We may feel that soul music gets a raw deal and has largely been overlooked by legal mainstream radio over the years, but that is not necessarily wrong or the fault of the stations themselves. For any radio station to succeed, particularly a commercial one, it has to maintain listening figures and poularity with its target audience. The 80’s was considered by many to be the prime era for soul music, but the fact was Duran Duran, Wham, Phil Collins and even Cliff Richard were selling more records and appealed to a bigger audience than the soul music artists and they were the real pop stars of the era, it was therefore right that they got more exposure on mainstream radio. I really do not believe that people went out and bought those records simply because they weren’t hearing anything “better”, or were not aware of the alternatives. They bought and made those records hits because they genuinely liked them for whatever reason, strange as that may seem to us lovers of “superior” soul music! The radio stations reflected the taste of the public and gave them what they wanted.

Just like Country, heavy rock and jazz, soul music is a specialist genre, not mainstream, which is why we had Robbie Vincent and Greg Edwards presenting their excellent shows. But that was what helped keep our soul music different. Soul isn’t run of the mill pop fodder for us and if we are honest, would we want it any other way? I might even suggest that had DJ’s like Kenny Everett and Pat Sharp been playing Frankie Beverly and Lonnie Liston Smith records, we would have felt that our music was being misrepresented and somehow devalued.

Like it or not, pop-tastic corny DJ’s like the Mike Read’s and Steve Wright’s of this world drew huge audiences to their shows and played the pop hits the vast majority of the public wanted to hear. They were almost as big as the pop stars themselves as anyone who ever went to a Radio 1 road show will tell you. Those guys brought in the listeners and kept the audience figures up so the stations could survive and be competitive. We respected Greg Edwards and Robbie Vincent for what they did for soul music. We celebrated their differences to the mainstream presenters because of their knowledge and the music they played, but they appealed to us as the guys who played “our” music, they were not mainstream.

The pirate stations have always been very important. Let’s not forget that if it wasn’t for the offshore radio ships of the 60’s, we might still be listening to the BBC Light Program and Home Service! I listened to the 60’s pirates because they played what I wanted to hear and the presenters were fun. Radio 1 was created because of the demand from the public to have a station that played great pop music after the pirates were forced off the air by the labour government of the time.

The soul pirates or “street stations” have always served a different purpose to those 60’s renegades. These are stations that do not play to the mainstream audience. They cater for a sector of the public that are into niche genres such as house, reggae, drum & bass and soul and whilst there are many who would argue that these genres are mainstream, I suggests it is only in their lives, not in the commercial world!

I argue that soul music has never reached a peak of public popularity that made it truly mainstream and I say that is a good thing, because it kept it special to us. However, the down side is that some of the key players who have promoted and championed the music do not get the recognition we may think they deserve. But isn’t that true in all walks of life and is that even important? As somebody who cares not about the game of cricket, I couldn’t tell you the name of the English cricket team’s captain or who the key players are, but in the world of sport they are superstars. No doubt there are cricket fans who think there should be more coverage on TV, but for me that would be a turn off. Do you see my point?

As someone who has been playing soul music since the 70’s on both pirate and legal radio, I know I am never going to get a Sony award, neither am I going to be missed by millions or get a mention in the national press when I finally shed my mortal coil. But the listeners to my shows tell me how much they love the music that I play and some have written to say that I inspired them to learn how to mix and that is all the adoration or recognition I need or want.

The reason radio has not been able to cater properly for niche musical genres is largely due to the way it is organized and funded. It was all about audience figures to justify it’s existence and had to appeal to the masses.
For many years, since radio began in fact, it has been controlled and regulated by the radio authority. It has been dominated by the BBC and ILR radio stations with huge financial input and lush studios. Before any BBC executive tries to say that the corporation is strapped for cash, it was proven way back in the 70’s by a small local a.m. radio station named Radio Jackie that you don’t need wads of public funding and studios stretching half way down Portland Place to run a successful radio station. RJ was run on a shoestring out of a first floor office in SW London by a few enthusiasts and a local business man. It was VAT registered, employed people on P.A.Y.E and paid P.R.S on every record it played. Its demise came when it got so successful that the local ILR station, Radio Mercury in Sussex couldn’t compete with the competition and audience figures this little pirate station was achieving so it launched a campaign and lobbied government to shut it down. It is now back on the air legally and doing very well thank you.

Radio is changing and in a few years it will all be digital. This will bring about the demise of all pirate radio as the new technology will make it impossible to broadcast illegally. FM as we know it will cease to exist and DAB or whatever digital system is employed will open up new possibilities as the number of available channels will be virtually unlimited. Then there is internet radio. I already know of several people who use their i-phone linked to the car stereo to listen to Solar Radio on the move. As technology advances, thousands of new frequencies will become available and there will be plenty of room for all. When that happens, all radio stations From the BBC down will be on a level playing field. The only stumbling block may be the cost of buying or renting a frequency from the service provider. However, with so many channels to fill, I am sure the rates will in time become affordable and we will see stations like Solar broadcasting quality soul music all over the UK. Then we shall see how many soul fans there are and we will all finally be able to hear what we want, when we want it.

Norman J and others like him deserve and most certainly have our respect and gratitude, no buts. It is a shame in many ways that soul music has not been a more predominant musical force on mainstream radio, but was that the fault of the radio stations or just the choice of the great British record buying public who lapped up the hype and actually preferred Sam Fox and Cliff Richard? After all, wasn’t it them who put Jo Dulci’s “Shaddap You Face” at number one above Ultravox’s “Vienna”?

Paul @ Radiocafe.