return the transmitter they nicked. Later we hear from Ruth Leaper of Harrow who also also doesn't win. She has dedications for her brothers Adrian and Clive also cousins David and Jeremy. Ruth supports Chelsea who are in the Second Division!

Richard Jones of Hornchurch and Jim Stockwell contribute local news.

This show does illustrate that Thameside Radio 90.2 had  a lot of  listener involvement. No wonder there are so many recordings still around. (do you have one you could contribute?)

Bob tells us he is going to play part 2 of the Norman Normal saga and Tony Lloyd will have part 1 of the new LP of the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

Thameside Radio 90.2 listeners mentioned include: Anthony Osterwell of Wembley Park. Richard Morgan from Bromley. Mr Henry at Latymer Upper School. Mark Bramley of Bromley. Jeff Eagles from the Walthamstow Swimmming Club. Chris Hall. Moat Mount School. Alex and Chris Child of Carshalton. Wilson's School in Wallington. Particia and Paddy Hickory. Richard Jones of Hornchurch. Tim Stockwell.

A 1 hour show from Bob Edwards with a totally over the top intro. Jingles at every opportunity. Music news from Tony Lloyd. This is the Thameside Radio 90.2 that Time Out had featured in its article on pirate radio stations on March 23rd (iss 466, price 35p). where it described Thameside Radio as  "Very slick pop/rock with competitions. Highly regarded and consistent, this is the nearest we have to US-FM presentation. All over coverage. Usually from the west."

Bob has asked for funny shaped letters - one even came on a rotten banana another others on an elastic band, a record sleeve and some writtten on brushes. A listener requests some pirate radio themes - Bob plays the Radio Dublin theme, The Pirates Lullaby amongst others. 

Although the Intrepid Birdman Show hasn't yet been introduced Dave has already released the Ron Nasty songs - This week Bob plays  "Nobody Loves Me (just 'cause I eat worms)"

Thameside Radio 90.2 namechecks include Robert Dudley of Hampton Jeff Fatherin.  Rob Allen of SW15.  Tim Penache. Julies restaurant. Graham Sanders of Croydon. Barry Kemp from New Malden. Andy Segals of Walthamstow. Martin Greaves. Walthmstow swimming club. Davis Lewis of Uxbridge. Steve Holloway of SW16 for parachutists. PJ O'Connor of SW7. Richard Morgan of Bromley. Chris Miller. Geoff (Jeff) Barton.  Bob phones Mark Hawkins who is listening in Brentwood.  The superbeam really did get out a long way. 

Bob Edwards remembers that it's The Intrepid Birdman's 30th Birthday and tells us that he is very old.  It's also Sarah's 18th birthday on Wednesday. She thinks that that's quite old too. Bob gives Dave an amazing rare limited edition Thameside Radio mug (see photo). There were only 11 of these made.

There are buckets of letters coming in.

This week Mark is meeting listeners at Wembley Central tube, Barnes railway bridge and High Street Kensington Tube and selling tickets for the forthcoming boat trip. 

Alex Wright tells us about the listeners social last Tuesday at the smallest pub in the UK (the Hole in the wall in Kings Cross) and that next weeks social event for Thameside Radio listeners is at "The Film Location" in Acton Vale. (A tiny cinema / restaurant / bar). 

Last week's show was raided just before the end so the crew are back to transmitter changes. In the past Thameside Radio didn't talk about the problems of being a pirate station on the basis that if they behaved professionally the authorities would leave them alone - which worked for a while. But not any more. so 45 minutes in there's a very different Bob Edwards jingle and then there's a public information item about how transmitter changes work.

Sarah is reading letters after being off wit a cold. Mazzy tells us that she was playing cello in the Royal Albert Hall wearing a Thameside Radio sweatshirt - and peple knew what it was! But she was asked not to wear it for the evening performance. There is a complaint that there aren't enough letters from members of the Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society. Loads of namechecks. Too many to write up. But John Carbon has a moving dedication for Ruth.

Mark interviews The Basils Balls Up Band at the Kings Head in Fulham who are still gigging now.

Dave has a funky new jingle to open the show. He is given the bumps on air by the crew. He has taken encouraging listeners to spread malicious rumours about Bob Edwards. Dave also has another transmitter change to contend with. These transmitter changes really frustrated the Home Office who had recently taken to trying to track down "Romeo Tango" (their secret code for Radio Thameside) most weekends as they had to catch a transmitter actually being used. As soon as it was swirtched off they couldn't do anthing about it.

Fortunately Dave has another track from the Portsmouth Symphonia album (probably the best band in the world - you really have to hear it - 151 minutes in). Sadly I seem to have mislaid my copy and I can't find it on the Internet. He also plays "Suspended Animation" for the Intrepid Birdman Appreciation Society and Nick Turner from the Inner City Unit. "Tainted Love" is remastered as "Tainted Shirt" advertising the Thameside Sweatshirts. Finally Ron Nasty offers relationship advice.