On 4th September, 2003, when SUSY Radio was campaigning for a permanent license, a special programme was broadcast which introduced Eric Martin as a special guest of the “Alan French Afternoon Show”.
Eric was one of the pioneering DJ’s of the pirate radio era of the 1960s, and broadcast on Radio City which was based on an old war-time fort located on Shivering Sands in the Thames Estuary.
Formerly Radio Sutch, the station commenced broadcasting on 27th May, 1964 on 1542kHz (194 metres), and in September, 1964, was taken over by Lord Sutch’s manager, Reginald Calvert who invested in new equipment including a more powerful transmitter, changed frequency to 1003kHz (299 metres), and re-launched as Radio City (“your Tower of Power”).
Eric joined Radio City in 1966 as an 18 year old, often presenting the 6am – 10am breakfast programme, and stayed with the station until a few days before it closed down in 1967. He then followed a completely different career until his retirement, when the opportunity allowed him to return to the airwaves, broadcasting under the name of Richard Lee.
Audio quality isn’t the best as the recording is many years old now, and some of the included archive from the 60s is even older!
Image courtesy of www.redsandsradio.co.uk
Audio courtesy of Richard Lee and Ian Rennison
