This is
STEVE MARTIN
at MAR
I first got interested in radio back the mid-seventies when my uncle gave me a battered old transistor radio, I was about 10 years old at the time. I used to listen to Radio 1 and at night Radio Luxembourg under the bedclothes! It was at this point I decided I wanted to be a DJ. Me and my mate Ronnie used to set up a "studio" with turntables, cassette decks, a cart machine & reel to reel and pretend to be DJ's, very Smashey & Nicey (not arf!)
The first pirate station I heard was RJN in about the summer of 78, it was great listening to Rick Dane & Dick Barton, it was probably that station that got me into Rock music. Later in the year I heard Burt for the first time on Radio 252 on Sunday evenings. I listened to these stations occasionally, but it was 1979 when I first got blown away by pirate radio. One Saturday afternoon in November I was tuning from Radio Merseyside to Radio 1, as all the local football had been cancelled, and just before I got to Radio 1 I came across this really powerful radio station on 266 metres, it was MERSEYLAND ALTERNATIVE RADIO. I was hooked instantly. I will never forget those days listening to Mike Stand & Robin Blinde etc.
In 1980 me and my mate Ronnie sent our demos off to MAR but never heard anything. During the early 80's there were dozens of stations and I listened to most of them, and even sent loads of demos to stations but never got a gig sadly.
During the mid 80's girls & booze took more priority over radio, I also did a bit of DJing in pubs/clubs etc, mainly just for a bit of fun and to help a mate out, during this time I did get a couple of offers to join stations that were on in the mid/late 80's, but to be honest I didn't really have the time.
Into the early 90's I carried on listening to stations such as Atlantis & Kiss FM, but in the mid 90's I fell out with the music that was around and lost interest in radio, I still occasionally listened to the "dance" pirates, but mainly just out of anorak interest. I also listened to European Klassic Rock and later Radio Caroline on the Astra satellite as there wasn't a really good dedicated rock station on FM.
It was probably a mixture of the re-birth of Indie music with guitar bands and my kids getting older that got me back into music, and also back into DJing occasionally.
And it was probably STEVE WEST who I can blame for getting me back into pirate radio, as it was a phone conversation with him that got me to join WEED FM.
Since then I have been involved with numerous stations including RADIO XANADU, RADIO JACKIE NORTH(tributes), TOWER FM, & NOTORIOUS FM, and now the legend that is MERSEYLAND ALTERNATIVE RADIO.
Acknowledgements:
"One Saturday afternoon in November I was tuning from Radio Merseyside to Radio 1, as all the local football had been cancelled, and just before I got to Radio 1 I came across this really powerful radio station on 266 metres, it was MERSEYLAND ALTERNATIVE RADIO. I was hooked instantly."
STEVE HOW AMAZING IS THAT, AN EXACT MIRROR PROBABLY THE SAME DATE TOO, OF HOW I GOT HOOKED. I DID NOT EVEN KNOW WHAT A PIRATE WAS PRIOR TO THAT - andy
Steve has given up radio for now let’s hope he’ll be back - Jackie
