 ON AIR NOW!! You simply must see the fantastic
official Radio Duck site at
www.radioduck.net . Duck is really back! Listen now!!It's 2008 and Duck
is back! Again! This website is dedicated to all who were involved with my
favourite radio station of the Eighties. For those listeners who tuned in
on Sundays and Wednesdays this site should give you much to reminisce
about. Those of you who never listened will hopefully enjoy the Duck
sound. And those of you who worked on the station I give a big thank-you
to.
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Transmission
Date: 17th August 1986 A Sunday afternoon in North West London. Tuner is hot from a day's listening to the London pirate scene. Amongst the hiphop, soul and reggae of stations such as LWR, Kiss, Flashback, Joy and JBC, a different tune is being broadcast on 91FM. Frankie Goes To Hollywood. But this isn't Capital or Radio One. It's Gemma. Their last day of pirate transmission, and to make a point they're on 1125 AM aswell. Four o'clock is now upon us and they say goodbye. Shutdown. End of story. |
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seconds passed. And Radio Duck begins. |
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| The
Chart Alternative Radio Duck were providers of an alternative pirate sound. "All oldies, all the time on 89.9", "All feathers radio", "Duck Hot Hits" and "The Chart Alternative" were the catchphrases. They broadcast Sundays from 5 through to 9pm and Wednesdays 8 till 12. DJs were Stuart Price, Mike Peters, Tim Allen and others. Tim went on to sail the North Sea and presented for Radio Caroline 576 in 1987. |
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| Hallmark
of Quality - Radio Duck The quality of Radio Duck was impressive. During ON-AIR time, the station consisted of a small transmitter, a 12 volt car battery, a car cassette player (modified), an aerial and a tree. The rig was on a timer so the station members could be safely down the pub in case the DTI fancied a raid. The shows were pre-recorded on 1/4" reel to reel tape, then copied to a C120 cassette. The cassette player played the left channel of side one, then auto-reversed to play the left channel of side two. Then it auto-reversed again to play the right channel of side one, and finally the right of side two. A whole four hours of broadcast from one cassette! Ingenious. |
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| The
jingles Radio Duck broadcast on and off for about a year. During that time they played over 100 different jingles, trailers and voiceovers. Many were old 'Pams' jingles, with Tim Allen singing over the top of them, and the whole thing was then swamped in echo to hide the original words. Classic lines included "Sunshine, rain, sleet or snow, Duck gets raided!" and "...record decks that still wow because we haven't had them repaired." (Download the clips on the left of this page). |
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| "Forget
about the phone number" Radio Duck's mailing address was 83b Church Street, Stoke Newington, London N16 "...forget about the phone number 'cos we haven't got one". If you didn't want to write to the DJs you could meet them. Listeners were invited to the George Pub in Pinner to share a pint with them after the evening's broadcast! During the last fortnight of '86 the station ran a competition to guess the Christmas Number One. The prize - a pair of Mike Peter's underpants. Pirate station Radio Duck came on air to play 'all oldies, all the time'. Perhaps its fitting then, that the Christmas Number One of 1986 was 'Reet Petite' by Jackie Wilson. A 'golden oldie'. |
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| UPDATE
- Duck is Back! Huey Lewis and the News' 'The Power of Love' is playing as we hop in the DeLorean and tap a new date into the time control. Instantly we jump forward 17 years to December 2003. Set the computer to www.radioduck.net . Broadcasting in clear digital stereo, the Duck paddles across the big pond and beyond powered by its world wide webbed feet. They may have had their transmitter stolen, but no-one's gonna steal the internet from them! So now welcome listener, continue the story, because the music's just a moment away on Duck hot hits... click here now! |
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