Jeff Blood

Tees was my life for just over 10 years from the start in 1975 - first as Financial Controller and then as Managing Director up until the merger with Metro. Life was a constant financial balancing act - but what an experience.

I well remember meeting up with new colleagues at Crathorne Hall - when it was still a private residence - before we went on air. (Lord Crathorne , the then owner, was  a shareholder) I put my best suit on and was concerned to discover that there was only one other person in a suit - Terry Cassidy - our first Sales Controller -the rest seemed to me at the time to be a pretty motely collection of individuals and I seriously wondered what I had got myself into. I can recall the memo that I  subsequently and naively issued shortly after we went on air concerning dress code  which continues to serve to remind me of the old adage "do not judge a book by its cover" I soon realised  that the group of people that John Bradford and Bob Hopton had put together made a brilliant team - each complementing the other.

We had a richness of characters and talent - all of whom taught me a great deal. There were hard times but we had a lot of fun - often in studio 4 ( the pub next door) at the end of another long hard day. It was a privilege to have been part of it. Reading about all of the original presenters and how they have all made their own way in life is testimony to those who at the time were able to spot talent and provide opportunities.

In this I like to think that I played my part. I have done many things since leaving Tees - - always restless  - I have for the last few years been a Director and shareholder of a contract staff catering business with sites all over the North of England.  Thanks for the memories

John Uphoff


I remember listening to Tony Gillham when I was getting ready for school in the morning. Now I'm 46 and we both work on the same station, me on brekky him on afternoons.

Anthony


When I went to Springhill School Ripon North Yorkshire in 1983 I listened to Radio Tees on 1170kHz(257m)MW using a cheap Benkson TR35 radio until I left in 1985;reception was good during daylight hours but went fluttery at night, I would often tune in under the bedclothes to listen to the final IRN bulletin at 1am,local weather and closedown sequence leading to the beeeeeeeep beeeeeeeep! off air tone and shut off the radio. Ah memories!

Alex Rattray

Thanks for this excellent website. I started listening to Radio Tees from its launch whilst a teenager in Richmond. The station engendered a long standing interest in radio. The advent of ILR was a great step forward for the Radio Industry in the UK. Hitherto the FM band was had just a handful of national/local stations stations. ILR brought newness and style along with great music presented with energy in stereo. Really enjoyed the shows and thought the refreshing use of jingles was fab. Also (and still) a fan of LBC & Capital.

I remember phoning in on the Nick Meanwell show and being asked on air to 'get in touch with the station'. At the time I was presenting on University Radio Falmer (Sussex University). It was maddening having the possible break at that time because our home phone in Richmond failed at that point! In due course contact was made and I was invited to come and look round the station, sit in on some shows and meet the Programme Controller. Met Mark Mardell when he came in to read the news. Well remember being in the studio when the 'adverts' were being sent down the line from London using (I think) the link the IRN. Thought that the device that put the delay in for phone-ins was a great bit of technology.


Made some demo tapes with some encouraging letters from David Cousins. However it never happened and I became an Airline Pilot in the end.

Best Wishes and thanks to all. Sound is very evocative so it is great to hear some of the jingle sounds from so long ago. After all Tees was one of the very first ILR stations.

ATB
Alex      

Bob Glen

I was a big Fan of Radio Tees in the 70's and listened around the clock. I Remember the very early days of Les Ross.

Remember in particular an early O B at Teesside Airport when over that particular week end all the presenters were in action including David Hoare, Les Ross and my old mate Brian Anderson, I have photos of the event including a lady not mentioned on this site who was working for Tees and went on to become a famous TV celebrity, the one and only Wincey Willis

I have very fond memories of this top station and all the people who were born here and have gone on to bigger and better things.

I guess we all say GOD BLESS RADIO TEES

One guy I would like to add to the Tees list of honour is Dave Jameson.

Regards
Bob Glen
Shildon
Co Durham.    

Martin Wood

Fantastic.  My first introduction to serious Rock Music.  We'd make lists and run through who'd been played when we got into school the following day.  We got a petition up when they stopped the show!!

Arthur Vasey

Never got to hear it much before about 1979, due to our mam dismissing it as "having too many adverts" - a strange thing to say, considering she mostly watched ITV.

I got my own tranny for Christmas in 1978 - a black-and-orange Pye - so I was able to tune in.

