RADIO GERONIMO sleeps no more...

Dropping circle stones on a sun dial..

GERONIMO

STARSHIP

GLASTONBURY

 REVELATIONS

PAST

SOCIETY

T-SHIRT

JAMMING

PHUN CITY

PRESENT

CATALOGUE

MEDIA

PROMOS

FRIENDS

FUTURE

Waiting for the smile from a Sun child.. (words by Pete Sinfield, King Crimson, 1969)
Everything ripens at its time... and becomes fruit at its hour...

Listen to...

PACIFICA

Playing hide and seek with the ghosts of dawn.. Click here to enter site via the gateway page @ www.radiogeronimo.com

 SEAGULL

MOON

GERONIMO

PAN AM JAZZ

DISCUSSION

COMMENTS

ARCHIVES

RUPERT

 WANTED

CONTACT

 

Geronimo has a great future but it also has a glorious past.
Please send your memories of Geronimo & Seagull
via CONTACT

Hugh Nolan 1944 - 2009

Hugh died in Australia on Tuesday 3rd November 2009. This was Monday 2nd November in the UK. To many listeners, Hugh Nolan was THE voice of Geronimo.
Obituary by Ian Anderson
Hugh Nolan was born in Australia in 1944 and came to the UK when he was nine. He studied at Kings College in Wimbledon... read more

Obituary by Barry Everitt
...bless him, peace be with him and remember all the great radio, writing and love he gave to the world... read more

 

Very sad to hear about Hugh. My older brother Richard was a good friend of Hugh's from about 1967-1969, and I used to read his articles in Disc and Music Echo. I only met Hugh once - I went round to his flat with my brother and we then went to see 'Easy Rider' (in Leicester Square I think) which had just come out. It was a great day which I remember quite clearly.

With best wishes

Charles Tattersall

How about a memories page - Nostalgia for the old folks mumble mumble....
No mention yet of the 26 inch cigarette papers and the ads for them and other mail order stuff.???

Geronimo was the sound of 1970 for me. Sharpest memory was sitting in a car atop of the cliffs at Woolacombe with a couple of pals from North Devon Tech. The mix of the night was Hendrix at Monterey, Love's Forever Changes and Bach's Brandenberg Concertos.

Just had a quick gander at yr Caroline stuff - looked at a playlist - had Cressida track on it from the second album - still got my copy of the first album - saw them live once  - here's to utterly obscure bands of our youth! Actually they were a mixture of great and crap musicianship good songs spoilt by uninspired guitar. Wonder where they are now? Did the singer do anything else I wonder?


take care and all
Mike
Listening to Radio Geronimo changed my life, it was a hobby of mine listening to distant radio stations on a cheap transistor radio, many years ago. I used to be fascinated listening to Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg and Radio Monte Carol, one night this all changed when they closed down and Geronimo came on, playing New Morning from Bob Dylan. They also played Desolation Row (Dylan) one night and this started me off as a Dylan fan, I now have 55 albums of Dylan.   

Joe

I did a web search on 'Radio Geronimo'  couple of years ago and just got a couple of passing mentions on 'History of pirate radio' type sites (Everyone still thinks Geronimo was a pirate!) so I was knocked out to find your site when I tried again on a whim.

Your Geronimo website has brought back some terrific memories. I was 13 years old in 1970 and listened to Geronimo in bed on my tiny transistor. Unfortunately my sole income was 70p a week from my paper round so I didn't have the finances to buy a Geronimo T-shirt. I have vivid memories of many of the broadcasts--- the night they played the whole of the Woodstock Triple Album, The exclusive first play of Dylan's New Morning album, the special Isle of Wight Festival programmes---the list goes on. There was always a momentary panic trying to locate the station at midnight before the opening of 'Amazing Grace' and the unchanging words "Hello, this is Geronimo and my name is Hugh, This is our Theme Tune 'Amazing Grace' by the Great Awakening."

Where is Hugh Nolan today? I hope he's alive and well.

(Webmaster comments: Yes, Hugh is alive and working for a media group in Vietnam. May 2004)
November 2009 update: Sadly, Hugh died in Australia on Tuesday 3rd November 2009.

Are there any surviving tapes of complete Geronimo broadcasts? I know some enthusiasts have put together CDs of John Peel's Perfumed Garden Show from Radio London and it would be great if someone could do the same for Geronimo. I think things that happen to you around the age of 12-16 do stay with you and that certainly was a golden era for music.

