It’s just dawning on me that today Friday 25th of September 2008 is the last full day of the radio station that we know and love as Virgin Radio. It’s been an incredible journey, one worthy of a meaty tome and believe me, as the only original member of the team, it is one that I would cherish writing. It is in my plans for the future.
Virgin Radio was formed after Richard Branson successfully bid for a new national A.M. radio licence that the Tory government of the time deemed was necessary. The great and the good of the U.K radio industry cocked a snook at Branson when he won the right to broadcast his ‘Rock and Pop’ channel to a nationwide audience. Previously he had been involved in the syndication company Real Radio- a company that gave the likes of Jonathan Ross their first crack at being radio hosts. The boy done well.
The original Virgin Radio HQ was based at the old TV AM building in London’s trendy Camden. Sussex radio man John Aumonier and his loyal lieutenant Andrew Marshall were the men sanctioned by the Virgin king to get the radio station on the air. At the time I was working at Capital Radio and I genuinely can’t remember how I ended up in that building in Camden discussing a possible transfer to the new company. The interest was mutual, after all, who wouldn’t be interested in such a new and very exciting venture. How history repeats itself!
Anway, to cut a long story short – Aumonier and Marshall were ousted in a bloodless coup and David Campbell (a former top executive with PepsiCo in America) was chosen to launch the next extension of Virgin’s unstoppable brand. To my surprise, I was yet again summoned to meet Virgin management and that took place at Rushes production house in Soho where I was ushered up to the top floor to meet David and the stations new joint programme director Richard Skinner. His other half was to be John Revell, later to be ‘Johnny Boy with his Wheels of Steel’ on TFI Friday.
The meeting obviously went well as they asked me to join from Capital radio and the i’s were dotted and the t’s crossed very quickly. My boss at Capital was the formidable Richard Park.
He was furious that I wished to jump ship and sent me onto ‘gardening leave’ with a verbal ear bashing that I have never forgotten. He didn’t speak to me for a few years but now we are friends again and of course I had the privilege of working with Richard’s son Paul Jackson in some of the most recent years in Virgin Radio’s history.
People move on it’s a simple as that, although I must admit that I had a bit of a panic when I discovered that the plan was to broadcast the entire radio station from Woking! That was to be Virgin Radio’s first home.
Campbell had hired a very good sales manager called John Pearson who immediately pointed out that not only was Woking about as rock n’ roll as Barnsley but, it would be incredibly difficult to attract advertsing agencies, clients and media companies if Virgin Radio wasn’t based in Soho.
John found a spare floor at One Golden Square and so began our association with this now legendary building. Somehow, existing tenants were cajoled to leave and the new base of Virgin Radio consisted of nearly all of the building. Well apart from a German media company on the fifth floor. The hung on until about six years ago. Now the whole building is ours.
The first time I went to One Golden Square it was a shell. Small half built offices; basic studio areas with no equipment just sound proof half-completed walls. But very quickly it all came together. We went into a period of test transmissions and the launch date was April 30th 1993. We visited the local pub about as many times as we played Jingles on the air in the run up to launch. Working and playing hard have always been part of the culture and spirit of the radio station.
Disaster struck for me just 7 days before we went on the air. My father died after a long illness. Great timing Dad! It is perhaps my one biggest regret that he never got to hear just a brief bit of my broadcasting on Virgin Radio. He would have said that we didn’t play enough Frank Sinatra.
You will be able to relate to your own important events during the past 15 years. Happy times, sad times, testing times and great times. Virgin Radio has kept me going throughout periods of my life when without it I would have been lost. My acrimonious divorce, my mum being diagnosed with cancer and the deaths of my beloved dogs to name but a few.
Whether you are a broadcaster or shop assistant life goes on doesn’t it? And music plays such a meaningful part in life repair too. Just as it gladdens the heart and reminds you of happy times.
Virgin radio went on the air in Manchester, launched live on-air by Richard with me holding his microphone and the first interview we ever did was with Midge Ure who was on site with us. The first record played at 12.15pm on launch day was INXS’ version of ‘Born To Be Wild’.
That evening we held a big launch party at The Piccadilly Theatre just down the road from One Golden Square. It was a great party, friends, employees, record company people and even radio rivals were invited. McDonalds did the food which was served by what I can only compare to cinema ice cream sellers, with a large tray of burgers strapped round their necks.
We were on air and now it was up to all of us to make it work.
Being on medium wave didn’t help but the audience forgave us and stuck with the promise of a better music selection, good personalities and the romance of that magical brand…Virgin. Sometimes we delivered occasionally we let them down. Yes, we made mistakes and probably still will when we become Absolute Radio from next Monday. But we are and were brave enough to try.
A low point for me was M People’s ‘Search For The Hero’ making the playlist, I honestly thought that the game was up. A massive blunder.
Audience figures by a couple of years in were impressive. Myself and Jono were doing ‘The Breakfast Experience’ simply the best moments of both our careers and it was a show of it’s time. Richard Skinner, Nick Abbott, Mitch Johnson, Sandy Beech, Kevin Greening, Chris Evans, Wendy Lloyd and the legendary Tommy Vance were all part of the original DJ line up. I was proud to be in such talented and good company.