I mostly listened from then until they became TFM - I regularly listened to Late On, originally (as far as I was concerned) presented by Laura de Vere (a bit of a babe) - though she did play a lot of what I would call "test card music" - when Ian Hughes took over, he played a lot of "soft rock" - he introduced me to the likes of Steely Dan, Hall & Oates and other alumni.  He also presented the kids' show Hubble Bubble - worth listening to for that Katrina babe that co-hosted the show.

Later versions of Late On were introduced by Peter Matthews, who continued the "soft rock" theme and also Graham Robb.

I also was at several outside broadcasts, too.

I have also appeared on the "On The Level" section of Street Level, when it was hosted by Roger Lewis - I had won a competition where there were prizes, largely comprising of Radio Tees goodies - mugs, pens and so on, mixed singles (usually by artists nobody had heard of) or the chance to appear on the show, reviewing the week's new singles.  On the edition in which I appeared, there were supposed to be myself, a guy from Eston, who had won a previous edition of the competition and a guy who (I think) came from Guisborough.  They didn't turn up - so Roger Lewis sent me out to find someone in the station who would step in.  Mark Matthews was also a Late On presenter at this time, so he became a panellist for the night, as did newsreader John Ogden.

I seemed to babble a lot during the programme - probably due to me being in the studio itself.  My sister later told me that Mark Matthews had said on Late On afterwards: "Where does Roger Lewis get these idiots from?" - I was on the bus for my home in South Bank.

I also won a fiver on Graham Robb's version of Late On, too - as well as "The Penguin Book Of Card Games" on Alex Lester's lunchtime game Stick Or Twist (or was it when Mike Graham took over?).

They went through an American phase at one point - they broadcast the American Top 40 on a Saturday evening with Casey Kasem in 1986 and changed frequencies with (excuse the swearing) Radio Cleveland - prior to that, they would go over to Metro in the small hours - over a period of time, they took Alan Robson's Night Owls from 10 - by the end of 1986, Metro invaded Radio Tees from as early as seven - when Radio Tees relayed Metro, the signal was in mono, even though the indicator said Stereo or glowed red or green, Metro via Tees was in mono.
 

Shortly after Radio Tees became TFM, I moved down here to Somerset.

Barry Evans

As a listener to Radio Tees, mainly became a regular one starting in the early 80s the first show I started listening to was late on with Graham Robb it was a really good show and I enjoyed his mad after midnight feature with guests Mad-Tom, Cecil and Ginger Johnson ex-RAF. Then there was the Monday night soap down-dovecot-street were listeners could ring up and be the characters.

Other memories I have of the station were Silver Threads and Golden Needles with legendry Tyne Tees man Neville Wanless and every few weeks Peter Quest stood in for him when Neville had to work on the telly, other good shows on the station were country with Peter John Bergg and the rock show with Mark Gregory and can you remember fabby Al Rhodes with his indie show . I can remember in the mid to late 80s when Metro Radio bought Radio tees and name changed Tees to Tfm may be it was time for a change to the format to secure the future of the station but still the good old memories of Radio Tees will always live on. bye,bye,now from Barry Evans

John Pierce

Years later in the late 80's, a station I was working for in Devon published a magazine with a Quiz about the presenters. One question was - Who started his career as the voice of a frog ? It was Pirrie's fault that the answer was me. For I indeed was 'Basil the Frog'. (How did they know ???)
As for that hideous/bizarre photo with the mandolin, that was Bob Hopton's idea, after I took over the Folk Show from Sean MacManus following the 'infamous' royal visit incident...
Looking at that pic now, it seems I may have mutated from a frog to a tadpole. Which is a pretty radical transformation for a human being.
Anyway within a year of the first Folk Show, I had presented EVERY single show on the then 24-Hour schedule including Classical Music & Religion ... If 'swing -jocking' was a sport, I would have been doing 'extreme swinging'!
Great, great days (and nights) Talented, funny, friendly and great people to work with and live amongst.
Strangely I still return to Stockton about twice a year (it's a long story) and always drive or walk down Dovecot Street and the faces and sounds of nearly 30 years ago still tumble from that building on the corner of the street. Did I mean tumble ? Perhaps for some it should be stumble ...

