Kentish Times, Thursday 7th October 1976.
Kentish Times, Thursday 7th October 1976.
Radio Telstar South initially adopted the 1962 version of Telstar on Decca
Records by the Tornados as the station ID, but after just a few weeks on air this was
replaced by the phased and more dynamic version from 1975 by the Original Tornados. The
man responsible for this important shift in musical direction was none other than the
essential driving force during Telstar's eight year period on air and station founder Kid
Johnson. Kid had originally worked for Radio Free London some two or three years earlier
but left after becoming disillusioned with the stations poor system of site security,
(this was back in 1973) so with the help of a group of friends Radio Telstar South hit
London's airwaves in the summer of 1976 with a massive signal on 92.8 Mhz.
I recently met up with KJ again at one of Bob Dunn's (see the Pirates Directory) 21st century reunions for ageing former pirates and put the following questions to him.
HC> You seem a bit thinner on top since I last saw you, where's it ' gone?
KJ> I seem to recall standing reasonably close to a Telstar transmitting arrangement on a couple of occasions. This, I suspect could have burnt out a local hair follicle or two, thus giving you the occasion to form that impression.
HC> How did the idea for a Sunday evening golden oldie service come about?
KJ> It was 1976- and in the London area during the day there were numerous stations playing chart material, and a few presenting specialist music formats. However, after 5 pm everything seemed to grind to a halt. Sunday evenings seemed long and totally boring. If you were lucky you may have been able to "sing something simple" and then retire to your slumber with a mug of steaming Bournevita and a warm brick. This situation was soon to change as two operators (Roy Wass & Kid Johnson) decided to "test the ground" and see if there was a possibility of a substantive audience after Alan Freeman's "Pick of the Pops" chart show finished at 7pm. This show was networked on BBC radios 1 and 2 every Sunday and had an extremely large following. At 7pm people would twiddle their tuning dials desperately searching for some decent music to brighten up the remainder of their Sunday evening. Back in 1975, a band 2 V.H.F. sending device had been obtained from a radio transmitter engineer called "Michael Martin", a man of high repute within pirate circles. Michael had apparently learned most of his skills from a man named "The Count" , who was a North London pirate Baron operating in the Borehamwood area of Hertfordshire. When suffering a G .P.O raid he would make good his escape on a high powered motorcycle that incorporated "cloaked" number plates. That would hoodwink the investigating officers. I mention Michael at this stage because he played a large roll in the development of the Station's transmitter, antenna, and switching techniques that were to be applied in the early and middle years of the Station's operations.
HC> There were a series of test transmissions prior to the commencement of weekly broadcasts, who was involved in these and where did they take place?
KJ> The earliest viability test transmissions took place in 1975 around the August & September period using the station name of " INDEPENDENT RADIO LONDON SOUTH " (I .R. L. S). Commencement was at 7pm on Sunday at a frequency of 92.8Mhz VHF. They emanated from Crutchley road in Downham, South East London. The antenna was a Turnstile arrangement advanced towards the sky via a large pole, on the roof of a Council tenement block. The transmitter power was in the order of 15 watts and there were a series of programmes recorded by Kid Johnson. Each transmission lasted 1 hour and used a telephone contact number and a mailing address. In attendance at these early tests were Roy and Margaret, KJ, and on one of the occasions I recall The Wizard being present, a close assistant of Michael Martin.
HC> FM transmitters were in those days rather like 'gold dust', where did the first Telstar transmitter come from?
KJ> Yes they certainly were, but we were fortunate enough to be drinking associates of Michael Martin, and a couple of pints of Abbot could work wonders in the transmitter department. Michael would spend many an evening bolted in his workshop in the South Croydon area, designing & constructing new equipment, which he always turned out to a very high standard. Michael was also fully conversant with the construction of medium wave sending arrangements, a few of which he built during the time he was involved.
HC> Who used to answer the phones and take messages in the early days?
KJ> The earliest telephone operator was Dave Reading, who was a popular choice as he was fully geared up to deal with the large volume of telephone calls that we got throughout the transmissions. Amazingly the calls would continue to come in during the following week with listeners, asking for requests and giving reception reports. Very soon afterwards, Dave had to get an extra telephone line installed and take on more staff to cope with the surge of calls, which were keeling over and congesting the relays in his local telephone exchange.
HC> What was the response from the listeners like?
KJ> I can sum that up with one word "FANTASTIC", they were a great bunch and they really did appreciate the service we were providing, and the great thing was that 90% of the calls were from just ordinary people who had come across us by chance, and could not wait to participate in the greatest golden oldies extravaganza of the time. It seemed to give them hope that their Sunday evenings in future would not be limited to the likes of the "Mike Samms Singers" or "Ted Heath and his Orchestra" and "Strike up with the Band".
