Kenny Everett On BBC Radio Bristol - 2. 26/12/1971

KENNY EVERETT ON BBC RADIO BRISTOL - 2. 26/12/1971 (320kbs-m4a/126mb/55mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 26th December 2024

Festive frolics from the home of radio's enfant terrible.

Kenny Everett was a radio genius, loved by millions and lauded by his fellow broadcasters. He honed his craft on pirate radio, helped launch Radio 1, and was there at the start of Capital Radio, the UK's most successful commercial station.

He described himself, slightly tongue in cheek, as "the wireless wizard". He worked harder than any of his rivals to produce innovative programmes laced with wacky jingles, crazy sound effects and zany comedy moments. But he pushed the barriers, was always getting into trouble with management, and was regularly fired.

The crunch came in July 1970 when he was sacked by Radio 1 after insulting the wife of a Government Minister. He was just 25, at the height of his creativity. The BBC had a radio monopoly and there was nowhere else to go. The only other outlet was the corporation's Local Radio stations. But they didn't play many records, had little money, and had few listeners, as they could only be heard on VHF (now FM) when most people had medium wave sets. But a chance phone call from BBC Radio Bristol led to the corporation's "bad boy" returning to the airwaves on June 12, 1971.

The station manager David Waine, who was the same age as Kenny, took a gamble against the advice of Broadcasting House bosses, hiring him as a stand-in for an hour-long Saturday morning show. Everett got £50 for a month's work, with the proviso that the programmes were pre-recorded so they could be checked before they went on air just in case the enfant terrible said something naughty.

The appointment was deemed such a success that by the end of the year Kenny was doing similar shows for five other BBC Local Radio stations. He also did a Christmas special for Radio Bristol on Boxing Day 1971, the day after his 27th birthday. You can now hear it for the first time since it was originally broadcast 53 years ago.

The programme closes with Kenny making a whimsical appeal to BBC management to put him back on national radio, describing himself as a "poor soul on the dole" living in a "rat-infested mansion" with "no food in the fridge and no dough in the bank".

It includes music by the Beach Boys, Mama Cass, Rich Fever, Peter Noone, Colin Blunstone, John Barry, Martha Reeves and The Vandellas, The Jimmie Haskell Orchestra, Gilbert O'Sullivan, The Faces, Cat Stevens, Tony Christie, Mike Vickers, Matt Munro, Rich Fever and Rossini.

Kenny returned for another Radio Bristol series in 1972 before eventually being let back on air by Radio 1 the following year. Shortly afterwards he joined Capital Radio at the launch of Independent Local Radio before beginning a successful television career in 1978. But Kenny remained true to his radio roots and was still broadcasting on Capital Gold shortly before his death from AIDS in 1995. He was just 50.

So did these BBC Local Radio programmes help rehabilitate Kenny Everett's career? Judge for yourself.

The second of three shows Kenny made for BBC Radio Bristol first broadcast on 26th December 1971.

*** Part of BBC Radio 4 Extra's celebration of Kenny Everett who was born 80 years ago on Christmas Day, 1944.

The Beach Boys - Wake The World
Mama Cass - One Way Ticket
Rich Fever - Everything's Moving
Peter Noone - Walnut Whirl
Colin Blunstone - I Can't Live Without You
Colin Blunstone - Let Me Come Closer To You
John Barry - Theme From The Persuaders
Martha Reeves & The Vandellas - Bless You
The Jimmie Haskell Orchestra - William Tell Overture
The Beach Boys - Be Here In The Mornin'
Gilbert O'Sullivan - Houdini Said
Faces - Stay With Me
The Beach Boys - Busy Doin' Nothin'
The Beach Boys - Friends
Cat Stevens - i Want To Live In A Wigwam
Tony Christie - (Is This The Way To) Amarillo
Mike Vickers - Match Of The Day
Matt Munro - We're Gonna Change The World
Rossini - Unknown