Rob T

I have nothing but the fondest memories of Radio Tees.
Having a brother in law  in the armed forces back in the 80s i found myself staying at catterick Garrison where the only station worth listening to was Radio Tees.
My sister would have the Breakfast show cranked up to wall bending levels as mark page did what he did best.
This truly is one of the very best web sites i have ever been fortunate to visit.
Many thanks to all concerned
Thanks fo the memories.
Rob
Brighouse West Yorks.

Graham Bell

Beat The B Side. I won it once...lunchtime, about 1981...god knows why BUT I knew the title of The Floater's "Float On" single and ended up with a cr+p LP, signed piccy, a 257 sticker and, of all things, a balloon!   Who was the DJ?  Whatever happened to Catrina Pettigrew?  And Jim Gibbons?  Why can I remember all this!  

Cheers!  Graham Bell, ex-York

Tim Clark

First off - Great Site, well done! In particular I got all dewy eyed listening to the closedown and opening music clips again.

When the station first started I was still at school (just) in Richmond. I well remember the "buzz" that went around when we learnt that we were to get our very own radio station and very soon after launch it seemed that every other radio set you heard was tuned to it. I recall one sunny summer's day walking down by the River Swale past scores of people having picnics, sunbathing, etc. and being able to listen to the station over a continuous quarter mile stretch due to the number of people tuning in!

In the early eighties I moved to Newton Aycliffe and got involved in the experimental Aycliffe Community Radio that was pumped around the town via the Redifussion cable system. I started doing my own twice a week programme (The New Music Show if there is anyone out there who still remembers it) where I met the then "star" of the station, Dave Brown, which led me to toying with the idea of a career in radio. It did rather help that the girl I was seeing at the time lodged with Dave Cousin's daughter :-) Anyway I volunteered to help man the phones at one charity auction and was introduced to Paul Robinson who became a bit of a mate for a while. Paul used to let me sit in with him when he was doing Natural Mass and even let me crash on his settee afterwards. Top man, Paul. I still have Barrie Redfern's book "Local Radio" that he lent me (if you want it back Paul do get in touch). I also remember drinking with the staffers at the "Clary" which is where I first met a very young (and, then, very thin) Mark Mardell. Happy days.

Eventually my career in Industry took off and what with work and relationship commitments the prospect of being the next Mark (News of the Moos) Page faded and died. I often wonder what would have happened if I had stuck at it.

Thanks for taking me back to a very, very happy part of my life.

Tim Clark, Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Leicestershire (ex Richmond, Darlington & Newton Aycliffe)

Bob Glen

What a brilliant site and a great tribute to a unique Radio station.

One of my particular memories is an outside broadcast that took place very shortly after the official opening of the station, it took place at Teesside Airport over a full weekend, I went over on the Sunday to see Les Ross, Wincey Willis and Brian Anderson. It was a great chance for me to meet Brian who I had been a fan of in his previous life on the offshore station Radio Mi Amigo.
I also remember listening to the oldies show in later years which went out for 3 hours on a Friday night and was presented by a name not mentioned on the site Dave Jameson.

Radio Tees was a great local station and spawned many a great presenter. Thanks for the memories as they say.

Steve Harland

I came across this website by accident through a link from John Foster who now works for BBC Radio Cleveland, who used to work at Radio Tees.

I was looking in the gallery and surprised that there is no mention of the sponsorship agreement that took place for the 1986 season at Middlesbrough Speedway when we became known as the 'Radio Tees Tigers'.  We won the National League Four Team Championship that year at Peterborough and a very young Gary Havelock was in his element.

I have a team photograph from that season displaying the Radio Tees logo if you wish to have it displayed?

Sports Reporter Tony Lockwood used to do live broadcasts from Cleveland Park and it was encouraging to see speedway get mainstream coverage for a change.

My own memories of Radio Tees are of Roger Lewis and his half hour of punk show he used to broadcast in 1980/1(?), mind you I won't remind him about the time he interviewed Gene October of the punk band, Chelsea!

Regards

Steve

Tony Gillham


Today is the 40th anniversary of my first hospital radio show (in Coolchester, Essex). I have been thinking back about some of the great places I have worked. Radio Tees gave me my break into commercial radio. What a break it was! Thanks to the guidance of Bob Hopton (which was sometimes meancing!) and the confidence of John Bradford, I have managed to stay in radio (and get away with it!) for all of these years!

I have recently seen John Bradford, Dave Gregory, Dave Brown and Paul Robison - and we ended up talking about the great 257!

