Sorry I forgot!

Apologies - I forgot to say that, hopefully, we will have a new weekend DJ starting soon. DJ Andy, who is into EW & F, Leroy Hutson, ROY AYERS and much more, has contacted us to say that he would like to come on in and join us, so we've identified a potential weekend slot for him and are taking things further, so stay tuned for further information.

Update from your old VJ

A couple of things to share with you - well three actually! We were walking our Harry dog across the fields yesterday morning, what a beautiful day, I just happened to glance down and I saw something shiny and guess what - a bright shiny 5p piece!! (Adjust my voice patterns to my Harry Hill approach) - "What are the chances of that happening, eh?" I thought: hey up, this could signify a big lottery win!!! Well there was nothing last night - but it's imminent, I feel it in my water!

So, we walked a bit further, into the next field. I then heard a sound I haven't heard for a couple of years at least - the beautiful melodic tones (two) of a cuckoo, coming from a tree a couple of hundred yards away. We just stood and listened enraptured as it is the sound of early summer and you don't hear it very often now. She or he was obviously aware of us as the cuckooing was quite intense but after a while it stopped and we saw a bird fly out of the tree and away.

And now for something slightly more radio related: you may or may not be aware of the fact that we play proper records on OKay fm and unlike seedys, playing records means not only more work, pleasurable though it is, but the gramophone needles (stylii we call them in Staffordshire) don't last for ever, they need replacing after about 500 hours and there is always the danger of damage too. So we need to have a stock of spares. Unfortunately, nothing lasts for ever and the ones that we like and use are not made any more. It is possible to buy generic or after market stylii, but they are not the same. So I thought - let's have a little look on the old eBay and yes; a dealer offering exactly the make and model that we need, brand new in a sealed box - I won the item for a very good price and the dealer immediately put another one on, I won that too and one after that! I don't know how many he's got but I'm going to keep bidding until I've got a good stock in. Well, some blokes spend loadsa money on fishing and golf and stuff so I reckon I'm allowed to spend a few quid on stylii - until the petticoat government notices anyway!

Shhhhhhh!

If you have problems listening, try clicking here ....that's assuming that you would like to hear our fabulous music of course!! Oh and by the way - we are now on Facebook - I'm not sure if that's a good thing or not - time will tell, we may get fed up with that pretty quickly although it has to be said that star weekday evening DJ Pam is well into it!!

Right then - a subtle change to our weekend broadcasting - although the 70s are still very prominent, we are expanding into the 80s, 90s and even up to date with our music - weekends are now known as " classic soul dance weekends", very exciting times, we will be playing more fabulous tracks every week. We have a new Sunday evening jock, or should that be jockette, starting soon - Mrs G ( I think that's correct); apart from playing you some fabulous music - she also intends to share with you her immense catalogue of extremely useful hints and tips - I can't wait!

We always love listening to Dicky Davies on a Saturday morning, but we noticed that this morning 17th April, he seemed to be mostly standing at the back of the studio - there must have been a valid reason for this, perhaps he was trying to emulate the hip 60s jocks in NYC on WABC - speaking into an echo chamber or maybe there was a more fundamental reason - he needed to be nearer the loo! We're looking forward to next week's instalment with great interest.

A great site for vinylistas!

Following yesterday's post and the link to that lovely youtube video for people who love proper records, I was reminded about a favourite site of mine where the theme is very much the hardware (toys) rather than the software (pizzas). Devoted vinyl junkees who appreciate the superior sound quality obtainable from the medium will know all about this one - it is of course vinylengine and it will keep you occupied for ages. That's it now - sorry for getting sidetracked, I promise that we'll leave all that business and return to normal with the blogs (for the time being!).

Vinyl Rules OKay (fm)

I don't exactly know how this happened because I wasn't looking for it, but I came across this marvellous little video on youtube the other day and I thought you might like to see it. If you are a vinyl junkee you will love it, if you are not, you will love the kids. Enjoy...

The 4th North Lancs Soul Festival

"Morecambe, Lancashire is where soul people come together from across the UK to create a unique celebration of soul music". I wish I had written that! The seaside resort of Morecambe is home for the Seaside Soul Club who organise the North Lancs Soul Festival event and this festival of soul is being played out over three days in May; lovely! This is a free festival; you only have to shell out for accommodation and grub. Three rooms of quality soul music held in Smokey O'Connor' "Temple of Soul", Morecambe Street, Morecambe CR4 5HF. Here we go with the dates; the 21st, 22nd and 23rd of May 2o10, what a fabulous weekend! This entirely free festival is possible due to a collection of passionate (oooh!) soul jocks from radio and soul clubs throughout the UK who give their time and energy to make this event happen. Well alright! I'll ask our lovely web mistress Caro to put the flyer in our news page on the website so you can have more info.

JOHNNO'S SOUL KITCHEN IN HULL

Johnno has sent me some pics of his new record shop - I can see that he's got some really good stuff, reasonably priced too, I'd love to get in there and have a root through the boxes! I just wish we lived nearer to Hull...

While I think about it - let's have a mention for the Hull Soul Club too! Plenty there to interest soul fans...