By Louis Barfe
Having had a cause in the past to mention various reception troubles on my car radio, I am happy to report that those days are gone, my friends. I only ever replace items when they are completely beyond repair, so the idea of pulling out a device that still technically worked was anathema to me. However, I got over myself and replaced the device and, blimey, my radio listening experience on the road no longer reminds me of childhood nights trying to listen to Radio Luxembourg. national stations loud and clear all the way and local stations as far as can be reasonably expected without an aerial the size of a clothes airer. Best of all, it has a socket for a USB stick, allowing me to listen to preview mP3s, something that was a far-off dream when citroën shoved the old unit in a decade and a half ago.
one of the first things I heard on my new miracle wireless was the edition of Pick of the Pops (BBC Radio 2, Saturdays, 1 pm) immediately after the death of Dale Winton, who presented the show from 2000 to 2010. obviously, some sort of acknowledgement was in order, and Paul Gambaccini obliged, but in a profoundly odd and self-regarding way.
He said that while Winton was struggling to make his way in radio in the 1970s he looked up to those who were already established. like Gambo. and, Gambo added, he never stopped looking up to them. somehow, Gambaccini made it all about him. it was jarring, to say the least. Gambo sort of rescued it at the end by saying that Winton was ‘one of us’, but the damage was done. Normally when anyone noteworthy dies, Gambaccini’s in like Flynn with a well-judged tribute, so it’s strange that he couldn’t hear how crass this sounded. Was it the sound of a score being settled?