Love, peace and Summer Sun.

Ian Pickering, UK

I used to listen to you on MW after midnight until you disappeared in whenever it was 1970ish I guess. I was in the Army stationed in Germany and used to pick you up via (I think) Radio Monte Carlo transmitter, was it on Friday and Saturday nights? I still get goose bumps whenever I hear Amazing Grace and clearly remember the first time I heard it while surfing (although we didn't call it that at the time) the MW dial.  Don't know if you recall but you sent me a pile of small leaflets, and I wrote to tell you that a pal chucked a lot of them out of a glider "somewhere over Germany"  I've actually got a membership card somewhere, is it still valid {~;

Tony Baker,
England
Surfing around..... saw "Geronimo" which brought back memories. Under  "wanted" you asked if anyone had any Geronimo posters. Well yes I do.... I've got two... did you do them in colour? If you didn't  then it must have been me in my arty days that decided to colour the sun on one of them! I also have a few oval-shaped signs and quite a few long "banner" things  with Geronimo info (frequency, times etc.) on them in fluorescent pink. Do you remember those? I was a very early listener so these were put out early. I also have the first record mail-order catalogue. Unfortunately I don't have my wonderful T-shirt anymore. I wore & wore that  thing ... loved it!
Deryck
Hi there,
Nice to see Radio Geronimo getting its place on the web. You've got scans of most of the things  I've got. I've got the mail order catalogue and  may have the Geronimo handout from Phun City. I'll scan and send if/when I find it. None of the 26 inch long cigarette papers survived the era. I see your T shirt has the same sideways spread as mine.
What about playlists? I wonder if anyone kept any notes. I can remember an evening of Forever Changes, Hendrix at Monterey and the Brandenberg harpsichord concertos. And vague memories of all Dylan bootlegs nights. 11 months, that's all it was!  The sound track for 1970.
I've got Melody Maker and some other music mags and undergrounds from 1970, I'll find sometime to look in the next few months.
I hope some more memories come your way, get added to the universal mind.

Best wishes
Mike
I fondly remember listening to Radio Geronimo as a 16 year old living in Frankfurt. It was like a breath of fresh air compared to Radio Luxemburg and AFN. I used to hate the way Radio Luxemburg djs would talk over the songs and cut off the finish, and the music selection was pretty blah. I always remember the Geronimo dj touting the t-shirts as being good for, 'balling your girlfriend in.' You didn't hear that on AFN! Nice site!

John Baker

 

Hi Chris
Not sure if of interest but I've recently unearthed 2 more rare recordings. The first is a VG quality copy of a station called Radio 428 which was a forerunner to Geronimo from October 1969 with a suitably spaced out Hugh and Barry together with another "hey man pass those shades" (!) called Jimmy Miller. The other is a post Monte Carlo service from Dec 1970 with Dave Cash and Tommy Vance...this station came on sir when Geronimo finished.
Mike G.

exclusive - how it all began, by terry

NEW for 2007 read 'how it all began' by co-founder Geoffrey Bass

radio Geronimo began when I returned from new York in spring 1969.
I had heard there  fm radio for the first time. Music radio uninterrupted by flatulent ignorance .
There were three friends. Geoffrey Bass who lived with his parents in a council flat in Torriano Avenue Camden Town, Hugh Nolan a music journalist and their token hippy worked at Disc and Music Echo in Fleet Street with whom  I had made friends when I was hustling articles as a music p.r.
We would all meet at Hugh's flat in Manchester street a posh address in W.1 where Hugh and his wife Jackie and young son Marcus,  lived  an increasingly difficult ordinary life as we transformed the lounge into a nightly marijuana party accompanied by constant music . We would leave at dawn if at all. Robin Sendak, Maurice's nephew, Boot the artist who died so prematurely and various wastrels and misfits who felt free to turn up at any time, all were welcome,
I had moved in to a room in Agar Grove, Camden Town and had just been made redundant from Polydor Records where I was a 21 year old head of jazz promotion for Atlantic and Polydor Records. Although this may sound impressive today, in 1968 jazz was hardly the popular genre it is today. I remember treading out the sales figures to Alan Bates the marketing manager   who always  managed to look like a man biting into a lemon when I read him the weekly  figures rarely reaching two figures. Considering my age and the company had just signed The Who, Hendrix, Cream and Atlantic Stax with Otis and Aretha I probably made a  challenged career move volunteering the jazz dept.. I was made redundant and thanked for trying.
I immediately became a freelance PR ;my first job from Island's Chris Blackwell promoting The Spontaneous Music Ensemble a free jazz group. I went on to work with all sorts of bands and met Hugh though my work and eventually met Geoffrey.
 