Does anyone remember all of those Tony Gillham badges we gave away when I arrived in 1976? All quoting the then Radio 1 wavelength of 275 metres - instead of 257!!!

All the best to my former colleagues and loyal listeners for putting up with me!

Gillham

PS I am now a freelance broadcaster working from my own studio. During Christmas and New Year I am on 22 BBC local stations!

Steve Dinsdale

Nice to see another site devoted to the golden days ! The death of `Fluff' Freeman got me started again on the radio nostalgia trail. It was Fluff and Radio Tees' very own Brian Anderson who were largely responsible for developing my taste in music in my formative years from 12-16 (1975-79). It would be impossible to explain to today's `everything on demand now !' youth, the magic of hearing some truly groundbreaking music coming through the ether, knowing that you'd be changed forever by hearing it even if you couldn't afford to own it on LP until Xmas if you were lucky ! I'm talking specifically of 257 Now/Anderson's Saturday and Tees Rock/Natural Mass, which were manna from heaven to a schoolboy in Marske ! Such an incredible range of music.I also loved many of the other shows, and turned up at Mark Page's Wednesday Walkabout (still got the tape ! Cringe). I loved Alastair Pirrie's way with the old dears who used to call his `Tradio' slot, I also remember well the trailers pre Tony Gilham's arrival ("Who's Tony Gilham ?" "Am I Tony Gilham?" etc etc). Dave Gregory played my Top Ten on his lunchtime show over a week in 1976 and complimented me on my advanced tastes in music which swelled my head somewhat at school !
Me and my mate Nige went to a few OB's, I particularly recall Pirrie and Wincey Willis outside Uptons in Redcar (Why ?), and one in Stuart's Park in M'Bro. Brian Anderson also let us sit in on an entire show which was very very good of him don't you think ? I wrote to him saying that I wanted to go into radio when I left school, his response ? "If I were you I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole". Brian, if you HAVE got lots of old recordings please put them up here why don't you ? and thanks once again for the memories !

Gareth Chilton - London

Class website, remember Radio Tees with fond affection. I was in 5th year when Graham Robb opened our school fair. Listened to the station at that time like many others under the bed covers on a tranny, so not to disturb my parents.

Just spent the past hour listening to the audio, my god how radio is so different today.

Many thanks for the memories

Gareth

Neil Siddaway

Dear All

Just have to drop you a line to say what a fantastic site this is.

Thank you for hours of listening pleasure.

Well Done.

Neil

P.S. Pity there is no site like this for Metro.

John Kitson - Australia

What a mind blower. Fantastic site. It all just seems  like yesterday when I worked at Radio Tees in the very early days as a sound engineer. Spend a long time looking at the photos as they showed all the crew just as I remembered them. Good to find out what they achieved and what they are doing now. Was it really that long ago? Will not go into all the memories. Might get a lump in my throat. I feel a tear coming on. "Quick nurse the screens". Many thanks for all those that put the site together. Have no photos to contribute but still have the Radio Tees "poster" that every one signed and added comments to when I left. Have a drink in "Studio 4" for me.

Peter Wilson

Excellent site!  Sounds like there's enough reason for Radio Tees to make a comeback...  Peter.

Brian Anderson

If only I knew then what I know now.... I would have shaved that stupid beard!! But.... I was so much older then, Im younger than that now.

I often get emails from people who used to listen to me on Tees Rock, Natural Mass, Solid Gold Sunday and Afternoon High. Its amazing that people still remember and its great to hear from ex listeners. I have LOADS of recordings from those days and hopefully will put some on my site someday.

They were great days at Radio Tees back in the 1970's and we were true pioneers in UK local radio. Back in those days we even had human beings presenting programmes.

Commercial Radio in the UK seems to have decended into a pit of computer generated accountant controlled inane bo*****ks and could all be made more cheaply on Itunes in a kids bedroom.

It has been assimilated. Resistance was futile.

I'm not joking or even being cynical. Its a FACT

But its good that some of us still remember

And even better that some of us still make - or want to make - RADIO..... because we love it and are actually INTERESTED in ....... the AUDIENCE..... sod the money!!!

BRIAN ANDERSON www.broadcastingcottage.co.uk

John Foster

What can I say...... what a station.

From first listening to Graham Robb in 1984 to presenting in Dovecot Street in 1990 when it had become TFM to doing the breakfast show for 3 years in the late 90's. A dream come true speaking into that Neumann U47.

