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Robbie Vincent
Robbie Vincent (born 9 June 1946) is an English radio broadcaster and DJ. As a champion of jazz, funk and soul music in the UK during the late 1970s he made an important contribution both live in clubs and on radio. In 1995 he was voted Independent Radio Personality of the Year at the Variety Club of Great Britain annual awards.
The teenaged Robbie Vincent moved up from newspaper messenger boy, aged 15, to print journalist reporting for the Evening Standard on the trial of the notorious gangsters, the Kray twins, and from the troubles in Northern Ireland. His broadcasting career began on 6 October 1970, along with fellow DJ David Simmons, at BBC Radio London, newly founded as one legitimate answer to Britain's avalanche of illegal UK pirate radio stations. With a potential audience in Greater London of 7.5million, he was to spend 13 years helping to shape the sound of local FM radio, starting before legal commercial competition arrived.[citation needed]
During the miners' strike of early 1974 and the resulting three-day week that limited the nation's consumption of electricity, Vincent was hosting a new style of show called 'Late Night London' and playing devil's advocate with listeners who called in by telephone to air their problems or opinions. The programme was broadcast late in the evening and was among the first to establish the format for the radio phone-in in the UK. Vincent said on his website, "Prime Minister Ted Heath gifted me the three day week in December 1973 and the early shut down for TV. The BBC Radio London station manager said "yes" to a night time phone in show. As the TV shut down the lights went off, radio really triumphed, and my evening phone in succeeded beyond all expectations." His celebrity interviewees included prime minister Margaret Thatcher, "at her charming best", he says on his own website.[citation needed]
In 1976, Vincent was pursuing his own tastes by also hosting a music show on the same station over Saturday lunchtimes. In his own words: "Moving from a mixed format of Slade, Rod Stewart, Marc Bolan and endless sound-tracks ... soul and jazz began to take over without management really noticing."[citation needed] He played artists such as Evelyn 'Champagne' King and Crown Heights Affair and invited guest soul DJs, such as Chris Hill, Tom Holland, DJ Froggy, Sean French, to play their favourite three records that came hot off the presses that week. The show grew to be considered essential listening by the capital's soul music fans. A year later, in 1977, Vincent was first heard on BBC Radio 1, hosting a soul and disco show on Saturday evenings which was simulcast on VHF/FM at a time when Radio 1 was only broadcast on medium wave most of the time. He returned for another stint in 1978. In 1982 he was again heard nationally presenting the discussion show Talkabout, picking up on the current affairs side of his work at Radio London.
In 1978, such was the growing appetite for soul music that he and the other DJs in what became dubbed the south of England's 'Soul Mafia' staged the first 'Purley all-dayer', a fiercely athletic black-music dance marathon at Tiffany’s in Purley, the London suburb. As a direct response to similar Northern soul all-nighters, it attracted the fanatical 'soul tribes' from across Britain. A year later, Vincent helped instigate the popular Caister Soul Weekender events in the Norfolk holiday park (the first was called '1st National Soul Weekender' in April 1979). The original Soul Mafia DJ line-up was supplemented by Greg Edwards (presenter of Soul Spectrum on Saturday evening on London's Capital Radio), Chris Brown and Jeff Young.[citation needed]
In 1980, Vincent's signature song was "Get It" by The Dramatics and a year later Vincent became manager of UK soul funk band Second Image, securing record deals with Polydor and then in 1984, MCA Records. He acted as their sole personal manager until the band split in 1986. Vincent became part of both a soul revival as well as a move for commercial acceptance of jazz-funk. In addition, the mainstream jazz movement, so often omitted from history, received a significant boost due to unknown and new artists being given a media platform.[citation needed]
Though Vincent was a figurehead in the jazz-funk-soul community, to many thousands of others he was the voice of current affairs phone-ins such as The Robbie Vincent Telephone Programme on BBC Radio London until he left in 1988. Vincent later re-emerged as the phone-in host on LBC's Nightline programme from 11 pm Monday–Friday in the late 1980s.[citation needed]
The Robbie Vincent Show acquired a cult following when it was broadcast by Radio London on Saturdays from 1976. The show was broadcast in mono on the station's FM frequency of 94.9 MHz as well as being on MW (medium wave) frequency where it was allocated on 1457 kHz (206 metres) from Brookman's Park.
