a very strange time existed back in the 60s when the BBC had a stranglehold on all transmissions in the UK ,so there was started a radio station in Luxemburg specifically to broadcast to the UK and elsewhere in europe as it just wasnt possible to start a independent radio station in the UK.

the reception was diabolical but if you had the radio tuned right it was better than nothing ,as that was what existed at that time.zilch ,nada and general twaddle on the airwaves .

as i recall a mixture of the early names and tunes were broadcast to the UK.gene chandler,chubby checker,early Tamla and Stateside issues etc

this must have been around early 60s .

after this period the floating radio stations took over courtesy of a few names who as far as i know have never been given any award for their pioneering business,

any info or anecdotes to share ?

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by sceneman

I don't know about the 60s but in the mid-late 70s the only decent late night music programmes were on Luxemburg. I remember listening under the covers in bed as a kid on a short wave transister radio. I think it was Emperor Roscoe, Stuart Henry or Tony Prince.

Keynsham, spelt  K-E-Y-N-S-H-A-M. Horace Batchelor!

 

Late 60's AFN from Germany. 30 minute show I think.

 

ROD

Not sure if this is the sort of response you're looking for. But.................remember as a little kid, maybe seven or eight, getting a little blue transistor radio for my birthday. I used to listen to everything and anything I could receive on that - hidden under the blankets at night time. It was amazing for a littlle kid growing up. 

 

Peter

The pirate radio ships started broadcasting in 1964/5 when I was 12/13. We lived on the East Coast and a couple of the ships were visible from our cliff top on a clear day - so from then on any interest in Radio Luxembourg went out of the window.

 

Prior to that we did used to tune in to Luxembourg to increase our fix of pop music. But the little transistors we had were rubbish and the signal from Luxembourg was terrible. Most of the time it came in sort of waves with a strange echo that sounded like it was coming from outer space.

 

As regards the original Soul sounds on Luxembourg. I know there were sponsored programmes by EMI/Stateside, maybe Oriole etc. But there were enough covers by the British Beat & R & B groups to satisfy our interest in that genre of music.

 

So personally I don't have any romantic or nostalgic memories of Radio Luxembourg.

 

Having said that I was just a very young teenager so probably kids who were a bit older in the early 60's had a whole different perspective.

 

MB 

 

P.S. One thing I do remember is around 64'ish buying a magazine called Fabulous which was mainly full of pictures of pop singers and groups. I've still got one of my original copies up in the loft. But at some point it became Fabulous 208 - 208 being the medium wave band for Radio Luxembourg. I think from then on the magazine became a sort of promotional tool for Radio Luxembourg. But as I say by then my allegiance was 100% with the "pirates".

Edited March 9, 201312 yr by MBarrett

Just about all the (UK slanted) Radio Luxembourg shows were sponsored by UK record companies. EMI had a show and Jimmy Saville presented a Decca Records Show (I remember well coz I mate of mine back then was a massive Stones fan & always made a big deal out of the fact that JS had never played a Beatles track on his R Lux show .... when in fact he couldn't play a Beatles cut as they were not on a Decca label).

I lived in Sth Yorks back then & usually got a decent R Lux signal on an old valve radio (though in the summer, atmospherics played up with the stns signal, as it did the AFN signal which I think was beamed out of Germany).

As stated above, R Lux had 1000's of UK listeners until the pirate stns hit the airways around 1964.

but were the actual DJs in a studio in Luxembourg?

or was there some kind of link up from the UK.

very strange times when you look back on them..

Can't remember which one but Earl Van Dykes "All For You" was used as theme music for one of the shows, anyone remember which?

 

See you at Blackhearts.

 

Yule.

208 on the medium wave, did the "under the sheets" thing too   Used to listen to it right up until 1982, I think then it went more or less off the air

as we knew it.  Tony Prince, Emperor Rosko, Paul Burnett, David "Kid" Jensen, Stuart & Ollie Henry.

 

Boy those were the days (I mean nights !)........................

Can't remember which one but Earl Van Dykes "All For You" was used as theme music for one of the shows, anyone remember which?

 

See you at Blackhearts.

 

Yule.

 

I think it was the 1st tune they played and "Light my fire" by the Doors the last one. Could well be wrong though.

but were the actual DJs in a studio in Luxembourg?

or was there some kind of link up from the UK.

very strange times when you look back on them..

Some were in a studio in London doing pre-recorded shows.  I started listening to Lux in 1950's - you could only get a signal in the evening.  I was lucky as we had a proper valve radio, which I carried on using into the 60's (for pirate radio London.) In the holidays we were able to stay up late to listen as my cousin was 7 years older than me. She introduced me to rock&roll and R&B at the tender age of 5.