I have since become friends of many of the presenters from Radio Tees and TFM down the years and there is always great affection for the time they spent in the north. The 25th birthday party which I help organise along with Craig Andrews still has to be one of the proudest nights I have spent in a long time.  There in front of me...all my heroes who entertained me and decided for me, at 14, what I wanted to do for a living and who helped me to get on the first rungs of the ladder.

A special mention for Mark Page and Graham Robb, thank you for your time and words of encouragement and friendship. I owe you a lot.

If this is sounding gushy it's not meant to be..... but if i stop and think:

5am:  Tony Harrison/Oscar Bellerby
7am:  John Simons (On Location at 7.50 and 8.50)
10am: Alex Lester (Lester at large)
1pm:  Mike Graham (Stick or Twist with Alf or Mary Lou dealing)
4pm:  Ian Hughes with Afternoon High
7pm:  Street Level with Roger Lewis or Mark Matthews
10pm: Late On with Graham Robb (A Classic)
1am:  Time for thought and Closedown with that fantastic Eric Gale Track!

You see I've gone on for too long. Will go and lie down for a while

Barry Michaels did the vo's in the 80s and is still trucking doing the vo's for John Caine's rock show on the BBC now.

http://www.thebarrymichaels.com/

As he would have said:

"Try Radio Tees on 95VHF.....Stereo is best!"

All the Best

David Richardson - Boston USA

Wow! what a great site it brings back so many memories of childhood in sunny Eaglescliffe in 1981. I moved to America in 1986 at the age of 17 with my folks. I remember Graham Robb and his Late on characters, very funny and Street Level with Boy Matthews.

Nice to hear some sounds from those days.

From all fans in the USA  Thanks!

David

Stephen Dixon

Just came across this site. Wow, this makes me feel old and I'm only 30!

Absolutely brilliant! I obviously don't remember the early years as I was born the same year as Radio Tees but can remember from about 1985 onwards. I used to listen loads and I'm proad to say I still tune in to TFM.

Loved listening to the jingles and ads.

Keep it coming!

Alastair Pirrie

God, was I EVER that young? Haha. This site brought back REALLY good memories of REALLY good people who LOVED radio. I remember, just before I left Radio Tees to work at Tyne Tees TV, I was sent some audio cassettes. A fourteen year old boy in a local hospital had taped Radio Tees every day during his months of treatment, and stored a boxful of his favourite and funniest shows. He had died a month previously, and his mother sent me the tapes, all neatly listed and meticulously filed. There was a note from the boy which read, 'Thanks to all of you at Radio Tees. You helped me get through this.' When people dub commercial local radio as merely ads, prattle and pop, I remember that kid, I remember lives being SAVED during late night phone-ins, and I remember how we presenters were HUGGED :-) at promotional events. They were the best of times, and I shared them with a great bunch of people. I was very lucky.

Steve Groves

I worked as a sound engineer in MCR for 2 years;
1976 - 78. Also presented for a short period of time a prog. called "The Other Ear". I remember well all the presenters and other staff of that era. Very sad to learn that Steve Gordon is no longer with us.

Ian

I discovered this site by actually looking for G Robb on the net. I was primarily looking for some information on superstar Cecil and thought he would be the best way to go about it. Discovering this site has brought back other radio tees memories, the big P on the big T, Hubble bubble, street level all programmes i'd long forgotten. The reason i was looking for Superstar Cecil is i have been recently transferring tapes of some of the Late On shows to minidisc. Over the years i've taped and retaped them and lost a few to tape tangles and even once inadvertently gave some to a cancer charity jumble sale. I'm down to my last eight 90 mins tapes, treasured for 20+ years and i can assure Graham they still stand up to scrutiny now! One of those tapes being his stag night with Ginger, Tom and Cecil which is classic.

Thanks for all the years of fun.

Ian.

Clive Colling

Fascinating to take a look at the site. Well done to everybody concerned.

I worked for the station writing and presenting 'features' from around 1977 - 1984. They were all about 3-5 minutes long and seemed to go down well. There was Clive's Keyhole, 'Artifacts', Northern Tales and, as I remember, inputs to Alastaire's Trains and Boats and Planes programme.

I wonder if any of the tapes survived ? Unlikely, I suppose. But Radio Tees was a brilliant outfit to work for.
Lovely people.

