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The thread about AM radio starting to become very last century, it got me thinking about the time when long wave got a big shot in the arm at the dtar of the 1990s with the launch of Atlantic 252.
I used to listen to it back in the day and I was wondering if others also used to listen to it, especially when it was at its height in the first half of the 1990s.
And who was your favourite presenter(s)? My favourite was mid-morning presenter Henry Owens (real name Henry Condon).
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Re: Atlantic 252
Well now, let me think …
Favourite memory of it was the newsreader reciting the lyrics to Step On in his newsreader voice over a backing track. Heard one morning on the school bus (a coach, with a sound system, and a driver who loved Atlantic 252).
Around the same time (summer 1990 most likely) discovering exactly what a playlist and heavy rotation meant, as a sixth former supervising younger kids on an orienteering day, sitting next to a car in the sunshine with the radio on all day.
And from 1991 to 1994 listening to it on almost every occasion radio was required because you could pick up precious little else in the corner of south west Wales where I was studying. Including the time they changed the phrase that pays to “I listen to the best music on the Jackson station - Long Wave Radio Atlantic 252” because they utterly lost their minds over Black or White and seemed to have it on some sort of super-heavy rotation.
I remember discovering Atlantic 252 in the late 90s while on a family holiday near Barmouth. FM reception wasn't great in the village we were staying (Arthog, for anyone who's ever been on a school trip to the area!), but we picked up 252 with no issues as it was broadcast across the Irish Sea.
I remember discovering Atlantic 252 in the late 90s while on a family holiday near Barmouth. FM reception wasn't great in the village we were staying (Arthog, for anyone who's ever been on a school trip to the area!), but we picked up 252 with no issues as it was broadcast across the Irish Sea.
I know the area and reception of anything still isn't good. But with scenery like they have around there who cares?
BTW last time I saw, some cheeky schoolboy had renamed Arthog to Warthog with spray paint
Fun (?) fact: 252 jocks had to present their shows standing up. In fact chairs were banned for DJs in the studio completely as the higher-ups wanted them to sound more energetic and believed having them front shows sitting down encouraged them to sound “laid back” and complacent.
I first heard it on a holiday in North Wales. The lady in an ice cream stall on the sea front at Llandudno had it on in the background. Took me a while to twig it was actually on Long Wave as you instinctively looked for 252 metres rather than Khz.
There is an interesting video on Youtube of the Clarkestown transmitter site. Two water cooled 300Kw Continental Electronics units were used in parallel during the daytime. The electricity bill for running them even in 1990 was £1100 a day, so someone had to have deep pockets to keep the station on the air.
Fun (?) fact: 252 jocks had to present their shows standing up. In fact chairs were banned for DJs in the studio completely as the higher-ups wanted them to sound more energetic and believed having them front shows sitting down encouraged them to sound “laid back” and complacent.
That was a practice Charlie "Wolf Man Jack" Wolf bought over from America. If you are standing up you project your voice a lot more than sitting down.
IIRC Chris Moyles did it during his stint on Radio 1 breakfast.
I think you are right, and many other presenters probably now do the same.
---------- Post added at 12:55 ---------- Previous post was at 12:54 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Russ
Fun (?) fact: 252 jocks had to present their shows standing up. In fact chairs were banned for DJs in the studio completely as the higher-ups wanted them to sound more energetic and believed having them front shows sitting down encouraged them to sound “laid back” and complacent.
and I think there's a certain logic to that argument.
I wonder if this was extended to Radio Luxembourg for its final years on air.
---------- Post added at 12:57 ---------- Previous post was at 12:55 ----------
Quote:
Originally Posted by Inactive Digital
I remember discovering Atlantic 252 in the late 90s while on a family holiday near Barmouth. FM reception wasn't great in the village we were staying (Arthog, for anyone who's ever been on a school trip to the area!), but we picked up 252 with no issues as it was broadcast across the Irish Sea.
In those remote western locations of the British Isles, Atlantic 252 was the only pop music station that was audible with any decent quality.
I worked on some tall broadcast masts and was told by the Chief Rigger how easy it would be to destroy almost every mast in the UK "with very basic materials and tools". I didn't enquire further, but this video shows the principle.
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