James Andrews, The Pulse, 1993-5
A long time ago, I was on the radio. And there I am, above - in a photocard I’ve still got.
I was on The Pulse from 1993 to 1995. I then did swing on Hallam FM until the end of 2000. But I never thought to record myself - and simply don’t have a single recording of me on-air. Not one.
Until today.
The excellent Stephanie Hirst contacted me today with this recording, which I’ve telescoped down to remove music and stuff (but kept some station furniture). It’s a bit of an odd one: it’s from 11 August 1995: I actually left The Pulse in March, and had moved down to Hallam to write radio commercials. I’d not been on the air since.
I remember being “asked back” to do one swing shift. I was thrilled, and hoped that I’d be asked back again, but I never was. I remember doing a show on Saturday; but it turns out that I did Friday night as well - kind of my old show, except the show had been given a significant format change since (for the better). Elliott Webb (“two l’s, two t’s”) was now doing this shift; Nic Tuff had taken over breakfast.
To put this in context, this was a fully live show: ads were on cart, and there were a LOT of them since this was in the first few weeks of a new car registration year, and the station separated the car commercials with other things. I had no producer - it was literally just me in the studio, dealing with everything from travel, to finding the individual carts for the next ad break, to cueing up the CDs, as the station still used. The station was very different to the one I’d left; much more formatted, with different jingles, a different positioning statement (what a weak word “like” is), a different breakfast show, and I was in a different studio as well. It also sounded as if I should have prepared a little more…
By 2007, the evening show had been taken off air. The radio station moved from its original building in 2010; and closed in 2024. They’ll never give people like me a show again, on any of these stations: and you’re unlikely to hear many of the more local parts of this on any station in the UK. Times have changed.
Also, that’s a very long travel bulletin.
Anyway, the recording starts at 6.20pm; and lasts right up until 10pm. It’s a bit “of its time”. But enjoy listening - I did, mostly.