HC> Where were the weekly programs recorded?
KJ > There were various studios scattered in and around the London Basin area and Kent, including South Norwood, Crystal Palace, Grove Park, Hither Green, Bromley, Hayes, Biggin Hill and Beckenham.
HC> Running a station on a weekly basis involved a lot of hard work by just a few dedicated people. Did you ever get fed up or despondent?
KJ> There were highs and lows, virtually all of your free time became taken up with the station in one way or another. One moment you were planning a transmission site, the next you were up to your neck in stinging nettles rigging an antenna. After that you may be recording a programme, and then later discussing policy, over the odd pint of Young's special, 20 Benson & Hedges, and a packet of cheese and onion crisps.
HC> Who used to maintain the transmitter's and build replacement equipment for the station?
KJ> As stated earlier Michael Martin was the main constructor in the early years. Horace Cracksman built equipment that was to be the salvation of the station in its latter years.
HC> Did any transmissions from Telstar ever take place on medium wave?
KJ> Yes indeed, Telstar did send a number of medium wave transmissions. One in particular was from a field near Chislehurst in Kent. It was propelled from a couple of KT 88 BOTTLES fed by a huge ex-military rotary Generator, powered by two burly 12-volt car batteries wired in series. This I can recall was capable of delivering a massive pressure of 700 volts at 300 ma. The transmission itself was a huge success, and it took place over a bank holiday Monday. We were the only pirate operators on the band at this particular time, as there had been raids to Radio Jackie and others that Sunday. What still remains a mystery to this very day is why we were tracked down by a bunch of pathetic wannabe post office officials who turned off the transmitter with about 10 minutes to go. They then proceeded to scratch on the rotary generator unit "you have been traced by Radio Jackie." - They say it takes all sorts!
HC> How much equipment was lost to the post office over the stations life?
KJ> Too much equipment was lost is the simple answer. Every Transmitter was invaluable and whenever a unit was seized it dealt a devastating blow. But the bottom line was, we lost about three complete sets of apparatus due to raids. Then there was one set lost due to theft by a couple of jealous, devious radio hoodlums, (fortunately however, this equipment was later recovered thanks to an investigation conducted by "Dave Sinclair", a proprietor of Skyline Radio, the F.M./Medium wave station that broadcast during the early Eighties.
HC> Over a period of eight years there must be some memorable moments.
KJ> Just a few. One memory in particular was the time we fired up our (QQV0640A) 90-watt valve transmitter from a location near Wrotham Hill in Kent. The signal was being dispatched into the airwaves through a three-element yagi arrangement pointing towards the London area. I seem to recall Roy making a telephone call to Margaret who was located some 15 miles away to get a reception report. "Its London strength" she had howled, now there's a memory for you. Another was the time we did a live transmission from West Wickham using a portable studio arrangement. It was amazing being able to instantaneously play a selected oldie that had been requested just minutes before. That evening the Listeners went Bananas. Another time we were standing by the transmitter in a wood at Knockholt Pound in Kent waiting for the programmes to finish and with just 2 minutes to go. The G.P.O arrived, it was pitch black and they could not see a thing, you could clearly hear them crashing about in the undergrowth, desperately attempting to locate the source in the dying last few minutes. They did not know that there was a thick virtually impregnable bramble fence between them and us and fortunately this turned out to be our salvation as it was only that fence that saved our bacon. Without it we would have had our chips. Memories like that you don't forget in a hurry. Another was a Christmas day broadcast that took place on the 25th December 1977. We were standing at the top of a golf course with about half an hour to go. It was freezing cold and coming up for about 9.30pm. Through the darkness some figures could be seen approaching. We were just getting ready to move off at 45 degrees, when we suddenly recognised at least 2 of the faces as being Mike Burnett of Sun Radio & Andy Allman of R.F.L. They had tracked our transmissions and had come to wish us a merry Christmas. I sometimes still try to work out who was mad. Us for standing on a golf course on a freezing cold Christmas Day evening, or them being out tracking down radio Telstar when they could have been watching Bing Crosby's White Christmas on the telly in front of a warm log fire. But to go into all the memories over 8 years would be a real task, as there are so many.
HC> Roy's untimely death in 1979 was a sad loss to Margaret, but how did it affect the running of the station?
KJ> It was an absolute tragedy that Roy became stricken down with an illness that was to claim him at such a young age. Up to the time he was diagnosed he had still been putting up the occasional antenna. He loved being involved with the Station and he played an extremely large roll in its inception. He had a natural gift at climbing trees and would make sure that antennas were placed as high as possible to effect maximum radiation. He used to work in a machine shop and would spend his lunch hour tirelessly making precision mounting brackets that would assist in the placement of the antennas in treetops. Yes the Station did go through a very difficult period after Roy’s death, but we knew that it should continue, and I am 100% certain he would have wished for it as well.
