Radio Songs #39: J.

I made some good friends during my time in radio. Most of whom I've long since lost touch with, as we do with those people who come in and out of our lives via work. One of them was J., a presenter I worked with for a time on the Saturday morning show. He was a little bit wacky, I guess, but in a sarcastic way I kind of appreciated. Not an annoying disc jockey way... even though he was a disc jockey, and some people no doubt found him annoying. He was very quick-witted when dealing with callers (he would occasionally fill in on the phone-in show when the regular presenter was on holiday) but never nasty. He had a cat called Bostik, in the same way Tony Blackburn had a dog called Arnold. He always made me laugh.


The other odd thing about J. was that he lived on a boat. A sail boat (not a yacht). Just like Jack Klugman in Quincy, M.E. This always seemed extremely exotic to me, though I'm not sure how his girlfriend put up with it. One weekend, he invited me sailing and we took his boat out of Hull marina and sailed it under the Humber Bridge. It was my only experience of sailing - good fun, but pretty exhausting. (You have to duck a lot.)


I haven't seen J. in almost 20 years, I guess, but I was pleased to see he's still working in radio when I googled him... although he's obviously moved darn sarth since we lost touch. I hope he's doing OK. When I think of him, this song always comes to mind...