Bedfordshire-GLR GMR-Oldham Oxford-York The Nations Local Heroes NICK GIRDLER  Nick has always broadcast on BBC Radio Solent, and from 1988 to 1995 presented one of the most unusual shows on British radio - the Late Shift.
No one else could get away with spending two hours doing nothing but reading listeners' letters - but Nick did, and made it compulsive listening. No one else would attempt to devote entire shows to filling in a crossword, with listeners' contributions. What made the Late Shift unique was that it was entirely Nick's own work. He was his own producer. In fact he even presented the show completely alone in the Radio Solent building. On one New Year's Eve show the late newsreader, who was going home for the night, left his pass to get out the car park inside the building. So he had to phone into the show, Nick took the call live on air, as he did all calls, and then Nick himself had to let the newsreader out of the car park while he played a record. If Nick forgot to go to the boring networked sports news, hilarity ensued as he had to read the sports news off Ceefax, and made it a hundred times funnier. Incidents like these, as well as all the running jokes, an endless run of catchphrases - including "Love this job!", "Gordon Bennett!", "the weather fivecast", "Get a life!", tales about his shed, the deliberate mispronunications and a huge repertoire of regional accents, made up a totally unique show. But schedule changes in 1995 saw Nick move to a standard format, semi-serious mid-morning show on Solent, complete with producers and a team of researchers. Even his replacement late night show gained a producer. We shall undoubtably never see the likes of the Late Shift again. Nick left Radio Solent in March 2006 after 34 years to embark on a sailing trip around the British coast. Hear one of Nick's listeners attempting to 'suck' the stereo out (1995)  LINK: Visit Nick's page on the BBC Radio Solent website
MARTIN KELNER  Difficult to keep track of, Martin (the most sacked man on British radio) has presented variously on BBC Radio 2, BBC North's Night Network, Jazz FM, BBC Radio 5 and many other stations.
However it was on The Fabulous Late Martin Kelner Show which ran on BBC Thames Valley FM during
1996 that he really came to my attention. Together with his sidekick Jake Yapp, Martin hosted three
hours every week of music, competitions, comedy items and general messing about, including
contributions from Dora Dale, Le Chinois (Chinese take-away owner) and Trucker Dave. The show had a very loose and unpredictable format, but was not appreciated by the Thames Valley audience at large. After six months Martin was banished back to filling in on Radio 2's early morning graveyard shift. Nowadays Martin can't be heard at all in the southern half of Britain; he's presenting a teatime phone-in on BBC Radio Leeds. With the winds of change blowing at Radio 2, it's high time Martin was once again given a regular show there, where he is able to bring his comedy to a national audience. Martin's now back on air at the weekends with his 'Late Bit' on BBC Radios Leeds, Sheffield, Humberside and York, Friday and Saturday nights from 10.00pm. But don't worry if you don't live in the North of England - the shows are archived for your listening pleasure at www.radioleeds.co.uk! Listen to a Martin Kelner trailer (1996) Listen to a clip of Martin Kelner with Jake Yapp (1996) Listen to Martin Kelner talking to Le Chinois (1996) LINK: Visit Martin's website
PHIL KENNEDY  Phil has mainly presented music shows, on Radio 1 in the mid 1980s, and on GLR in the 1990s. From 1994 he presented a morning show on BBC Radio Berkshire, and this led in 1996 to him presenting BBC Thames Valley FM's afternoon show.
This show became essential listening, as I always enjoyed hearing his laid-back, relaxed presentation style. He had many amusing exchanges with his roving reporters, including Roving Rog, and his travel presenters, including Yana Groves. He didn't have comedy items or characters as such, except for Where's Bob the Back-Packer this week? Other regular features included the Classic Mystery Year (all right, not the most original idea) and the Wacky Races. Phil left Thames Valley after 18 months to concentrate on GLR. In 1999 he moved to Virgin Radio to present the 4.30am show - but he left there at the start of 2002, and began popping up on radio stations as varied as Heart 106.2, BBC Radio Berkshire and BBC 6 Music! He is now once again presenting a daily afternoon show on Radio Berkshire.
PAT MARSH  In the mid 1990s, Pat Marsh virtually became the Steve Wright of BBC Radio Kent. When his long-
running mid-morning show was moved to the afternoon, it became the Laughternoon Show. The comedy content was increased, with plenty of new characters, sketches and competitions, and amusing exchanges with his producer, Miss Peabody.
The highlight of the show was possibly one of the most innovative features I have ever heard on radio - the Phantom Phone Box (though it turns out this is in fact a feature which has also popped up on radio stations up and down the country!). Pat would give out the location of a phone box somewhere in Kent, and a password. He would then ring the telephone and if a listener was there to give the correct
password they would win a certificate. Riddled with potential risk, amazingly it worked more often than not, but there were many occasions where it went horribly wrong. Sometimes innocent passers-by answered the phone, and Pat and Peabody had to somehow get them to say the correct password. One time a French person who spoke no English answered it, and Pat, obviously speaking no French, responded with 'Avez-vous un Phantom Phone Box'. Another time they got through to a phone box which turned out had been demolished days earlier by a lorry. Pat has since been shunted up and down the schedule, and the comedy content reduced as BBC Local Radio seems to move towards an older audience. He is now back in his old morning slot, with a still highly entertaining show. LINK: Visit Pat's page on the BBC Radio Kent website
GORDON ASTLEY  "Gordon, Gordon, you drive away your boredom. If you wake up feeling ghastly, tune to Gordon Astley!"
Another radio nomad, Gordon has presented on BBC Radio WM and many commercial stations. My experience of him was when he hosted BBC Southern Counties Radio's morning show from 1994 to 1995. He changed my mind about SCR's short-lived change to all-speech programming, with his forthright and highly entertaining style and off-the-cuff remarks. He turned the morning show into a free-for-all of phone-ins, and serious and not-so-serious items, where, to use the old cliche, you never knew what would happen next. I can't understand why Gordon has never received recognition at a national level, except for overnights on Talk Radio. He later moved to the US with his wife, a CNN newsreader - but returned to his old morning slot on BBC Southern Counties Radio in April 2006. By the way, his name is an exact anagram of Grey Loo Stand; No! Try Dog Sale; Sad Loony Gert; Ya! Ten Old Dogs; Nasty God Role; O Style Dragon!; Go Last, Rodney; Try Land Goose; Yes, Tag Old Ron; Dayglo Ron Set... Hear Gordon Astley's last moments on BBC Southern Counties Radio (1995) LINK: Visit Gordon's website Bedfordshire-GLR GMR-Oldham Oxford-York The Nations Local Heroes | 