When I returned from New York my excitement lit up Manchester Street and the three of us decided to recreate FM in London but with an even more adventurous format, creating a radio programme segued into a seamless trip.
We discovered an unsung pioneer of radio, Bill Hayes working from a room in Muswell Hill . Bill had contacts with Radio Andorra and was trying to get a deal to broadcast. Some how we managed to record programmes  in Bills lounge while he handled the controls in the bathroom. I remember he had a particularly pretty girlfriend who bizarrely took baths when we were there and I spent many a spare minute peering through the open bathroom window as she carelessly sponged herself aware that I was ogling!
To our shame we dumped Bill after the Andorra broadcasts  which were inaudible  except for small areas of Lapland.
Geoffrey and I travelled to Paris to meet with the Radio Monte Carlo's  office. We had little money and stayed in a cramped room in Les Invalides. We were kept awake  all night  by the noise of hookers and their customers.
 
The Paris offices of Radio Monte Carlo - Rue Magellan (picture from http://mcstory.free.fr/histoire.html )
Monte Carlo agreed to rent us airtime   on weekends for a small fee. All we needed now was some money to pay for it.
Hugh knew Tony Secunda, a music biz shark who slid in a long leather coat and matching moustache. He managed the contrasting and highly talented record producer Jimmy Miller. Together they gave us offices in Harley Street, paid for studio time to record the programmes, ironically in Radio Luxembourg's office but failed to pay us any wages and so we existed on selling promotional albums in the markets. I remember returning to my room one night and eating OK sauce and cornflakes I was so broke.
Our programmes were quite different. Hugh tended to feature more rock than mine.
The fateful day when Secunda fronted me in the offices is still clearly printed on the front pages of my memory. He gave me an ultimatum that if I didn't change my programming policy and  make it more commercial he would prevent me from making any more programmes.
To their everlasting shame Geoffrey and Hugh stood by silently while I was ushered out of the office and radio for ever.
I went back to my parents, exhausted, ill and demoralised.
Eventually I returned to the music business and today I run a successful film finance  company and a company commissioning film scores.
I hope our programmes gave joy and I look forward to hearing from anyone who has any tapes of my programmes especially where I improvised poetry over Coltrane's Lonnie's Lament
Best Wishes
 
Terry Yason 

(If you have any recordings featuring Terry Yason please write via CONTACT , thank you)

Hi Chris,
what a great site, you have contact with terry & john, I've been trying to find them for years, please pass my info along the line, I am sure John has tapes of the station some where.
I am in total favour of the site, I have just mailed Hugh to let him know about it, those times were very very special, no way could such a thing happen today, but now with the internet a chance rises again, love this world, maybe we should do something to bring us silly old hippies together for a night of celebration at my club, when I booked Big Brother last year I met quite a few, the response for the Seeds show gives me faith that there is a few of us alive and walking. .....Barry Everitt
Please send your memories of Geronimo & Seagull via CONTACT
It did exist, I knew it wasn't a dream.

My best memory of Radio Geronimo was listening to a piece of music that had me enthralled. Part jazz, part rock, I must have this, I thought.

The music was "Out Bloody Rageous," from Soft Machine's "Third" album. I still play that album regularly (arguably their best) and I remember that time in 1970 when I first heard it.
What a great concept that station was. Could it even be attempted today? Somehow I doubt it.

Steve Butten

More thoughts from Terry Yason in March 2004:
Geronimo was the product of a generation seeking to break down barriers between all the arts , media and politics but degenerated into a drug fused mess of middle class compromise.

There wouldn't have been world music without geronimo...

Click here for further information about English language radio to and from the Riviera

Dear sir
I only now find your inquiry about Geronimo. I was greatly interested about it myself, having published in France a story of Radio Monte Carlo - real XXth century History including Hitler, Mussolini, Petain, De Gaulle, Mmonseigneur Makarios, Middle East politics,  with nice guys and crooks among whom politicians, soldiers and other artists.
 