Bill Pillar

Found this site by accident but Thank you for bringing back some happy memories. My mother was Betty Pillar who provided the greyhound tips on Saturdays sport programme with Bernard Gent and Geoff Stelling seeing her photo and listening to all the old jingles reminded me of all the times i went with her to the studio. I even got the old tape out and listened to the tribute the station gave her after her death. Sad but we had such good times it made it all worth while  -Thank you

Nina Gwilliam

Hi, I was that small person called Nina, who originally got to review Sunday sups, Sunday broadsheets and Sunday tabloids, (the paper reviews) make coffee for Church celebs, log the tunes, (excellent tunes we played) rub shoulders with the news staff.... So where now are Caroline Duff, Peter Quest, Sue Featherstone : why no piece about John Caine, veteran of late-night rock and Sunday mornings?  My eventual producer (the last religious one) is now press secretary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Jonathon Jennings. 

Darren Rozier

Hi there,

I've been trawling for a site like this for ages!  One that truly reflects what ILR was like in its infancy in the 70s.  Oh that it was still like this today!  I have thoroughly enjoyed listening to all the various bits of audio on this site.  Any chance of you guys doing a tribute site for Ipswich's Radio Orwell?

Best wishes,

Darren.

Darren Brian Renforth

A superb site indeed. Many thanks for the memories. Tees left an impression on so many.
 
Ian Sandall took me and my brother around the studios in 1977, a fascinating experience. The OBs were great too, the staff were always keen to meet and chat to the listeners.

On moving South late in 1977, (I was 12 at the time so I had no choice), I tried to pick up 257 at night, with success at times although there was considerable fading and interference of course, but it was worth it just to catch bits of Brian Anderson's "Solid Gold Sunday"!

Tees was unique, nothing like it before or since.

Dave Brown
                              
What a brilliant site bringing back some great memories..As a young lad in Aycliffe it was my dream to escape working shifts at the worktop factory and to get a job at radio tees. I still remember my first overnight show with Roger Lewis babysitting me from MCR in case I cocked things up, happy memories of doing full prs by hand for every show, playing nonky instrumental non ppl tracks overnight to save on needletime and many a boozy session in the good o'l clarry. Still keep in touch with Alex Lester via text and John Simons is now my boss at smoothfm in London so I see him all the time.
Best Wishes
Dave Brown in Norwich

Liz Pearce - Darlington

A superb site, many thanks for the time and effort you have spent putting it together and for keeping the memories alive of what was a great radio station.

In 1986, along with my friend Karen, I had the good fortune to be given a guided tour of the Radio Tees studios in Dovecot Street by Graham Robb. We looked around the newsroom and Studio 1, and I remember watching Alex Lester presenting his show in the studio opposite. I had a brilliant time but, as a quite shy 13 year old,I suspect I never thanked him properly for taking the trouble to show us around. So – Graham, I’d like to take this opportunity now to say thank you … it was a fantastic experience and one that I’ll always remember. 

Talking of Alex Lester, his Blues show introduced me to a genre of music that otherwise I probably wouldn’t have discovered until many years later. While other kids my age were listening to Wham! and Duran Duran, I began exploring the music of Muddy Waters and John Lee Hooker. Listening to the show sparked off a love of the Blues that’s grown throughout my life – thanks, Alex!

Finally, (and I think I probably speak for Karen as well on this) I would like to say a big thank you to Mark Matthews for his tolerance and good humour with us both when we plagued the life out of him at various Radio Tees outside broadcasts during the summer of 1986. I was the blonde one with the camera and Karen, my partner in crime, was the dark haired one. Thank you, Mark, for being such a sport with us and helping to make that summer such a brilliant laugh.

Paul Chambers - Brisbane

Just discovered this website surfing the net here in sunny Oz. I moved out here in 1986 after spending my childhood in my hometown of Newtown Aycliffe and listening to Radio Tees
was a great part of my childhood. I most remember Mark Page on the Breakfast Show, Roger Lewis in the evening and who could forget Graham Robb with his mad brand of humour. Unforgettable radio...

John Gelson

What a great website, found purely by accident! Many, many happy memories of listening to Radio Tees from the tender age of 10 in the foreign, northern lands of Peterlee (!) in those great early years. Back then Tees was everything a truly local independent station should be, loyal to and reflective of its homeland, devoid of the modern-day curse of shared programming, providing meaningful speech alongside the music (including extended local news, motoring, sport and travel programmes) and filled with colourful characters. I still have my Radio Tees magazine, 'Radio Tees Rules' ruler and one unused 257 car sticker! Well done and thank you for this excellent website.

