Radio Orwell 50th Anniversary

Well that was a day to remember ….

As I've talked about elsewhere, 40 years ago, I moved to Ipswich to take up a 3 month contract at Radio Orwell. I would go on to work there for 4 years and still live near the town although I have nothing to do with the radio business anymore. My first day was 11 November 1985 and my first bit of what would now be called "station merch" was a mug celebrating the then very recent 10th anniversary. A little later, I was given my DJ jacket that I can still just about get into, although it's many years since I could zip it up.

Radio Orwell was the UK's 19th legal commercial radio station, first going on air at 6am on Tuesday 28th October 1975. To my surprise, 40 years later, I found myself taking part in the station's 50th anniversary celebrations, organised by Cohere Arts and the Suffolk Archives. It began with a short appearance on one of the local stations on air today, GenX Radio Suffolk, who managed to broadcast from Electric House itself, the landmark building in the centre of Ipswich that was home to Orwell, and ended with an afternoon of reminiscences with many of the original presenters.

These days I regard my radio days as an extension of my adolesence. It's what I did instead of going to univerisity. I don't miss it, but neither do I regret the time spent in the business. Good times.