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Recent Additions To Our Radio Station Archive

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Over the last couple of weeks we have added these new items…

1. Manx Radio: Britain’s oldest licensed commercial radio station celebrated their 50th anniversary in 2014. Here are two interviews with their first General Manager, John Grierson, talking about how Manx Radio finally managed to get its license from the U.K. government and their first months on the air.

2. Manx Radio: Chris Williams presents his show dedicated to Radio Caroline’s 50th anniversary on 29th March 2014.

3. WABC New York, N.Y.: 48 minutes with Cousin’ Brucie on one of his morning shows in 1969.

4. Radio Caroline South: Listen again to the “Admiral” Robbie Dale followed by Johnnie Walker on Monday, 28th August 1967, a couple of weeks after the Marine Broadcasting (Offences) Act had become law. 44 minutes.

5. Radio Caroline South Jingles 1968: On 3rd March 1968, both radio Caroline ships “Mi Amigo” and “Caroline”, were seized and towed to Amsterdam by the Wijsmuller salvage company to secure unpaid servicing bills. The Radio Caroline South ship, mv. Mi Amigo, was later sold at auction to Gerard van Dam. Thanks to John Ker, who purchased some of Caroline’s original studio equipment and kindly provided these few remaining jingles and recordings dubbed direct from one of Caroline’s Spotmaster to its Ampex tape recorder. 6-1/2 mins.

6. BBC Radio Four Extra, 20th December 2014: “Here’s Kenny” – Kenny Everett. The story of Kenny Everett’s radio and TV career. Apart from Kenny himself and many of his souvenirs, jingles, promos and clips, this programme includes extracts from pirate Big-L Radio London with contributions from Tony Blackburn and Keith Skues. 61 minutes.

7. BBC Radio Two, Ed Stewart, Junior Choice, 25th December 2014: One of the last voices to be heard on offshore station Big-L Radio London when it closed in August 1967, Ed Stewart was one of the first DJs to join BBC Radio One when it opened six weeks later. Ed Stewart sadly died in January 2016. 117 minutes.

Please Note:
All audio recordings are in .mp3 format within password-protected .zip files. You’ll need to first download the .zip file to your computer. Then to unzip the file you’ll need Winzip or a fully compatible alternative software. You’ll also need the password which you can obtain at no cost by contacting us and explaining briefly what your interest is.

Listening to BBC Radio Without Tears

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A few days ago CIB’s David Prewett sent me a link to Jack Schofield’s article in “The Guardian” of 5th March 2015 with the headline: “Do I need to buy a new internet radio to listen to BBC Radio?”. In it he suggests ways to resolve the negative consequences of the BBC’s recent decision to drop support for some internet streaming formats such as WMA and AAC which has led to many UK internet radio listeners being left out in the cold.

When suggesting how listeners can resolve the issue, Jack Schofield correctly points out that BBC radio streams can be accessed using almost any PC, smartphone or tablet. However, he fails to mention a useful little tool which has been around for a few years that can easily resolve many radio listening problems both at home and in the car.

So what solution am I referring to?

Well, this little device is usually hardly larger than a pack of cigarettes and can be used almost anywhere since it is powered either by a couple of AA batteries or your car’s cigarette lighter socket, or any USB connection. Of course, if you prefer, you can always use a wall socket.

Just plug this device into your PC, smartphone or tablet at home or on the move and it will play any radio station you have tuned to, through any FM radio receiver within a radius of up to 50 yards. That will certainly be a big enough range for any car and in almost all homes unless you own a vast mansion!

These useful little devices are called FM transmitters and need not cost more than about $100.00, sometimes less. You can select to transmit in Stereo or Mono on any FM frequency from 88 to 108 MHz.. You should, of course, follow any local regulations but it won’t usually cause a problem since the transmitting range is limited.

Finding a suitable FM transmitter isn’t too difficult. A Google or Amazon search will bring up a range of devices to choose from. As for me, I’ve installed two of these FM transmitters from WholeHouseTransmitter.com in my home. They include all the connector leads you need and the transmitters have been giving me excellent service with no problems for more than two years.

2 more Quick Tips to help overcome the recent BBC radio stream changes…

1. Avoid the “Listen Now” buttons on BBC and other UK radio websites. Instead use a comprehensive and regularly updated free portal like http://www.radiofeeds.co.uk as mentioned in the Guardian article.

2. Use VLC as your default media player. VLC is an open source, cross-platform multimedia player that plays most multimedia files as well as DVDs, Audio CDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. There are versions for PC, Mac, Android, all free at: http://www.videolan.org/.

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