Unfortunately I had to complete the book without having gathered myself all the information I wanted about Radio Gernonimo, which has been related to "RMC" by closer links than mere broadcasting, and was close to become the official British channel of this radio.
 
I must first warn you than from the end of the war unto 1998, Radio Monte Carlo belonged directly to France, the governement of which being the boss - which explains both good and bad things in this tale.
 
Not such a surprise after all, one the first aims of settling a transmitter in Monaco, "independant" country, was  already in the 'thirties to broadcast towards Great Britain and
collect British advertising, forbidden on the BBC.  Even the radio once setted (by Hitler !), the idea kept running : in 1947 the UK Embassy in Paris asked the French governement official explanations about a certain Knäbel, introducing himself as "régie Publicitaire" of RMC in London. 
 
In december 70 was founded RMC-International,  intended to develop Radio Geronimo which was already on air, hiring wavetime on Monte Carlo's "Col de La Madone" broadcast center. The director was Maurice Gardett, a definitely different man : he had been a roving grocer in french villages, prisonner sentenced to death as "gaullist" during WW II, secretary of Eleanor Roosevelt, selling records for the catholic church in USA, travel agent  in Paris, wine waiter in palaces, movie actor... and as far as we are concerned here, cook and cloth salesman in London, and radio and TV entertainer in North Africa - where he eventually created the new style which spread some years later on France trough Europe 1 - and speaker on RMC French programm... along with his barking dog and a secretary who had to say nothing but "You're right Mr Gardett"...  
Serious studies showed that the project was really good.
the Radio Monte Carlo Manager, Jacques Maziol, a former French governement minister, came in London for signing the contracts and announce the deal.  
Unfortunately part of the night air time was also rented by Trans World Radio,  rich evangelist US company which had settled in Monaco thanks to RMC and was really big-buck customer. So the chairmen of the board - most of them French governement representatives - finally decided to stop Geronimo until the building of a new broadcasting center on "Col de Tende", a high-hills place of the Alps close to Monaco. On March 28th '71 at night Maurice Gardett presented the last transmission, promising its coming back on the new transmitter... which was finally not built.   By that time in fact, the big boss Jacques Maziol had began to be threatened of disgrace by French government on falke excuses - mere politics as usual. I have learn that the English side did'nt understand that change, but as far as I know the two RMC men suddenly got big problems with the Board.
Maziol was finally dismissed some time later. Maurice Gardett  was granted a sinecure in Montpellier then left to keep a Gourmet Restaurant in Hong-Kong then back in south of France. He is now dead, and I guess Maziol may be too.
 
However I am afraid I know not much more about the Geronimo/RMC missed wedding - but if it had succeeded it would have been something great :

the only Radio Pirate totally legal and owned by an allied government in time of peace, only to broadcast not Propaganda, but "love, peace and good music"...

 The English part of the story, you sure better know than I do. 

Best regards,
Jacques Loudot
Monaco
http://mcstory.free.fr/loudot.html

Monte Carlo International – at the time it was regarded by us ‘heads’ as a pale imitation of Geronimo, and now that the facts are available it was a case of Monte Carlo seeing that Geronimo were bringing in a late night audience, so they simply jumped on the bandwagon, pulled the  plug on Geronimo and did it themselves, but the sort of audience that was prepared to stay up late listening to Geronimo weren’t interested in the diametrically opposed presentation style of Dave Cash & Tommy Vance. Conversely, the potential audience for Monte Carlo International was either asleep, or listening to Kid Jensen on 208, or better still RNI. Geronimo did well because it was offering something completely different to a niche audience.

chris

Moonshine from Monaco

 

We were stardust, children

Moving Earth to Eden.

Disabused of stale mildew,

Smoking words where no guns grew,

Stroking music from disdain, hope from early dew.

 

We were golden in the silver;

Clutching a new voice in the darking river;

Nudging a dial to borrowed sleeves

Overswept with crested leaves;

Listening, glistening in ears that longed in sheaves.

 

Here the Garden’s sweetest flower

In tombs of rooms that once were sour,

At festivals we camped at Patching,

Respect for artistry newly hatching.

Nights the sun could smile, a sleepy kitten scratching

 

When the sheep lay soft in slumber

Seekers found a newer number,

Freedom in a void will die

Without the warming breath of love

Purer than crisp new snow, awaiting tracks for us to know

Radio Geronimo.

