After many years of campaigning and patiently waiting, October 1973 finally saw the launch of Britain’s first legal commercial music station.
Capital Radio broadcast round the clock to the London area, and boasted a DJ line-up gleaned somewhat from Radio One, which – despite being the BBC’s answer to the outlawed pirate stations – by now had become horrendously ‘tame’, and represented the worst possible combination of cheesy radio presenters and jangly top 40 pop music.
Amongst Capital’s most memorable shows in it’s early days was the Kenny & Cash breakfast show, featuring Kenny Everett and Dave Cash, who had previously worked together on the offshore station Radio London 266. Kenny had subsequently joined (and been sacked from) Radio One. This was following a fairly tame on-air joke which was made regarding the Transport Minister’s wife passing her driving test.
Capital managed to fill a huge void for a fair few years, and boasted some hugely talented presenters, who’s style was quite a breath of fresh air compared to the somewhat tedious format which had become the norm elsewhere. Shows in it’s early days presented by previously unknown ‘jocks’ such as Nicky Horne, Roger Scott, and Peter Young, plus (of course) housewives choice Michael Aspel were a joy to listen to.
Capital’s musical format was adventurous, far less chart-based, and featured ground-breaking (and then unknown) bands such as Queen.
In July 1977, at the height of the royal Silver Jubilee celebrations, Capital even hosted a sixty minute interview with 20 year-old Sex Pistols lead vocalist Johnny Rotten, who’s musical selections included Dr Alimantado & The Rebels – ‘Born For A Purpose’, and Bobby Byrd – ‘Back From The Dead’.
I’ve already mentioned the weekly soul shows on local radio which were required listening in London and the surrounding areas – Robbie Vincent on BBC Radio London , and Greg Edwards on Capital Radio, plus Dave Brown on BBC Radio Medway.
In addition, there was even Caister DJ Martin Collins’ show on Chiltern Radio which broadcast a nice strong signal from Luton, easily receivable in the south of London.