RADIO GERONIMO sleeps no more... |
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Geronimo
has a great future but it also has a glorious past. Please send your memories of Geronimo & Seagull via CONTACT |
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Hugh Nolan 1944 - 2009 |
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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
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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." (Webmaster comments: Yes,
Hugh is alive and working for a media group in Vietnam. May 2004) 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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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Hi Chris |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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... |
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Click here for further information about English language radio to and from the Riviera | |||
Dear sir |
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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 |
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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... |
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‘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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 ===================
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... |
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I run the
Caroline Bus Co and you run the Geronimo Bus Co.
Yours aye,
Peter
Moore, May 2005 |
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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 |
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Dylan's Basement Tapes:
Hi |
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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 |
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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) |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 |
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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 no past no present no future just the everflowing way!
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