Meet the Jungle VIP!
By Tony Watts - Editor - 13/03/2008
“And, good morning everyone. Welcome to the exciting new sound of Radio 1!” With those words at 7am on 30th September 1967, followed by “Flowers in the Rain” by the Move, a whole new movement in music history began. To quote Wordsworth, albeit in a rather different context, “Bliss it was in that dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven.”
Finally, the stuffy old Beeb had recognized that there were millions of young people who didn’t want to hear the middle-aged, middle-of-the-road music of the Light Service. That was why those that could had been tuning into the pirate stations, while those of us living outside of their broadcast reach fervently listened to Radio Luxembourg on a tinny transistor radio (usually under the blankets so our parents couldn’t hear).
The cheery voice charged with the task of waking Britain up back in 1967 belonged to one Antony Kenneth Blackburn. He – and the other renegades cunningly recruited from the pirate ships – brought with them a whole new way of presenting with American-style jingles, catchphrases and (of course) the music that mattered to the younger generation. As he explains, “I chose all my own music then,” maintaining the tradition of Radio Caroline and the other illegal stations where the DJ did practically everything apart from steer the ship and stoke the boiler.
And it’s a tradition he still maintains today on almost all of the programmes he presents, making him the exception to the rule of most DJs.
Tony himself arrived at his first record deck by a somewhat circuitous route: after gaining his qualifications in business management, he decided to try his hand as a singer – successfully so for several years before getting his first job on Radio Caroline. As he admits: “I didn’t really know what life was like aboard a pirate radio ship, but it sounded a good idea.”
And now, with a licence to play the music he liked, he started to introduce the British public to soul music – then very little known outside the USA. He has been given the credit, for instance, of making “I’m still waiting”, perhaps Diana Ross’s best ever track, number one on the UK, having decided to pluck an album track out of obscurity and give it airtime.
“I’ve always loved soul,” he says. “It was something I shared with my father, who was a big fan of people like Jackie Wilson and before that the old doo wap music, groups like The Cascades. I had the first soul programme in the UK – two hours on Radio London – and I also introduced a lot of Motown music onto Radio 1.
“We used to have a ‘Soul Night Out’ live show at Kilburn every week and at the very first event Stevie Wonder came along to say thank you.”
But nothing stays the same for ever. As musical tastes evolved during the 70s and 80s, many of the first generation of Radio 1 DJs found themselves starting to go out of fashion, and Tony’s chirpy “poptastic” style, corny jokes and taste in music saw him lose his coveted prime time slot.
However his knowledge of music proved an asset when, on being moved to the midmorning slot, he introduced “The Golden Hour”: it was 1973 and suddenly pop music had enough of a back catalogue to celebrate hits from yesterday. It was an innovation that has now become a whole industry. Tony himself went on to be one of the big names of “Classic Gold” radio and his latest slot - on Smooth Radio - draws largely on the best of yesterday’s music output: compulsive listening to a generation that was privileged to live through such a prolific time for popular music.
Eventually he found himself on the outside of Radio 1, a casualty of the drive for youth, but throughout the 80s and 90s, Tony remained busy on radio stations in and around London. And, once again he was innovating with a new career as probably the UK’s first “shock jock”: listeners phoned in with views and experiences that sometimes left little to the imagination. “We had no time delay on the calls,” says Tony, “but we did warn people ahead of the show about the content. And as I’ve always said when people complain, if you don’t like a programme, switch it off.
“That said, there is always someone who gets ‘outraged’ – I can remember the fuss that was made years ago about records like ‘One hundred pounds of clay’ by Craig Douglas, and ‘Terry’ by Twinkle!”
But it was the first series of “I’m a Celebrity, Get me out of here” that put Tony’s career into a higher gear, and back onto a national stage – as well as succeeding in showing his other, more serious side. “Because we were the first people on the show we had no idea what to expect,” he recalls. “I wasn’t even sure if it was a joke. But it sounded great fun and I’d always wanted to go to Australia. And it did introduce me to a different audience. My daughter was five or six at the time and when I picked her up from school it was ‘oh it’s the jungle man’ from all her friends.
“But doing the programme did alter me - very much so, in fact. It was the peace and tranquility... it was just so peaceful… especially after all the other men had gone. It has also helped me to get on with people better – especially those that annoy me!”
Being on a highly revealing programme like I’m a Celebrity carries major risks for those taking part and, as Tony concedes, “My wife and mother did try to talk me out of going on the programme.” But to the victor, the spoils: those personalities who have made a positive impact with viewers have seen a huge uplift in their profile - and by winning, Tony has been amongst them. His achievements in promoting such a positive image for older people led to him being awarded the prestigious “Oldie Of The Year” award in 2003.
So does he listen to Radio 1 these days? “Not often,” he admits, “but I’m not the audience they want. It’s not that older and younger people can’t share music – there really isn’t the gap now between the generations that there was when I was young. But a lot of what I like to listen to now comes from the 80s and before. In fact just what you’ll find on Smooth Radio!”
Smooth Radio is a network of regional radio programmes, all playing music of the last five decades. But increasingly, location is immaterial. Anyone with internet access can listen to any of the stations whenever they want and that, says Tony, marks the next big change in the way we will all listen to music.
As we speak, Tony has just celebrated his birthday – the rather significant one where he could now (if he felt the overwhelming urge) reduce the cost of transport with the aid of a bus pass. He breaks off to laugh at this suggestion. “No I couldn’t retire or even slow down yet,” he says. “I love what I’m doing too much. When I went onto ‘I’m a Celebrity’ some of the media suggested that I was “resurrecting my career’. I’ve never stopped working!
“And I do get fed up with the way older people are portrayed in the media. And the way that the advertising industry ignores them too. My son works in media planning and I’m always complaining to him about this. Luckily, radio stations like Smooth are now springing up to cater for our tastes in music.”
The back catalogue of music that Tony started to mine in the 1970s is now massive and hugely eclectic. Interestingly, it was Tony who led the rebellion in 2004 when Classic Gold decided to stop playing Cliff Richard records. “I thought that was daft,” he says. “There are so many Cliff fans out there. So I just kept playing them.” For which he was suspended – before public outrage earned him a reprieve.
You can still hear Tony presenting a weekly show on KCFM 99.8fm in Hull and East Yorkshire from 10am each Friday. He continues to pre-record a show for the kmfm network in Kent each Sunday afternoon from 4pm. He is also presenting the weekend breakfast shown on 102.2 Smooth Radio in London between 7am and 10am every Saturday and Sunday, and hosts the Saturday lunchtime show on BBC London 94.9 from 12 midday.
And while there’s a generation that still remembers with fondness that very first record on Radio 1, he is certain to stay on air. Mellower than before, maybe, but still 100% committed to the decades of music that haveshaped our lives.