Radio Caroline - Radio Caroline Flashback

A repeat of the Top 15 Show first heard yesterday morning at 9am.

A selection of music from the past five decades

Ellie has always enjoyed music and going out to the Ross Revenge regularly for the past 8 years. She especially loved to sit and watch the DJs on air - and was even known to make YouTube skits with the DJs creating Radio Ellie. Ellie has been on stage since the age of 4, performing in a variety of amateur dramatic shows and dancing with a local dance school. She has a passion for musical theatre and will continue performing onstage and in studios, while also learning the ways of the airwaves!

Tony started out as a disc jockey on the London club circuit. His first job in commercial radio was at Beacon Radio in the Midlands, broadcasting from Wolverhampton to the West Midlands and Shropshire. His 'Prince of Darkness' overnights became cult listening! He moved to early evenings and then to Afternoon Drive. In the 1980's, Tony interviewed virtually every major music artist from both sides of the Atlantic. His love of US Top 40 radio led to stints across 'the Pond' on WTIC in Hartford, Connecticut, WSPK New York and Q106 in San Diego. After Beacon, he went to BRMB, followed by Buzz FM in Birmingham and MFM in Cheshire. He was then chosen to launch and run a new station - Sunshine 855 - based in Shropshire. Eventually, the lure of California sunshine took him back across the Atlantic to Los Angeles. After a stint on radio station KBBY, he ended up doing what everyone does when they come to LA – working in Hollywood! He founded his own entertainment news agency and since 1996, he's run a successful company supplying celebrity interviews and movie coverage to major TV, Radio and New Media outlets around the world. He can now add virtually every major Hollywood star to his list of interviewees! When the chance came to do a Breakfast Show from Los Angeles for Radio Caroline, Tony didn't hesitate and he looks forward to sharing his tales from the Hollywood Hills with Caroline listeners every weekday morning.

A Caroline listener's music selection 

Stephen is one of this country’s most experienced music broadcasters with more than 40 years’ worth of programmes for the BBC and commercial radio under his belt. Affectionately known as Foz, he was born and bred in Suffolk and has Radio Caroline to thank for his eclectic taste in music having been an avid listener to the likes of Andy Archer, Tony Allan, Johnny Jason and Simon Barrett during the 1970s. Foz is delighted to be broadcasting on the station that ignited his passion for albums. He has a huge CD and vinyl collection covering the history of popular music and is widely regarded as an expert on the subject.

From a young age, something often sparks the imagination and stays with you for life. For Barry, that spark was music and radio—especially free radio. At just seven years old, while on holiday on the Isle of Man, he became captivated by the Radio Caroline North ship anchored out in the bay. That moment ignited a lifelong passion for radio.Although Barry’s early career took him into the DJ, entertainment and music worlds, new opportunities led him into new fields. The fast-moving world of business allowed him to build and manage companies and teams, travel widely, and gather a wealth of experiences. Yet throughout his business life, he kept a keen ear tuned to radio—always with more than just a casual listener’s interest.Barry says, “Over the years, many radio stations have become part of corporate and formula-driven profit focussed groups. But the internet and Digital broadcasting opened new possibilities—radio could reach audiences with a wider range of music, and it could be about passion. With so much choice available, it had to be a very special station for me to get involved in radio once again as more than a listener. In fact, my irritation with the lack of good music radio in the UK around 2005 pushed me to look at Radio Caroline again—this time from inside the Maidstone TV & Radio studios.”“For me, presenting a show on Caroline is like inviting a few mates round and playing them a stack of records that you’ve pre-selected. Some they’ll love, some less so, and some will send you off in a completely different direction in search of a new artist or a forgotten album.”You can join Barry every Tuesday afternoon from 2–5pm. Among the carefully curated tracks— his ‘carefully selected pile’ is full of twists, turns, new artists, fresh albums, classics, featured tracks and long-forgotten gems—you’re sure to discover something unexpected.

Paul Bedford is a child of the 60s, growing up during the time of a musical explosion when the Beatles and Rolling Stones came along. His musical upbringing was heavily influenced by listening to offshore stations of the first pirate radio era, including Radio Caroline. Nowadays Paul's musical taste is very mixed and varied from classics to new regardless of genre, with Rock and Progressive at the top of the list. Paul has presented for many stations both here and abroad, he is delighted to be presenting the Sunday breakfast show for Radio Caroline and will continue to present his weekly Friday afternoon show on Caroline Flashback. Paul looks forward to sharing your company.

Alec grew up in Essex, brought up on a radio diet of Caroline, early Radio One, Radio North Sea International and Veronica. A self confessed Vinyl Junkie, he started buying music way back in '66 with Manfred Mann's 'Pretty Flamingo' being the first one and soon progressed from there. Even today he can often be found scouring the charity shops for hidden gems. He set out doing on Mobile Disco's in '74 with the usual rounds of pubs, weddings and club presentation events, plus background music before such bands as Geordie, Hustler, GT Moore and the Reggea Guitars and The Kursaal Flyers. This continued until 2009. The year before Alec started doing a couple of hours for a local community station Saint FM in the Maldon area of Essex, presenting a 70's show and more eclectic late night show. He loved radio so much he finally stopped doing the disco circuit. "The chance to do a slot on Caroline was too good to miss" – says Alec "So here I am".

Mark Dezzani started his radio life as a landbased pirate in Sussex and then London where he was a founder member of the community radio lobby group 'Free The Airwaves'. In 1982 he moved to Seborga in Italy to work for Radio Nova International. In the late 80s Mark was a founding member of Sunshine Radio Antibes before joining Riviera Radio in Monaco as a freelance. Mark formed the TV & video production company Europa Productions in 1998 producing documentaries, TV news reports & corporate video. In 2000 he joined Radio Caroline and in 2009 he launched RivieraLife.tv, a news websites with video reports for the Anglophone community on the French Riviera. "I am thrilled to be back on Radio Caroline, a real oasis for quality music radio in the desert of fast rotating small playlists and sloganeering liner cards."