Thread by @lccmunicipal, I may have promised to do a thread on this... Tomorrow would [...]

I may have promised to do a thread on this... Tomorrow would have been the 32nd birthday of Greater London Radio. So permit me to deviate from the usual as we go GLR rather than GLC. This could be a long one... https://twitter.com/lccmunicipal/status/1303422921654886403

https://twitter.com/lccmunicipal/status/1303422921654886403

First up, a reminder of what GLR replaced - the original BBC Radio London. The origins of the old station are covered by @Radiojottings here: http://andywalmsley.blogspot.com/2020/10/down-your-local-50-years-of-bbc-radio.html?m=1

To give a flavour of programmes, here is a schedule from 1986:

And an overview of the station:

Some programme-related stickers for you:

The programming was a mix of specialist stuff which had evolved over the years, but, later on, its music policy featured soul and dance music quite heavily with DJs such as the late Steve Walsh, Dave Pearce and Tony Blackburn.

It’s merchandising list was, erm, niche, with more than a touch of the Anne Summers about it (not that I’d know anything about that, Matron)...

Specialist music also came in the form of Nite FM, which saw Gary Crowley move over from Capital (never to leave!). I think Gilles Peterson also featured...

Strong use of the Countdown font at their 35a Marylebone High Street studios...

Anyway, the big problem was that no one listened. Matthew Bannister and Trevor Dann were appointed to turn the station around. Proving that I was just as big an anorak as a spotty teenager as I am now, I diligently recorded the final months of the station on my manual typewriter:

Stephen Games writing in Time Out was scathing about Radio London, but was hardly optimistic about Bannister and Dann’s new creation: Greater London Radio, or GLR:

After Radio London closed, DJ-free test transmissions were broadcast for a couple of weeks. The music-only format proved rather popular. This from the Mail on Sunday (don’t judge me, my parents read it):

The new daytime line up was announced in the Radio Times. Radio Mercury’s Timbo was an interesting choice for the station as his photo might suggest:

And the accompanying article:

And here was the low down on the weekends. It was reading this today that made me realise I had completely forgotten the phrase “Jo Shinner’s Global Beat Box”:

I was quick off the mark requesting photos of the DJs, only to be told they hadn’t returned from the printers. What had they been doing in those couple of weeks of test transmissions for God’s sake?

Anyway, they soon turned up, although my Timbo one seems to have disappeared (much as Timbo himself was soon “disappeared” by GLR management):

So, here was the initial line up. It is perhaps forgotten that at the beginning there was no Danny Baker or (on air at least) Chris Evans:

The first major change in programmes came six months later. Chris Evans took over Saturday afternoons and Danny Baker replaced Radio London stalwart Susie Barnes. Timbo was replaced by Direct Line - not a programme about insurance, but rather an hour long DJ-free request show:

A list of producers. I had the pleasure of working with Gloria Abramoff when I did a stint at BBC Nations & Regions:

Nick Abbot lasted about a year on Breakfast before being replaced by Janice Long:

I think this programme schedule is from late 1989, by which time Tim Smith had taken over the afternoon programme and Johnnie Walker had moved forward into the Emma Freud slot. Chris Evans was now doing weekday evenings as well:

GLR’s merchandise was a bit more conservative than Radio London’s:

Yes, I did type up the Christmas 1989 programme schedule. I was late to intimate relationships with fellow human beings:

A decidedly un-BBC-like promotion here: Get your car sticker to win a supply of Jet unleaded petrol!

Oh, and here is the rest of Xmas 89 and New Year 90:

This came from a GLR newspaper. For a bit of crossover with the usual fare, here is Neil Fletcher of ilea.

It was all fantastic stuff, but no one was listening:

I went to university in September 1990, so my scrapbook project came to an end. I do have this, though, which I am guessing is a programme schedule from around 1991. Brian Hayes popped up from LBC. Richard Skinner replaced Johnny Walker and Kevin Greening was on breakfasts:

I know for some the Golden era of GLR cane later with Gideon Coe, Fi Glover, Peter Curran and so forth. I must admit that I wasn’t listening much by then because working long hours wasn’t really compatible with my previously obsessive GLR listening...

...In the early 1990s, the BBC decreed that less music should be played on its local radio stations, which kind of missed the point of GLR. I think those first two years were the best and, rather sadly, much of my personal playlist still reflects the music of early era GLR...

...the Go Betweens, Love & Money, The Pursuit of Happiness, the Cocteau Twins, the Sundays, Nanci Griffith, the Indigo Girls, Frazier Chorus, the Indian Givers, the Inspiral Carpets, the Bible. I could go on...

ENDS!

Regular followers will know that when I say a thread has ended, I invariably start it up again 10 minutes later. Well, I have found the second batch of GLR presenter photos: (Wayne Carr, of course, a Chris Morris character)