Welcome to Tony Ray’s Shopping Bag of soul ! Actually I should say the full title should read Tony Rays EXTREMELY old shopping bag of soul !!!
I first started doing radio in the end of 1994, starting off on one of a number of pirate radio stations operating in the Birmingham area of the UK. In total I must have worked for 4 different pirate stations, Powah FM, Premier Radio, PCRL , and finally Sweet FM. In 2002 I then joined New Style Radio a legal station in Birmingham, and one of the first of its kind in the country, operating under a community banner . I did my last show for them in the year 2005. And since then my radio has largely been confined to intermittent guest spots on Solar Radio.
Great times, I don’t know the attraction with doing pirate radio, perhaps it may have something to do with the illicit nature of the pirates, the thrill of playing music with the undoubted possibility of being detected by the dreaded DTI, possibly the fact that we felt we were offering a real service to our local community, a community whose music we felt was not represented at all on the legitimate radio stations of the time, or possible it was the real comradeship offered by your fellow pirate presenters , presenters who were going through the same things as yourself, taking the same risks, and no doubt gaining the same thrills. Whatever, all I can say is that doing pirate radio and more importantly playing the music I loved to an audience was personally the most rewarding time I ever spent on radio.
Sadly many of those early shows I suspect are lost forever , many shows I did at times which were known as the graveyard shift, times when it was thought the majority of people would NOT be listening. I always opted for these low risk timeslots largely because they represented the least chance of being busted by the DTI. I had heard lots of horror stories of presenters being caught by the DTI, having their records confiscated, and heavy fines being imposed on them. I couldn’t imagine my music being taken from me, so I decided very early on that if I were to do the pirates, it would have to be with this low risk strategy in place. As a consequence many of my shows were always after midnight or the early hours of Sunday or Saturday Mornings. And as a consequence of that I found myself playing much more sedate music, music that many would refer to as “slow Jams” or “ down tempo” . I didn’t mind, I loved it ! And even though many Djs worked with the idea of gaining booking s in local clubs and bars, and so largely upped the tempo, I was always most happiest at the mid and the down temp range. For me this music always had more depth and meaning attached to it, and it was these qualities in the music I wanted to convey.
Its Strange because I do love up tempo music, and I always felt I understood the groove, the vibe that would make people dance , and in fact I always danced in the clubs and bars that I frequented. And I certainly had the tunes…but ,well I just felt this was not going to be an operation in me simply acquiring gigs.
Many of the shows did on the pirates were done on the most basic of equipment. If the studio was unfortunate enough to be raided by the DTI all the equipment would be taken, and the station owners would have to replace everything ASAP in order to get back on air as quickly as possible, It therefore made sense not to have the most expensive gear. Our studios were usually old flats situated in high rise blocks in Birmingham’s inner city. These studios would often be moved for security reasons, and we would find ourselves in some other disused flat. I have to say many of these flats/studios were pretty filthy and un kept, and we would find ourselves invariably in one room of the flat with nothing but a phone the equipment and a window to look out through. I always loved playing the music from these high level locations, just found it so exhilarating to be looking over the lights of Birmingham, late at night from the 18th floor somewhere playing music that you adore, thinking that perhaps someone somewhere would be listening to you ,and having the same feelings.
I started recording my shows pretty early on, first to hear how I sounded and secondly to keep for prosterity . Anyone who knows me on a personal basis, will know that I don’t particularly like the sound of my own voice(I guess it’s the perfectionist in me lol ), and so pretty much these tape recorded shows would be dumped in an old blue and white chequered shopping bag and forgotten about never to be played again.
That is, I should add, until now….
That old shopping bag, has followed me around. On many occasion I have thought about dumping it, it was an eyesore , which always looked out of place wherever I put it.. For the last 4 years in has resided in my loft out of sight and largely out of mind. And so it was that yesterday I was in the loft, and saw the old shopping bag, crammed to the rim of old cassette tapes and mini discs. Shows of not only myself but other presenters, that I had recorded and or whose shows had been sent to me. Shows that deserve not be forgotten.
So there you have it, An old bag of soul, containing lots of old shows, which I would to share if I may…
Some of the recordings no doubt are of poor quality, and the music may be up and down, I can't say for sure because I honestly can't remember, I’m hoping they will be of good quality though.
One thing I should add , I will not be providing playlists for any of these shows, if you hear something you like and in the unlikely event I do not mention what it is , then simply PM or email me tonyray1234@hotmail.com, and I’ll be glad to assist.
So without further ado …..
Tony Ray October 2010