Why anyone would give me a job in radio in October 1982 is beyond me. I was the archetypal socially inadequate radio anorak. OK so I wasn’t actually wearing an anorak but I was still wearing my mother’s knitted sweaters – honestly. The one thing I had going for me is that I did know […]
I remember this was on air after I returned in 1988….Nick wright got flu and I filled in at short notice… I sound very different now but this is very much of its era – and shows what a great station Wyvern was ….commercial but local without sounding twee…!! Jane Garvey was in the news […]
Oh, my God, I wanted to be a DJ so much! Trouble was, I wasn’t particularly good at it. I’d spent several of my teenage years being rejected by just about every radio station in the little IBA handbook when a very generous Sammy Southall took me under his wing and spent many hours trying […]
So I asked Rob Yarnold ” how did we come to have those amazing MBI desks ?” – Rob Says I was busy visiting every ILR station on air to plan Wyvern. As part of this journey, I was also working free-lance at Beacon 303 from 1976 – 1981, when we got the franchise. There wasn’t […]
I had the pleasure of broadcasting at Barbourne Terrace for two years between 1996 and 1998. I was brought in as part of the presentation team of Wyvern AM, when the frequencies split. I remember my interview for the job, with the legendary Norman Bilton, who gave me a brief ‘pop quiz about the type […]
I married the DJ who played me a song for Valentine’s Day. 1988 It had been an ordinary February the 13th. I’d spent the day doing not very much, lazing about the house in the cold. To ease the boredom, I flicked the radio on. Slurping on coffee and biscuits, I eased myself down onto […]
We were at Maylord Orchard Shopping centre – we were presenting a lucky winner with a Car !!! the heatwave This was a small part of our team out that day – can anyone name all 6 – I am guessing Mike Morgan might have a stab. Do drop me a line if you […]
Gill Manley (Edmonds) Jan 1991-March 1992 I was going nowhere, writing advertorials as a freelance for the Kidderminster Shuttle, when my dad suggested in the strongest terms that I should “get a proper job”. My mum had died a few months before and all I had was a degree in modern languages and no […]
Wyvern Memories from Phill Bird – Presenter/Promotions Executive June 1991 – July 1995 Growing up on a diet of Radio 1, the exciting launches of Severn Sound, and then Wyvern, I felt a real pull to radio – particularly ILR. I joined Cotswold Hospital Radio in 1983 and 2 years later was lucky enough to […]
I was seventeen years old and had received approximately 50 or so rejection letters from radio stations around the country. The theme to the replies was similar; not enough experience, not quite ready, you have potential – come back in a few years. Then one day my mum called me downstairs to take a telephone […]
Before setting off on the making of this site I spoke to Stephanie Bilton who was by Normans side during his considerable time at the station. Firstly I wanted to enlist her support and to see if she had any material she may be able to help with. Steph’s support has been and continues to be, invaluable […]
Two things I can say about my time at Wyvern from 1990 – 1994 I had extraordinary hair Without Wyvern, my dream of working in radio would probably still be just a dream. Instead, 27 years later I’m here doing the job I love, Wyvern feels like yesterday and I still feel like I’ve only […]
Eleanor Oldroyd – 1984- 1986 “Who’s doing the sport at 1.20, David?” “Well, don’t tell her, but it’s Eleanor.” It was September 1984, and I’d been at Radio Wyvern for a week. Ten minutes after that conversation took place, I made my live broadcasting debut. Back then, there were virtually no women in the UK […]
Dean Roberts – Radio Wyvern/Wyvern FM (Barbourne) 1996-2002 Where do I start with my Wyvern Story? Well, I was always told that the ‘beginning’ is rather a good place to begin so let’s crack on. I can remember listening to Radio Wyvern waaaay back in the early 80’s as a kid (especially when there was […]
We are coming across a number of group shots and there are sometimes a couple of people I just can’t recall names of – My apologies if you are one of those whose names I can not recall – please do drop me a line and let me know if you can fill in the gaps. […]
Ian Davies Night Beat 1am – 6am Sunday to Thursday 1991 – 1994 My first encounter of Radio Wyvern was as a listener in 1985, I was 15 years old and I won Sammy’s Secret Sound calling Hereford 272727 60 times a day on an old rotary phone it took some doing getting it all […]
Where do I begin — I have so many great memories of the hallowed Wyvern Towers. Everybody ‘looking busy’ when we saw the boss’s yellow Capri pull up outside. Creeping up ‘The Bilton’s staircase’ as opposed to the ‘staff’ staircase that we all were instructed to use. Living on a diet of cheese rolls and Mars […]
Several listeners have been in touch having read about our little site on the Radio Today page offering their story of listening to Radio Wyvern – As they were the main reason we were there in the first place I will be adding some of the stories to the site. Here is a great trip […]
I grew up listening to Radio Wyvern but didn’t really take much interest in it until 1996. I tuned into the Chris Blumer evening show one night and I was hooked. It made me so interested in radio and I applied to join my local hospital radio station. I always wanted to work at Wyvern and […]
