LBC's first day

In mid-July 73 I was working as News Producer at 4BH Brisbane, a member of the Macquarie network based at 2GB in Sydney. I resigned so I could take to the air, BOAC in those days, and head for London to try my luck at the inception of commercial radio in the UK.

On arrival in London, I acquired some floor space to sleep on in a rented house full of mixed foreigners at Willesden Green, and started looking around for work, clutching my CV and an audition tape.

My first port of call was Capital Radio where a fellow Aussie, Greg Grainger, was News Editor. Greg, quite rightly, explained that he had enough "foreign" voices and suggested I contact LBC as they were looking for around a hundred journos.

I wrote to LBC and was invited in for an interview with John Clare who listened to my audition tape without giving too much away. This was followed by a letter on August 8, 1973 from Michael Cudlipp offering me a position as a Production Assistant/Scriptwriter at a salary of £2,650 a year, shift work inclusive, starting on September 10. I was entitled to four weeks holiday a year and on three months notice if I cocked it up, or wanted to leave.

Peter Wilson, Administration Manager, posted further terms of employment to me, on Sept 3. However my job description had suddenly changed to Broadcast Journalist.

On Sept 10 all staff gathered in a building on the Thames side of Fleet Street for an introduction to LBC and what was planned. First problem discussed was the fear that the studios in Communications House, Gough Square, wouldn't be ready for the planned opening day of Oct 8. Management was desperate to beat Capital Radio on air.

Despite this uncertainty all of us took part in "dummy runs" in part of the studios from Sept 27th.

However, within 48 hours of starting the dummy runs, it was discovered that no newsreaders had been singled out and the entire newsroom staff were "auditioned" by a Canadian colleague of Bill Hutton (Jack?). Hutton, himself a Canadian, was representing Selkirk Radio Canada which had a large interest in LBC.