ADVENTURES IN RADIO

 

I had two radios. Both were mono , but you could adjust the tone. On a Saturday afternoon , I would switch both on . One had a full bass tone , the other was set with a high treble output.

I collected money for the local newsagent on Saturday morning. This didn't involve standing outside the shop with a collecting tin. It did involve setting out on foot around 9am with a satchel and a book of tickets and addresses. The satchel held a small float of notes and coins and the tickets showed the number of weeks each customer owed. 

For a small shop in a small mining village , the extent of the "empire" was huge. My route would be a round trip of around five miles , taking me past the allotments , over the railway lines and along a footpath we called " The Bridle Path" down to the dog track , then left , beyond the scrap yard into the estate , where the round began.

The estate was a rabbit warren of concrete semi-detached houses. A main road meandered east to west and to each side occasional cul-de-sacs took me off to find the house at the bottom of the loop where there was either no one in , or the wife had all the money and she was out for the day , or the curtains twitched angrily at me until I decided to move on.

To be fair , most people paid up and my satchel got heavier and heavier as I wound my way to the bungalows at the end of the route. Then the long walk home , mostly along the same route.

I was only 15 and enjoyed a good walk, so apart from the heavy bag , it wasn't much of a problem.

Of course, this was an all weather event , so it was less pleasant if it was raining...Maybe snow stopped play , but I don't remember. Certainly a bit of frost didn't hold me back.

Anyway , the important thing about it all is that I got home around 1pm every Saturday , hungry , tired and ready for my two radios.

By two o'clock , I was fed and the family was in the other room watching racing or knitting or something.

I was left to my own devices , which meant I laid on my back on the floor , two cushions under my head with one radio each side of me.

The open fire crackled to one side, warming my aching bones and then Alan Freeman kicked in for two hours of prog rock and album tracks . He was particularly fond of Emerson,Lake and Palmer , but full versions of tracks from Yes , Pink Floyd , Genesis and many others were guaranteed.

One favourite which seemed to play every other week was "Driving Through Mythical America" by Pete Atkin. Sometimes he would play the sublime "Rider To The World's End" by the same artist.

I eventually bought an album of Pete Atkin songs , and was surprised and delighted to find that the words were actually written by Clive James , who later became a national celebrity with his quirky chat shows and newspaper columns.

For two hours each week , I could close my eyes , turn both sound buttons up and blow my mind.

It wasn't really stereo, of course, but it worked for me.