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| Geronimo Exclusive - Terry Yason (writing in 2003) tells it like it really was: |
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radio Geronimo began when I
returned from new York in spring 1969.
I had heard there fm radio
for the first time. Music radio uninterrupted by flatulent ignorance .
There were three friends.
Geoffrey Bass who lived with his parents in a council flat in Torriano
Avenue Camden Town, Hugh Nolan a music journalist and their token hippy
worked at Disc and Music Echo in Fleet Street with whom I had made
friends when I was hustling articles as a music p.r.
We would all meet at
Hugh's flat in Manchester street a
posh address in W.1 where Hugh and his wife Jackie and young son Marcus,
lived an increasingly difficult ordinary life as we transformed the
lounge into a nightly marijuana party accompanied by constant music . We
would leave at dawn if at all. Robin Sendak, Maurice's nephew, Boot the
artist who died so prematurely and various wastrels and misfits who felt
free to turn up at any time, all were welcome,
I had moved in to a room in
Agar Grove, Camden Town and had just been made redundant from Polydor
Records where I was a 21 year old head of jazz promotion for Atlantic
and Polydor Records. Although this may sound impressive today, in 1968
jazz was hardly the popular genre it is today. I remember treading out
the sales figures to Alan Bates the marketing manager who always
managed to look like a man biting into a lemon when I read him the
weekly figures rarely reaching two figures. Considering my age and the
company had just signed The Who, Hendrix, Cream and Atlantic Stax with
Otis and Aretha I probably made a challenged career move volunteering
the jazz dept.. I was made redundant and thanked for trying.
I immediately became a
freelance PR ;my first job from Island's Chris Blackwell promoting The
Spontaneous Music Ensemble a free jazz group. I went on to work with all
sorts of bands and met Hugh though my work and eventually met Geoffrey.
When I returned from New
York my excitement lit up Manchester Street and the three of us decided
to recreate FM in London but with an even more adventurous format,
creating a radio programme segued into a seamless trip.
We discovered an unsung
pioneer of radio, Bill Hayes working from a room in Muswell Hill . Bill
had contacts with Radio Andorra and was trying to get a deal to
broadcast. Some how we managed to record programmes in Bills lounge
while he handled the controls in the bathroom. I remember he had
a particularly pretty girlfriend who bizarrely took baths when we were
there and I spent many a spare minute peering through the open bathroom
window as she carelessly sponged herself aware that I was ogling!
To our shame we dumped Bill
after the Andorra broadcasts which were inaudible except for small
areas of Lapland.
Geoffrey and I travelled to
Paris to meet with the Radio Monte Carlo's office. We had little money
and stayed in a cramped room in Les Invalides. We were kept awake all
night by the noise of hookers and their customers.
Monte Carlo agreed to rent
us airtime on weekends for a small fee. All we needed now was some
money to pay for it.
Hugh knew Tony Secunda, a
music biz shark who slid in a long leather coat and matching moustache.
He managed the contrasting and highly talented record producer Jimmy
Miller. Together they gave us offices in Harley Street, paid for studio
time to record the programmes, ironically in Radio Luxembourg's office
but failed to pay us any wages and so we existed on selling promotional
albums in the markets. I remember returning to my room one night and
eating OK sauce and cornflakes I was so broke.
Our programmes were quite
different. Hugh tended to feature more rock than mine.
The fateful day when Secunda
fronted me in the offices is still clearly printed on the front pages of
my memory. He gave me an ultimatum that if I didn't change my
programming policy and make it more commercial he would prevent me from
making any more programmes.
To their everlasting shame
Geoffrey and Hugh stood by silently while I was ushered out of the
office and radio for ever.
I went back to my parents,
exhausted, ill and demoralised.
Eventually I returned to the
music business and today I run a successful film finance company and a
company commissioning film scores.
I hope our programmes gave
joy and I look forward to hearing from anyone who has any tapes of my
programmes especially where I improvised poetry over Coltrane's Lonnie's
Lament
Best Wishes
Terry Yason
 If you have any recordings featuring Terry Yason please write via CONTACT |
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© Radio Geronimo © Geronimo Starship |
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