The Last Radio Show
October 22nd 2006 I walked out of studio 8 at BBC’s Broadcasting House after hosting my radio show Rhythm and Soul for the for the very last time. I went in to host, what was then, the Gospel show for the first time on Sunday May 5th 1996. I was to be there for three months and there I was still there nearly 10 and a-half years later. It can’t be bad. And yet I was disappointed. I had picked up a wonderful community of listeners, some of whom I count as my best friends in the world and the idea of not sending out songs and thoughts every week is just awful. Indeed there have been numerous times in the forty eight hours that have followed where I have thought – that would be great for a Sunday night. It is not to be.
It has to be said though, as I played on Sunday night, All Things Must Pass and I am lucky that being a radio host is not my identity. Some people lose jobs that cost their family their livelihood and them their self worth. My worth was not in radio. I have said many times that I am first and foremost a University Chaplain and I happen to have been ridiculously blessed in my choice of hobbies. This hobby has been snatched away but my life on a day to day basis is little different.
As you can tell, it was not my idea to give up the show, though I have wondered at how it would end. For some years I have thought “surely this’ll be the last week or month.” And so last Sunday it proved. Though I am tired and probably need a wee break from the familiar habit, I loved it so much. I guess though figures mustn’t have been high. That does not really surprise me. I remember almost giving the show up when they moved it from 10pm to 8pm but my producer Bert Tosh talked me into staying. The writing was probably on the wall from that time. 8pm on a Sunday night is like Telly Tubbies at Midnight. My younger audience was lost right there, as most of the Church youth who reveled in my show would be in youth groups. Even older people would still be hanging around Church. Many friends caught it in the car on the way home. It was a bad time.
The world wide web made that better and I have loved it in recent days knowing that people listen at different times in the week in different parts of the globe. From Melbourne to Alberta to Ohio to Virginia to Guernsey to Cornwall to London to Aberdeen and Glasgow I have been delighted to engage with faithful listeners. Yet, I am sure the BBC don’t look at figures from overseas. If they had a web page station I’ be perfect fodder but they don’t. I think the reason for my popularity overseas was that Rhythm and Soul was unique. Early on I started playing secular songs with a spiritual twist alongside the best in contemporary Christian music. No other show anywhere in the world does that and so listeners with a wider taste loved that combination and can I say Christian artists like Derek Webb and Bebo Norman loved the idea of sitting alongside Tom Waits and Radiohead.
It was good for the last two shows to look back. We had some great shows. There were some amazing guests from Martyn Joseph to Brian Houston to Derek Webb to Bill Mallonee to Pierce Pettis to Denison Witmer to Bebo Norman to Kelly Joe Phelps and Willard Grant Conspiracy to Sarah Masen. To be the first to have live sessions by Juliet Turner and Pete Wilson who is now breaking big as Duke Special is particularly satisfying. I think I was among the first on any radio station in the UK to play Sixpence None The Richer, Sufjan Stevens and David Gray’s White Ladder.
Then there were those live shows when we had studio audiences – again Duke Special, Brian Houston and Susan Enan in the Group Theatre and Iain Archer, Juliet Turner and Halcyon Days in the BBC. The show from the stage floating on the Lagan in 2004 was special in that I got two hours and had Cathy Burton and Richard Gilpin joining the regulars Susan Enan and Houstie. The five year anniversary show is a favourite to listen back on when we did an in the round live in the studio with David McNair, Julie Lee and Houston did a cover of Dylan’s Like A Rolling Stone for the first time having jotted down the words during the first part of the show.
My fondest memory will be for the Ricky Ross show which you can still find on one of the Deacon Blue web pages (don’t tell anyone). Ricky was in Belfast to do a TV show (for the opposition!) and phoned me to see if we could go for a drink. I happened to be recording the show for some reason that week and told him the only way I would see him was if he came in the studio. He brought his new album Pale Rider and I basically got to hear it for the first time and review it on air while chatting to him and another favourite musician of mine Davy Scott from the Pearlfishers. Deacon Blue had been my favourite band and to shake Ricky’s hand never mind have him in the studio for an hour would have been a dream come true when I was younger. Who’d have thought?
There were other specials, some fun and some sad. I had two U2 specials before and after I wrote Walk On. The shows after my daughters were born were special too. For Dylan’s 60th birthday I did a covers of Dylan evening which was late in coming together but I loved to pieces. We did a poignant tribute to Rich Mullins the night after he passed away with a good friend Stevie Docherty joining me in the studio. I was on air the night after the Omagh bomb and also the day the news came through about Lady Diana’s car crash. They were tough shows to do but in the style of what I did where songs always had a meaning and reason to be on the playlist, it was a perfect vehicle for even such tragic occasions.
It was a great ten years and the texts, phone calls and emails that I have received have made it all worth while. Some of you have searched for God in the songs, others found him. Some have gone through hard times and thanked me for songs that saw you through. Others have half complained and half thanked me for being a drain on your bank balance as I introduced you to acts like Over The Rhine and Vigilantes Of Love among many others. The audience has been wide in every sense, from the old brethren couple who were not so sure about the music but loved the chat, to those who told me to shut up and rock it up! You have allowed me to literally share my life with you and many have shared yours back. I thank you and the BBC for giving me the honour of going into Broadcasting House every week. Glory days! Now there’s an idea for Sunday... darn...
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