 

 

Ó Alex Barzdo, 2004

Alex Barzdo comments:

...Hitched to Isle of Wight - just me and my trannie (after it changed sex from being a wireless).  Bob Dylan, The Who, Tiny Tim, you know the set...  Fell in love with Radio Geronimo out of Radio Monte Carlo's transmitters at 1:00 am onwards.  Radio Caroline was tame and Radio One as ghastly as it is now...

I am very curious what will be the final destination of Geronimo. It seems to be one of these seeds fallen out of the basket on the way to "wasn't to be" Street and slowly growing in the shades until ........whatever.

Sietse Brouwer

RADIO 428/GERONIMO: In 1969, Radio 428 was Europe's first album station, aired via the transmitter of Radio Andorra in the Pyrenees on 428 metres, a frequency of 701kHz. By January 1970 the station had morphed into Radio Geronimo and used the transmitters of Radio Monte Carlo. Programs started at midnight on Friday & Saturday nights, and continued for 3 hours each night, eventually Sunday programs were started. Terry Yason, one of the founding members, told me that programs were recorded in the Radio Luxembourg studios when they weren't in use by the pop station's staff. I remember hearing King Crimson's '21st Century Schizoid Man' and Blodwyn Pig on Geronimo. BBC Radio London - only on fm at first [which most people didn't have on their radios then], doing the usual BBC thing of dull boring programs and attracting a small audience as a result, eventually popped up on 1458kHz [206m], right 'next door' to Geronimo on 1467kHz [205m], and effectively jammed Geronimo..... Some things never change do they?

Bear Freeman

I worked near Harley Street when Geronimo was in its formative years and used to pop in at lunch hours. I would have been around 16 to 18 yrs of age then and working for the BBC in their Publications office but was a member of their studio dramatic club and had seen and acted in professional studios. I was a young teenager who knocked on a door and found myself in awe of slightly older chaps saying they were going to run a radio station from abroad. I was amazed when they launched from transmitters in Monte Carlo. They played the whole of the Woodstock album one evening. My memories also made me recollect that the Harley street office did not resemble a studio in the least.

I was phoned out of the blue by Ronan O'Rahilly and was asked for contact details for the Radio Geronimo announcers - I gave them this and hope that this may have led to them being on Radio Seagull.

Your site is a growing and beautiful archive for something which did not last very long at all.

Keith, the wireless waffler

I can remember Radio Geronimo being advertised at a David Bowie concert in the Library Gardens Bromley in about 1970 the guy that sold me a poster surname was Everett.

 

Diana

Talk about bringing back memories???  I used to listen to R.G. on my bush radio/cassette. getting just as stoned as the D.J's. Even the grass was better then. Ha ha. How about hitting us listeners with some Captain Beefheart, Soft Machine, Principal Edwards, The Mothers, Incredible String Band, Country Joe, Syd Barrett and West Coast Bands. Yeah, give it to us and good luck Gary Minton

Webmaster comments: Checkout 'Toward The Unknown Region' & House of Mercy

 

Jimi Hendrix UK Fanzine webmaster writes:

Hi

Do you, somewhere in the archives; have a decent recording of the Geronimo Hendrix tribute show from September 1970? Apart from the obvious interest (I now run the UK Hendrix fanzine) it introduced me to some artists previously unheard of let alone unheard. I have an atrocious recording, originally reel to reel then transferred (badly) to cassette. Reception in the north of England was always petty grim but it was a must listen weekend event. Hugh Nolan’s deadpan delivery was exactly what I wanted to hear introducing the recordings I treasured so much then and now.

 

How I wish I still had my Geronimo T-shirt! Might well fit me now that I’m middle aged and a little less slim.

 

Keep up the good wok.

 

Steve

 

Steve Rodham

===================

Jimpress

P.O.Box 218

Warrington

Cheshire

WA5 2FG

England

http://www.jimpress.co.uk

===================

 

Webmaster comments: Steve has kindly donated his rustic recording of the Radio Geronimo Hendrix night. You can listen to it right now. Also features some fine recordings from Charlie Haden, The Last Poets and Albert Ayler. Possibly Geronimo at its most diverse eclectic and adventurous...

I run the Caroline Bus Co and you run the Geronimo Bus Co.
I will do the High Street, down past the Post Office and left at the Railway Station and you handle the Mystery Tours.

