Making world music's first international star : 1985-1988 : Ofra Haza, Tel Aviv & London

In January 1985, I had arrived in Israel to work as a DJ on a radio station, but this was no ordinary radio. The studios of ‘The Voice of Peace’ were on a ship anchored permanently in the Mediterranean Sea [see blog]. Aware of my interest in cutting edge music, the station’s popular breakfast DJ Dave Asher... [continues]
#Israel #music #OfraHaza #radio #worldmusic #London
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2026/01/making-world-musics-first-international.html

I did not think the girl could be so cruel : 1989-1990 : Amanda Jane Lyons, BBC Radio

July 1989. I had just broken up with my girlfriend of three years, after a particularly bitter confrontation that had shocked me profoundly. Since Easter, London’s rail and underground system had suffered a series of one-day strikes that had brought the city to a complete standstill once a week. On returning home one evening to the flat we shared, I had found a note... [continues]
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/12/i-did-not-think-girl-could-be-so-cruel.html

Letter from Cambodia - munching mince pies by the Mekong : 2004 : BBC World Service Trust, Phnom Penh

Dear John
Since we last spoke before Xmas, I have made a move …. to Phnom Penh. I am writing this sitting on a hotel balcony overlooking the Mekong River. How did this happen? Nearly two years ago, when I was living in Brighton, I was interviewed by the BBC World Service Trust for a job managing their projects in... [continues]
#Cambodia #media #radio #Ofcom #BBC
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/12/letter-from-cambodia-munching-mince.html

Let your fingers do the walking … in the cash register : 1976-1978 : Kay, DSU Bookshop, Dunelm House, Durham University

FIRST YEAR. I had landed in a ‘one-bookshop town’. The lone academic book retailer in Durham City was bizarrely named ‘SPCK’, aka the ‘Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge’ founded in 1698 by English clergyman Thomas Bray. Naturally, it was packed with books about... [continues]
#DurhamUniversity #GrantGoddard #journalism #Palatinate #student
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/11/let-your-fingers-do-walking-in-cash.html

New upstarts clobber complacent commercial radio industry two-decade market monopoly : 1973-2005 : Independent Local Radio, UK

The UK commercial radio industry has grown dramatically since the first station launched in 1973. The history of the industry can usefully be divided into two chapters:
1. 1973 to 1990
At the beginning of this period, local commercial radio stations were opened only...[continues]
#BBC #commercialradio #GrantGoddard #radio #media #broadcast
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/10/new-upstarts-clobber-complacent.html

He’s the queen of snubs : 1989-1991 : Gordon McNamee, KISS 100 FM, London

September 1989. The other information I needed was a copy of the finished KISS FM application form from the last bid [for a London FM commercial radio licence - see blog], and a copy of the huge appendix that had accompanied it. [Pirate radio station co-founder Gordon] McNamee pulled out... [continues]
#career #radio #GordonMcNamee #GrantGoddard #KISSFM #London #pirateradio #broadcasting #media
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/10/hes-queen-of-snubs-1989-1991-gordon.html

I don’t want to be like my daddy : 1972 : Red Carpet Inn, Daytona Beach & ‘Baby Sitter’ by Betty Wright

Having answered the front door, its frame was filled by the 11pm silhouette of a large black man wearing overalls and carrying a toolbox. The only words I could discern from his Southern drawl were ‘air con’. Aha! He must have arrived to fix the air conditioning malfunction of which I had... [continues]
#Camberley #childhood #GrantGoddard #music #radio #soul #USA
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/09/i-dont-want-to-be-like-my-daddy-1972.html

You can lead a boss to wisdom but you can’t make her an expert Expert Witness : 2006 : Claire Enders, Enders Analysis

Another day, another meeting. Though this one was most unusual. Not a word had been spoken during the past hour. I was sat in the basement Meetings Room. I had a pile of papers in front of me to discuss. I had thoroughly prepared. However, after arriving early, I was still the only person present. My boss had... [continues]
#copyright #music #streaming
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/08/you-can-lead-boss-to-wisdom-but-you.html

Traitor at the gates of soul : 1990 : Tony Blackburn, Capital Radio versus KISS 100 FM, London

Pop music had been outlawed by the British government. Twiddle the dial of an AM transistor radio and you would not have found a single UK radio station playing the hits of the day. It was crazy. Contemporary popular music, along with the latest fashions and art, had become Britain’s biggest cultural exports. The ‘British Invasion’... [continues]
#radio #media #broadcast #BBC
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/08/traitor-at-gates-of-soul-1990-tony.html

You just keep on using me ... until you use me up : 1989 : Brian Davis, Radio & Music magazine, EMAP plc

In March 1989, an advertisement appeared in the press, seeking staff to work for a new radio industry magazine. There had been several attempts to publish a radio-only trade publication since the launch of commercial radio in 1973, all of which had ended in failure. The industry had still not become large enough to sustain substantial amounts of paid... [continues]
https://peoplelikeyoudontworkinradio.blogspot.com/2025/07/you-just-keep-on-using-me-until-you-use.html