175: Chris Deacy (interviewed by Craig Braddick)

<div>In a special edition of my podcast this week, Craig Braddick has interviewed me to talk about growing up in the 1980s with Radio 1 and then with Radio 2 into the 90s and beyond, and how being a contestant on <em>Blockbusters</em> guided me towards my own broadcasting career.</div> <br> <div>I talk about the significance of 1981 – the year I started listening to Radio 1 – and Bucks Fizz winning Eurovision and how, during my schooldays, the charts on a Sunday mattered in the school playground. We also talk about whether the presenters of the day really represented what was going on in the wider world and whether there was a patriarchal streak to broadcasting in that era.</div> <br> <div>I talk about who my favourite presenters were in those days, including the impact of Adrian John who was a presenter in the 1980s who really understood his audience.</div> <br> <div>We talk about my childhood diary entries and what it contains about my radio interests, and how I used to include information about the DJ and the artists who were on <em>Top of the Pops </em>each week. We also talk about DJ handovers both on radio and on <em>TOTP</em>, and of the presenters who perhaps didn’t always get on (famously Tony Blackburn and John Peel).</div> <br> <div>We reflect on whether for listeners there is a particular ‘golden era’ and whether some of the Radio 1 DJs in the 80s thought that they were more important than the music, and we refer to the way some presenters were delegated. We talk about the way they were caricatured in the Smashie and Nicey mode.</div> <br> <div>We then move on to discuss what happened with Radio 2’s evolution in the 1980s and how different the station was in those days from today, and how David Hamilton’s perceptions of the station in the 80s and now are diametrically opposite. <br> <br> I talk about how much I enjoyed the guests on Gloria Hunniford’s show on Radio 2 in the afternoons in the early 90s when I was at university. I refer to the line between education and entertainment as being blurred an