 

Yours aye,

 

Peter Moore, May 2005
www.radiocaroline.co.uk

My everlasting memory of this obscure of stations  was meeting a group of friends in a pub in Hertfordshire at 7 pm drinking until the pub closed and driving down to Cornwall listening to Geronimo
There were a lot of stops as you can appreciate and the signal faded on the way down
Such heady days...

Nick Kirkpatrick

Dylan's Basement Tapes:

Hi

Nice to find your site, brings back memories ... 8-)

I was a dealer in north London in '69, and a couple of Canadians I knew flew in to buy weight off me. They also brought a present, a package of reel to reels, marked Basement Tapes. I had no reel to reel so I made my way down to my favourite station Geronimo's office and asked the guys there if they'd like to make use of them, and they said yes please. I listened to them played non stop on air, and was pleased a new Dylan bootleg had got such a hearing! I never went back to reclaim them, but didn't know then that they would be brought out on vinyl and form part of the Dylan story. They might even have made me a few quid on ebay in the distant future! There you go.

I shall revisit and enjoy the site. Thanks.

The Incandescent Purple Pie Pete

listened to Radio Geronimo late into the night on 18 transistor radio
when they used to count how many transistors were in them. I was 15
going on 16 when I first found the station one night tweaking the
tuner. Fantastic tunes the only other person playing such a range was
John Peel sadly not with us.
Radio Geronimo was responsible for me discovering the Last Poets who
years later had become legends.
I remember the death of Jimi Hendrix and the programme devoted to him.
The word went round at school and lots of us were avid listeners and
some even tried the mail order, if Geronimo didn't have the record you
wanted they sent one that they thought you would like. It sort of worked?
excellent to hear it again, does anything ever go away, must look out
my poster in the loft somewhere.
by for now i will be listening on a regular basis
mole
Earl Grey tea (the first time I'd tasted it) from a proper teapot

"Liberating" the paperclips on incoming mail (a phrase I still use)

Being asked very politely by Hugh (or was it Barry?) not to volunteer to type playlists again as I'd got all the timings wrong and spoilt a whole session . . .

Tom, from Canada

Arthur Brown walking round the offices, his head half shaved

Tony Secunda (scarey!)

Walking through London streets late at night on my way back home to Kent, innocently swinging a bag of illegal substances over my arm

Another life, another time - thanks for your great site.

Glad to hear Hugh and Barry are alive and well - any news of John Lundsten (who introduced me to this other life) or Frank with the incredibly long hair?  I kept in touch with both of them for a while after Geronimo but lost contact about 25 years ago).

My love to all those still with us - it would be good to hear from you

Diane

(aged hippy, alive and well, back living in Gravesend, Kent)
 

Hi folks,

I was really amazed and delighted to discover recently that there is a website devoted to Radio Geronimo. Here are my memories of RG, rather hazy but still as relevant today as they were then:

Looking back to my days as a teenager, I remember being very distressed when the original British pirate radio stations closed down in 1967/68, and I hoped that some kind of alternative would one day hit the airwaves. I'd been hopelessly addicted to the music played on Radio London and Radio Caroline, but detested Radio 1 (apart from John Peel) and everything else to do with the BBC (I still do).

Early in 1969 I discovered Radio Andorra, which now and again came up with a good progressive music programme (one classic tune I still remember was the Jefferson Airplane's "Plastic Fantastic Lover" from their great "Bless Its Pointed Little Head" live album), but reception in southern England was rather erratic; RNI was OK as long as it lasted but in mid-1970 I got fed up with the perpetual jamming by the government and soon afterwards the station was gone too. I seem to remember that the pirate radio issue was one major contributing factor to Harold Wilson's Labour government getting kicked out of office, which pleased me no end - it's a pity that I wasn't quite 18 when the 1970 General Election was held. Not that this helped the cause of pirate, offshore, underground or alternative radio very much in the end, but for a few months it was a pleasant delusion that the Tory government might be prepared to give a sympathetic hearing to such stations.

Then I forgot all about alternative radio until round about November 1970, soon after I started at university, when I discovered Geronimo purely by chance after twiddling my radio dial and suddenly hearing a piece of music which immediately stood out from the other dross. As far as I remember, it turned out to be the instrumental "One Red Rose that I Mean" from Captain Beefheart's latest album "Lick My Decals Off Baby". Must have been something of a coup, as the album wasn't released in the UK till January 1971. I remained glued to my radio and a while later found out that the station I'd been listening to was called Radio Geronimo.