HC> Why did the station finally close?
KJ> It was now 1984 and a loophole in the Wireless and Telegraphy Act of 1949 had been discovered by the operators of London’s "Skyline Radio". This enabled them to go on the air 24 hours a day without fear of having their equipment immediately seized by the authorities in the event of a raid. It was only a matter of weeks before most of the mainstream clandestine V.H.F. stations (HORIZON /SOLAR /LWR /JFM) to name but a few, decided that they also would follow the same route. The rest is history. In a matter of just weeks the V.H.F. waveband in London was chocker block with activity and this left no room for a station that was transmitting on a once-a-week basis. The goalposts had drastically changed. We were faced with a situation where you never really knew whether your frequency would be occupied. These circumstances had made our operations untenable and we reluctantly decided that it was no longer viable to continue with a service if it was to become unreliable. The options were clear. Join the 24/7 route or withdraw gracefully. As I said, it was a reluctant decision but we had to decide on the latter option in view of our position and the circumstances that were manifest.
HC> Do you have any regrets about giving up such a large proportion of your free time to run the station?
KJ> No, not at all. It had to be done. If everyone sits on the fence and does nothing then precisely nothing gets done. Yes I did give up a lot of time, but then again so did many other clandestine operators of the day, and I think that as a collective campaign we did achieve a huge amount of change.
HC> Would you do it again?
KJ> I think before anybody could begin to answer such a complex question one would have to think back 25 years and establish the hard stone cold, irrefutable facts that drove one to spend 8 years of one’s life in a field. For many it will not be difficult to recall the situation that prevailed at that particular time. Nowadays the public would not tolerate it; they would go ballistic, just a couple of music stations to listen to, that’s your lot, now be grateful, shut up & go away! But things are still far from perfect, and improvements have still got a long way to go. Also we have to remember that we are now in the middle of entering a new phase of entertainment platforms, taking the form of digital & satellite broadcasting and also Internet radio. These mediums I trust will broaden the horizon for more scope so eventually every listener will be satisfied with the availability of content whatever his or her choice may be. As to whether these new methods of transmission will be a popular choice with the general members of the public remains to be seen. We must wait and see if they bear fruit, as did the seeds the Golden Boys planted in the fields of Kent some 25 years ago.
The following 17 names make up the definitive list of all those people who have helped or contributed to Radio Telstar South during it's eight year period on air.
Mark Ashton
Mike Burnett
Horace Cracksman
Nigel Davies
Alan Ford (Warlord)
Kid Johnson
Michael Martin
Cliff (Moonraker)
Kenny Myers
Dawn Peters
Dave Reading
Paul (friend of Dave Reading)
Justin Simmons
Dave Sinclair
Roy Wass
Margaret Wass
The Wizard
This list was compiled by HC and KJ during the summer of 2001 to mark the 25th anniversary of London's first Golden Oldie station. As we used to tell you at the time - we lead, others follow!.
(Thanks to KM for supplying this one)
A few bits of insulating tape and a solitary scaffold pole are all that
remain of a once mighty and proud aerial system erected some twenty five years earlier by
Roy Wass. This was also the spot from where the final transmission from Radio Telstar took
place in March 1984. Years later KJ and I discovered that we had shared this site in
Cacket's Lane Knockholt with Radio North Kent, a station that used to come on air on the
same channel after we closed down on a Sunday evening. Sometimes they used to 'tune up'
their equipment whilst our final few minutes of transmission were still going out!. They
did however redeem themselves in 1980 by letting the station use the powerful RNK
transmitter for several months following a rooftop raid in Crystal Palace by Brian Holder
(Post Office) and several of his pals from the now defunct SPG in January of that year.
The SPG were the controversial Police Special Patrol Group. That Sunday evening outing
must have seemed like a 'vicars tea party' compared to their normal riot control duties!.
There were about six of them in total including Holder, now if you wanted to be cynical
you might ask was this such a wise and prudent use of tax payers money?. What I can tell
you is that Radio Telstar South resumed normal service after a break of just one week.
"Around the UK"
Soundwaves magazine issue 14 (May 1981)
Mike Burnett from the Rock Experience ( no connection with the late Jimi ) has produced a short history of Radio Telstar South. Although far from accurate, I think even Enid Blyton would have been impressed with the story. The hocus is spun by the opportunist Nigel Davies and starts from the first lines of the opening paragraph and works its way through the bulk of the text. But before you go out and blow a raspberry at the pompous Mr Davies it does make interesting reading just like one of Enid's novels that you probably read as a child and for those folk who have a sound card there are some real audio clips as well. Click here to check out the action.