The music was bold- Rage Against The Machine, Robin Hitchcock, Roger Chapman sprinkled in between The Rolling Stones, Beatles, Bon Jovi and Aerosmith’s of this world. We were a privately owned radio station and were rebels. ‘The Radio Revolution Has Arrived’ chirped the jingles and sweepers.
The spirit of those early days is passed down into the DNA of all of the employees of Virgin radio over the years. You can’t touch it, you can’t smell but once in the building you’ve got it!
We carried on for quite a few years. The music changed slightly… even rebels get nervous about the bottom line. An audience and making money.
One Sunday evening in the late 1990’s I got phone call saying that everyone had to come into Golden Square for a meeting at 7.00am the following morning. I would be there with Jono hosting the breakfast show so couldn’t quite understand why I got the call. Everyone trooped in a you could feel the spirit draining away from the place in the fateful minutes before David Campbell addressed the meeting. David was hard task master, very very talented, had a penchant for falling asleep in the pub, could rant and rave with the best of them and had a sense of humour that was well… unusual but engaging in a way.
‘Thanks for coming in this morning, we have some news ‘ he said with a hitherto unseen nervous smile. ‘We have just announced to the City that Virgin Radio is to be sold to Capital Radio’. People were stunned, some felt let down. I remember thinking “Well – it gives Richard Park the perfect chance for revenge by firing me!”
We spoke sometime later and this was not to be the case at all. Who said Dj’s aren’t paranoid!
In the run up to the deal with Capital being finalised, Jono and I were removed from the breakfast show and were to be replaced by the biggest media star in Britain Chris Evans.
He would join Virgin Radio and agreed to work on Fridays – something he wasn’t prepared to do at Radio One.
The media attention was huge and Chris did a fantastic job with Johnny Revell, Holly Hotlips, Jamie the student and Dan the producer. It was another golden period in the radio stations history.
Things got even better, the Capital deal fell through and Chris Evans persuaded Richard Branson to sell the radio station to him. Yes, the breakfast show DJ owned the radio station. Unique.
TFI Friday was the UK’s hottest tv show and Chris Evans powered us up the ratings on the back of his fame and television persona. As time went by though Chris started to fall out with the management slowly but surely. David Campbell had moved on to pastures new and John Pearson was our Chief Executive. Relations became strained and Chris took the decision to sell Virgin and Ginger TV to Scottish Media Group based in Glasgow.
The cheque was handed over and SMG inherited the best independent broadcasting companies in Britain. In retrospect I think SMG would agree that they paid over the odds for the two companies but they were keen to get a foothold in London and their shareholders agreed.
It wasn’t long after that when the marriage of Chris and SMG went wrong for reasons far too complicated to go into on this already too long post. The divorce between the two was decided in the High Court in London.
A dark period in our history.
People forget sometimes that Chris Evans was part of the original DJ line up, he created ‘Rock n Roll Football’ , did inspiring radio and some duff shows at times (haven’t we all fellow DJ’s!) AND he gave away £1 Million pounds to a listener in Virgin Radio’s biggest ever competition! He is a massive part of our history and we were lucky to have him.
We were also lucky to have amongst our brethren Tommy Vance and Kevin Greening. Great broadcasters and lovely men. They have both passed away and will never be forgotten nor their contributions, from Tommy’s cheeky offbeat style with a voice that was made for God himself. Kevin’s sense of humour was infectious in those early years. Kev loved his job and his best friend was a chap called ‘Eric The Gardener’. I am smiling as I write this.
Look what Virgin radio has achieved – Countless Sony Radio awards; getting an FM licence; fighting off corporate take overs; playing great music; discovering Geoff Lloyd; hiring and firing Chris Evans; employing Terry Venables as a football pundit; having the best online presence of any radio station on the planet since the mid-1990’s; nurturing talent; the V Festival; fines for pushing the boundaries just a bit too far; giving Christian the platform he deserves; saving more money on media promotion than any other major radio group; discovering new bands; giving away millions of pounds worth of competition prizes in 15 years.
The list could go on and on.
You as a listener are such an important part of our success and we thank you for embracing us, enjoying us, tolerating us and sticking with us.
So, to the future. Absolute radio. It starts on Monday with Christian at 7.45am. I am just as excited now as I was back in 1993. We are owned by radio professionals with vision, clarity, a willingness once again to take risks. We WILL NOT let you down.
Today I will formally, well… as formal as it can get, draw down the curtain on 15 years of Virgin Radio – a radio station that is as much part of your life as it is mine. I feel so priveliged to be given the task We have that spirit that I have written about in abundance, every member of staff is determined to make this the best radio station on the planet.
You have a lot to look forward to.
Is Virgin radio in safe hands? Absolutely!
A memory… Jono and I posed nude for a giant poster to advertise our breakfast show. It was to placed at the side of the A40 heading into London. The Advertising Standards Authority banned the poster before it was even put up saying ‘Jono’s physical appearance was too much of a gross distraction for drivers.’
Happy Days!! I still have the Polaroids… any takers?
Russ
PS Please share your memories on this blog. More of mine will have to wait for the book!