For several weeks I was a keen listener and picked up on several of the better progressive albums doing the rounds in 1970 - Jethro Tull's "Benefit", Soft Machine's "Third", Hendrix's "Band of Gypsys", the Mothers of Invention's "Weasels Ripped My Flesh" and Traffic's "John Barleycorn Must Die" come back to mind, though I'm sure there were many others. One monster I would have loved to hear was the Grateful Dead's "Live Dead", which put all these other albums in the shade, but this was already about a year old by the end of 1970, though I've read from another contributor that the album was actually aired at some stage.

I seem to remember that a lot of other stuff was played as well, including more classically oriented music, but I've no idea what any of this was. However, by the time 1971 came round a lot of creativity seemed to disappear from progressive music and I lost interest in radio in general, but at least for a few months the British radio scene had - at least for those in the know - been given a real shot in the arm. It may well be over 35 years ago now, but this was for me a defining period in my life.

Cheers,

Robin

Fantastic homage to a wonderful station fondly remembered by me as it introduced me to so much good music and affected my musical tastes forever 
( From the age of 16 through to 52 and beyond). The audio content on your site is also a real treat and brings it all back. I actually remember some of the actual shows included in your streams  too ... after 35 years! I have quite a pile of letters and other stuff from
Geronimo somewhere including playlists. I recall listening to Geronimo with my radio clamped to my ear as I couldn’t afford a set of headphones and as it was late at night I couldn’t really turn up the volume too much! I had a Geronimo poster up on the wall in the Sixth Form room at school and was told to remove it by the headmaster for some forgotten reason 
("Who is this Geronimo guy anyway?" he asked!).

Thanks for all the good work. Geronimo is NOT forgotten it is alive and well in my mind .... Radio Seagull helped keep me sane later on but we simply don’t have any intelligent and adventurous radio available here anymore. Radio 3's Late Junction does have echoes of Geronimo ...but it is not enough for me. I wish BBC 6 Music could chill out a bit more and do some free form "anything goes" programming. We need some fresh blood in the form of the old boys to get it going that way, maybe?  

Please keep me informed of anything Geronimo related especially the documentary and book. And if G returns? ... life would be better for my ears and sanity!
Your excellent site captures the essence of a unique moment in broadcasting history.

Thanks.
Cheers for now,

Dave Roberts
exclusive - how it all began (#2), by geoff  
A  brief history of the Geronimo Experience; recalled from the memory of Geoffrey Bass, co-founder and man of many parts.

The history must begin with the time itself. The late 60's early 70's were indeed magical times. Britain was immensely prosperous. Jobs were plentiful. Renting was the norm and mostly everyone was paid in cash at the end of the working week. This meant that young people could rent rooms, share flats and houses and  for the first time, enjoy the freedom of a widespread social life of their own. Naturally this new-found freedom of association allowed new tastes to develop in clothes, music and lifestyle.
It was all new. It was all fresh. We were young. There were no boundaries. It was all to do. The era of "sex, drugs and rock'n'roll had arrived...

The story begins with a somewhat crazy guy called Paul who, in one of his more lucid moments, introduced me to a slightly less crazy guy called Bill "Scoop" Hayes. With a view to financing Bill's scheme to lease air-time from Radio Andorra. Bill was apparently in negotiation with R.A. but had run out of money. I was intrigued. The challenge was great. I could not refuse. I had to proceed. Bill's passion was for news reporting. And I guess that had he had his way, Geronimo would have been a news station. Along the lines of News 24. But this could never be. The airwaves were made for music. The uniting, binding force of beautiful vibrations encircling the Globe and, for a time at least, engendering a profound feeling of Love and Peace.

So, with Hugh writing for Disc & Music Echo and Terry deeply involved in the music business, it was natural to bring them into the equation. A couple of meetings with Bill were enough to fire up our imaginations. I made a quick flight to Paris. Had a meeting with Yves Kuhn, Radio Andorra's agent there and the way was cleared for broadcasts to begin.
At this point cash donations were made by Jacqui Nolan, Pete Townshend and Tony Phillpot. God bless them.
Bill persuaded us to buy the recording equipment of Radio Jamaica. This was installed in a garden flat in Muswell Hill... where we had many hilarious moments of mad-cap recording. Test broadcasts were arranged but, unbelievably, Bill kept forgetting to send the tapes off to the station. Sadly he had to go. Or, rather, we parted company from him.

