people that if you really want something
you’ve got to keep going at it.
When I was living in Surrey I applied to
Southern Sound Radio which started in
1983 they asked me to come and see
them. They liked what I sent them and
eventually they offered me a job in 1986.
That is what it was called in those days,
then it changed from Southern Sound
Radio to Southern Sound and eventually
Southern FM and it’s now called Heart of
course - I worked for them for 17 years.
everyone else thought I was brilliant.
When everybody thinks you’re good
and you think you’re rubbish you just
have to stick with it. So I stayed and did
the show and it was successful - loads
of people listened and, of course the
record companies knew about it as well
so when I left university, instead of going
to a job where I could use my chemistry
degree, I got offered jobs by record
companies.
I went and worked for CBS, which is
now Sony in London and that’s how my
working life began. Across the road was
Bush House, which is where the BBC
World Service was broadcast. I got a
six-month graduate placement to work
there and that’s how I got a lot of training
for radio. From there I did a bit of work for
the BBC local radio in London and then
when commercial radio started I applied
for loads and loads of jobs but I got so
many refusals. I’ve still got a pile of the
letters somewhere in the house that I’ve
saved just to remind me. I tell young
My first show was nothing to do with
love, it was called Soul Direction. It was
all about soul music and I used to be on
from 7-11pm on a Saturday night just
playing some great soul. It was fantastic.
That’s my kind of music - motown,
classic soul music like Otis Redding,
Wilson Pickett, James Brown and Aretha
Franklin - music that makes you want
to dance. It was early evening on a
Saturday and it was really, really good.
I loved it and that was my first proper
show, my own show which was fantastic
and I loved it.
In those days, Southern Sound Radio
was quite new and we never used to
broadcast for 24 hours like they do
now. In those days we used to finish
at midnight then there was a recorded
programme from 11pm to midnight which
was recorded in London and sent down
to us on tape. When I finished, I pressed
the button but I had to stay because I
had to lock up the whole radio station
and you can’t leave in case anything
goes wrong so I used to stay there till
midnight.
About three or four months into my
show, the managing director at the time,
Rory McCloud, told me the contract for
the 11pm-midnight slot was coming to
an end and needed filling. He asked
me what we should do and in a flash - I
don’t know where the inspiration comes
to you from sometimes - I said to him, ‘I
know exactly what we should do, Rory,
we should play love songs from eleven to
twelve’. He said he would go away and
think about it. So he went away and a
week later he called me into his office
and said, ‘I like the love songs idea so
let’s give it v