This Is Nick Haines, yet another great addition to the station.
Here's what Nick has to say:
Radio has provided the soundtrack to much of my
life.
Born in Germany in 1959, the BBC's World Service and British Forces Radio
informed my world with Gilbert & Sullivan, Flanders & Swan, The Navy
Lark and the Clitheroe Kid.
Radio listening of my own choice started in the late sixties with Ed Stewart's
Junior Choice show on Saturday mornings featuring Bernard Cribbins, Charlie
Drake and Terry Scott singing songs about Shifting Pianos and Digging Holes,
became essential listening.
Between 1971 and 1975 I strained to get reception of Radio Luxembourg on my
tiny transistor radio under the blankets at night, and at school on Tuesday
lunchtimes I listened intently to Radio One's chart rundown, desperate to hear
if my personal hero Gary Glitter had triumphed over the rival Bowie, Bay City
Rollers, Slade and T.Rex factions.
After 1975 I forsook the charts and radio and sought more adult listening,
relying on the music press and friends' opinions for guidance. This lead to
some dreadful mistakes and a record collection containing hugely embarrassing
progressive rock.
By 1976 I had almost fallen out of love with music since nothing I heard
inspired.
Television and radio pumped out blandness by day and numbingly tedious rock by
night.
More through luck than judgement I encountered the punk phenomenon at an
embryonic stage.
I was inspired to not only start to listen to new bands again, but to form a
band myself.
Radio One's John Peel was an established figure on the radio with his show
Perfumed Garden, but he too concentrated on progressive rock. Peel latched onto
the burgeoning punk scene and in early 1977 declared that his show would no
longer be a 'rock'n'roll mausoleum'.
From that point the Peel show focused on the new music that was emerging from
around the country. Peel's championing of punk still left room for esoteric
tracks by the likes of Drummers of Burundi, Gamalayan Music From Bali and
poet/storyteller Ivor Cutler.
Peel's laid back enthusiasm was infectious, his huge knowledge an education to
many.
By 1980 I found employment within the music industry in Scotland, initially
with the Cartel indie distribution network, then Virgin Retail.
Being surrounded by music all day at work, I tended to seek respite from it
during the evenings so my interest in radio waned.
Now in 2017 I've been asked to present a show for The Flash and agreed to give
it a go.
I've called it Cross Tracking.
Peel's ethos is certainly an influence, but these are different times and
initially I'll be trawling through the dark recesses of my record collection
and scouring the charity shops for tracks that you may not have heard for some
time, or perhaps not at all.
Hopefully I'll also be featuring interesting unsigned local bands too, but
that's up to the bands as much as me.
I hope you find the music interesting, try to forgive the bloke chuntering
between tracks.
He means well.