Now, bereft of recording equipment (having gifted this to Bill) we regrouped at Hugh's flat in Manchester Street. Much good advice was received at this time from John Peel, Max Clifford and somewhat later on from Ronan O'Reilly, who spent hours guiding me through the pitfalls of broadcasting. Also at this time Hugh introduced us to Tony Secunda, of whom, for all his many faults, I subsequently became very fond - spending many hours, through the years, at his various homes in deep and private conversation. Tony had just moved into new offices at 1,Harley St. with his partner in Ringmaker Music, Jimmy Miller,the Rolling Stones producer. They offered us space in the new building and our adventure began again. Programmes were recorded, sent to Andorra and test broadcasts were made. Initially reception was good and much excited by this, Simon Hands was brought in to gather advertising revenue. Simon made valiant efforts to share our vision with advertisers but, being total stick-in-the-muds they resolutely refused to open their eyes to the potential staring them in the face. This was a blow and another was waiting just around the corner. The Seasons changed and reception quality plummeted. Solar radiation was causing too much interference. Andorra was dead. What could we do? I telexed all the radio stations in Europe with transmitters powerful enough to broadcast to Britain. All of them replied. But all but one were state owned and prohibited from joining with us.
The one exception was Radio Monte Carlo. A commercial station part-owned by Prince Rainier. They were keen to proceed. Their top man Msr. Jacques Maziol came over to London. A deal was done and we were off again. Such Joy.

Initially we wanted to use Rupert the Bear as our logo (for Radio Rupert) but the copyright holder (Daily Express, I believe) refused to allow it. A group discussion ensued and Geronimo came out of it. Geronimo being the WW2 American parachutist's cry as they left the airplane. It seemed fitting at the time. Suiting our mood of sheer exhilaration.  The test broadcasts went very well as did a visit to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications who assured me that broadcasts from Monte Carlo were not subject to British Law and we were therefore free to proceed. At no time did we consider broadcasting illegally. What would have been the point. We did however try to buy Lundy Island in the Bristol Channel but were pipped at the post by an ex-pat. Bahamian billionaire who gave it to the National Trust. They leased it to the family trust of a prominent conservative M.P. who, though himself willing to let us build a transmitter on the island, was forbidden from doing so by the terms of his lease.

After the test period  broadcasts began in earnest, the hours of broadcast were increased and a studio built on the upper floor of Harley St. Much quiet support was received from the record companies, especially the American ones and once we had developed a play-list, this was used to mail-order records. One incredible act of generosity or madness or both ,which I am sure could never happen again, involved Jimmy Miller and the Stones. They had literally just finished the final mix of their latest album when I walked into the studio. Jimmy lifted the tape from the machine, gave it to me to record for broadcast, said: "Let me have this back first thing in the morning, it's the only tape we have!" And off I went. The album was broadcast a day or so later. Another World Exclusive for Geronimo.

Oh yes. Those wonderful drawings...
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They were copied from a Victorian children's book...

Geoffrey Bass, December 2005

Always in search of good music I to trawled the airwaves Luxembourg then Caroline 199 on to the flood of pirates and enjoyed every second and missed the spirit of freedom when it all went sour and the good lady became predictable and got hassled off the air......no more free radio pop stations........tho somehow by then my tastes of music had changed and I fine tuned even more carefully into the night reaching out pulling the music that I needed to take me thru till the morning and so I found Geronimo 'twas by no means a strong signal in the barren north tho I stayed locked and fascinated that someone somewhere was happening along and loving every moment also.......so now I can thank you for being right on time and providing a very useful and enjoyable broadcast..................a lot of people don't want to go back cos they've moved on they say ..........I say this was our playground and I will never forget the feeling of togetherness and untogethernsess as Geronimo flowed on into the dawn................somehow it didn't matter that one day you were not there you had told us we were not alone or afraid!

Then came RNI Caroline and... SEAGULL bless yer cotton socks and the night shift saved my life many times as I wandered endlessly thru.............anyway hope this isn't too large for your your waffle page.......and is back to save my life again...... still listening !

keep on keepin on.

how about bringing back the t shirts my kids would love 'em ok I would love a new one......so

Peasluv n gudmuzik

T
(posted April 2007)

no past no present no future just the everflowing way!

 

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