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Robbie Vincent
Robbie Vincent (born 9 June 1946) is an English radio broadcaster and DJ. As a champion of jazz, funk and soul music in the UK during the late 1970s he made an important contribution both live in clubs and on radio. In 1995 he was voted Independent Radio Personality of the Year at the Variety Club of Great Britain annual awards.
The teenaged Robbie Vincent moved up from newspaper messenger boy, aged 15, to print journalist reporting for the Evening Standard on the trial of the notorious gangsters, the Kray twins, and from the troubles in Northern Ireland. His broadcasting career began on 6 October 1970, along with fellow DJ David Simmons, at BBC Radio London, newly founded as one legitimate answer to Britain's avalanche of illegal UK pirate radio stations. With a potential audience in Greater London of 7.5million, he was to spend 13 years helping to shape the sound of local FM radio, starting before legal commercial competition arrived.[citation needed]
During the miners' strike of early 1974 and the resulting three-day week that limited the nation's consumption of electricity, Vincent was hosting a new style of show called 'Late Night London' and playing devil's advocate with listeners who called in by telephone to air their problems or opinions. The programme was broadcast late in the evening and was among the first to establish the format for the radio phone-in in the UK. Vincent said on his website, "Prime Minister Ted Heath gifted me the three day week in December 1973 and the early shut down for TV. The BBC Radio London station manager said "yes" to a night time phone in show. As the TV shut down the lights went off, radio really triumphed, and my evening phone in succeeded beyond all expectations." His celebrity interviewees included prime minister Margaret Thatcher, "at her charming best", he says on his own website.[citation needed]
In 1976, Vincent was pursuing his own tastes by also hosting a music show on the same station over Saturday lunchtimes. In his own words: "Moving from a mixed format of Slade, Rod Stewart, Marc Bolan and endless sound-tracks ... soul and jazz began to take over without management really noticing."[citation needed] He played artists such as Evelyn 'Champagne' King and Crown Heights Affair and invited guest soul DJs, such as Chris Hill, Tom Holland, DJ Froggy, Sean French, to play their favourite three records that came hot off the presses that week. The show grew to be considered essential listening by the capital's soul music fans. A year later, in 1977, Vincent was first heard on BBC Radio 1, hosting a soul and disco show on Saturday evenings which was simulcast on VHF/FM at a time when Radio 1 was only broadcast on medium wave most of the time. He returned for another stint in 1978. In 1982 he was again heard nationally presenting the discussion show Talkabout, picking up on the current affairs side of his work at Radio London.
In 1978, such was the growing appetite for soul music that he and the other DJs in what became dubbed the south of England's 'Soul Mafia' staged the first 'Purley all-dayer', a fiercely athletic black-music dance marathon at Tiffany’s in Purley, the London suburb. As a direct response to similar Northern soul all-nighters, it attracted the fanatical 'soul tribes' from across Britain. A year later, Vincent helped instigate the popular Caister Soul Weekender events in the Norfolk holiday park (the first was called '1st National Soul Weekender' in April 1979). The original Soul Mafia DJ line-up was supplemented by Greg Edwards (presenter of Soul Spectrum on Saturday evening on London's Capital Radio), Chris Brown and Jeff Young.[citation needed]
In 1980, Vincent's signature song was "Get It" by The Dramatics and a year later Vincent became manager of UK soul funk band Second Image, securing record deals with Polydor and then in 1984, MCA Records. He acted as their sole personal manager until the band split in 1986. Vincent became part of both a soul revival as well as a move for commercial acceptance of jazz-funk. In addition, the mainstream jazz movement, so often omitted from history, received a significant boost due to unknown and new artists being given a media platform.[citation needed]
Though Vincent was a figurehead in the jazz-funk-soul community, to many thousands of others he was the voice of current affairs phone-ins such as The Robbie Vincent Telephone Programme on BBC Radio London until he left in 1988. Vincent later re-emerged as the phone-in host on LBC's Nightline programme from 11 pm Monday–Friday in the late 1980s.[citation needed]
The Robbie Vincent Show acquired a cult following when it was broadcast by Radio London on Saturdays from 1976. The show was broadcast in mono on the station's FM frequency of 94.9 MHz as well as being on MW (medium wave) frequency where it was allocated on 1457 kHz (206 metres) from Brookman's Park.