Ian Somers

What a great site. This brings back so many memories of a station I grew up listening to. Tees Sport on a Saturday afternoon and Roger Lewis with Street Level. If only radio was like this now.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane

Ian

Mark Mardell

Fantastic site ! ..brings back some memories ..

Roger Lewis

Met up with John Simons for dinner last week and he told about this site. Fantastic. Well done for putting it together. Lots of memories. Radio Tees was an extraordinary place.
Hywl fawr,
Roger

John Bradford

Mike Prior

Great to see all of the 'team' from those days back in the early 80's. For me, working at Tees was a great experience albeit relatively brief off and on between 81 and 86.

Having listened to '208 and the pirates as a teenager during the 60's and 70's, it didn't get much better than presenting a soul music show on one of the freshest sounding 'new style' land based commercial stations in those embryonic days.

I am now enjoying life in my full time career in marketing, living near Cambridge with my long suffering wife and three teenage daughters.

To all of those of you I worked with particularly Mark Page and Don Cline who gave me the break in the first place and John Simons and Dave Brown, who were my 'soul' mates, (if you see what I mean), my best wishes.

I still have some tapes of Dave Brown's last 'Nightlife' show before I took over and from when I presented it until 86. Maybe I will get around to sending them to the web site team to add to the audio section at some point.

mike.prior@bigfoot.com

If you feel the urge to trade memories of that bygone era.

Libby Fawbert

What a hoot to find this site...who's doing it? 

Graham Robb

This wonderful site which has brought back some great memories.

As a young guy who had his first ever job at Radio Tees I couldn't have asked for a better apprenticeship. Working with real professionals who are now leading figures in UK radio - John Simons, Alex Lester, Paul Robinson and, of course, Mark. Everybody at the station, especially people behind the scenes like Jan and Karen, was so kind and always tolerated my youthful enthusiasm and bad jokes!

Most of all I remember Donald Cline and his willingness to give me a break on Late On. The correspondent who asked for tapes would find his memory is rosy and if I had any tapes I'm sure that they wouldn't stand scrutiny today. But Don gave me  a shot and the show built a loyal following. People in their 30 -40s in Tees Valley still remember it.

Most of all I remember interviewing Margaret Thatcher in 1985 (or was it 1986). I was only 21 and I was terrified. They lads called me "Flash" - because Maggie wiped the floor with me. Boom Boom!

After that I got interested in politics and stood for parliament against Peter Mandelson in 1992. Following a fun but unsuccessful campaign I became press officer to successive Conservative leaders and the PR agency I co-own with business partner Frances Bourne, represented David Cameron in the North East during his successful leadership bid.

Recognition Marketing & PR is based in Darlington and is now proud to count TFM among its clients.

Mark Matthews


Thanks for the 20 year flashback - what a great site with some fantastic memories.  I apologise for the girly hairdo, although at least I managed to avoid the beard phase.  Who's behind all this hard work?

Stuart White

John Simons

Some great memories from a great station. Some of these pictures bring back events that I'd long forgotten

Alex Lester

Excellent! It is like yesterday er however without the dodgy moustache

Mark Simpson

Hi

Nice site, keep up the good work. So many memories regarding Radio Tees, from Me Mark on the Breakfast Show to listening to Stockton's own little waster Graham Robb on Late On. I remember so many times listen to my trannie under the bed covers at 10 o'clock at night, trying not to laugh to loud and alert my parents to the fact that I was listening to the radio when I should have been asleep. Graham's show brought a fresh new sound to radio and you had to listen every night to make sure that you felt you didn't miss out. Going to school the next day everyone was talking about his antics and those of his mad people who where on his show. Mad Tom and Cecil just made it fun to listen to. Shame there isn't a show like his on radio now!.

Ian Hughes

Oh boy what great memories. It was great to see everyone at the 25th Party. Can we do it again soon ?

Would love to hear from anyone else.

Have a Great Christmas.

Kind Regards,
Ian Hughes.

ian@scott-sports.uk.com

Kenneth Blackwood - Park End Middlesbrough

So many nostalgic memories. I remember getting up just before 6 on the 24th June in 1975 to hear the first show and was still listening at the end of the night. Shame it's still not around today.