I was on the station in 2004-06. I came from Sunshine 855 in Ludlow, Shropshire and had worked for BRMB, too. At the time, my on-air name was Ben Foster although I am known as Zac Damon. I came on to initially cover weekend breakfast and then covered other shows in the schedule. I eventually […]
I have MANY memories of Wyvern, having moved to the Two Counties aged 7, it was probably the station (along with BRMB) that inspired me to get into the industry in the first place. So to work for the station was a massive thrill. I’m now Politics Reporter at BBC Three Counties Radio in Dunstable. […]
I joined Wyvern after doing well in two of the DJ discovery competitions. I hosted Sunday Best with Rich Edwards, my own Sunday afternoon show for many years. Sunday Breakfast and the Soul Show. Plus some weekday cover. One thing I clearly remember when I did my first “proper” show (sitting in for someone after […]
My interest in Radio started when, as a young teenager, I won a school competition, the prize, a visit to BBC Radio Birmingham (now WM) to watch the Ross & Henry Show one Saturday morning. Ross, perhaps better known as Les Ross & his sidekick John Henry (who went on to set up & run […]
When you’re a teenage radio anorak and somebody offers you the keys to an as-yet un-opened but brand new radio station so you can help play out test tapes, you’re probably not going to think about it for too long. So there we were in the Autumn of 1982, playing these tapes out from a […]
Andy has sent in some great audio of his time at Wyvern FM – please more pictures and recollections from these days too. I share these as strange stories now with a good-natured sense of humour, not to poke fun at the station or its parent companies while acknowledging the occasional insanity found therein. Among […]
Here are Ricks thoughts and memories of the changeover from Barbourne Terrace to Perdiswell. My memories of the old building had much the same feeling that late nights at my first professional radio gig (2CR in Bournemouth) had – a somewhat spooky feeling in a building that had lost much of its ‘hustle and […]
Getting a job in the newsroom at Radio Wyvern back in 1982 was like getting the keys to the sweetshop. The newsroom was packed with talent (!) and youthful enthusiasm. David Holsworth at the helm, now head of English regions for the BBC; Frazer Shepherd, currently a top producer in TV; Nick London, later of […]
July 1987 I’d met Nick Wright about a year earlier when I was working in a record shop in Redditch, and Nick came in searching for compilation albums on a certain label because they were “non needle time”. He was presenting the overnight from Beacon that was shared with Wyvern, Mercia and I think Signal […]
I used to live actually on Barbourne Terrace and was well aware of Wyvern starting up and I remember clearly going into the reception area and watching the DJs presenting through the glass. To me, they were like Gods! I remember buying a Wyvern sweatshirt too. I felt I was so cool. It was miles […]
In 1982, I was a year out of university and it had dawned that my anticipated career as an international rock star was not going to happen any time soon. I had spent a few months as a cartoonist in an ad agency until they “let me go”, and was now dividing my time between […]
I was hired from newspapers by David Holdsworth. I had just passed my journalism exams and decided to write off to a few radio stations. I remember there was a job going at Piccadilly in Manchester and on spec I also wrote to my local station, Radio Wyvern. Almost as soon as the letter dropped […]
Wyvern did make a difference to a lot of listeners for a whole variety of reasons, for some, it was a lifeline of sorts. One such special listener, was Maureen Preece best known to many listeners as Wyvern Mo, sadly no longer with us. She knew more about most of us than we knew about […]
It’s lovely when radio shows are slick and smooth and sound effortless. As any presenter knows there are times it is anything but. It’s like how a swan glides, quite serenely, but you know underneath that the feet are paddling away. Sometimes radio is like that and then sometimes the pond is frozen and you […]
The Snowball was everything that was good about local radio of the time. Throwing its weight behind people that needed help. The goodwill and camaraderie running through the building over those weekends of on-air fundraising left everyone I think with a good feeling. We had some great auction items and also it was the time […]
What Simon Cowell does is nothing new. New Faces and Opportunity Knocks were to name just two. Radio Wyvern also dabbled in the new talent stakes and I am living proof. I was the winner of the second Search For a D J contest. A kind of “Decks Factor ” if you like. Anyway, I […]
My Wyvern story began before I was officially working there. It was all thanks to – or maybe the fault of – Nick Wright. I used to really enjoy his evening show. I even won the odd competition, and in those days Radio had some odd competitions. On one occasion we got chatting and I […]
I joined Wyvern in February 1991 – and ended up doing my first-ever show by accident. I was working behind the scenes with ‘Big’ Rich Edwards on the sports show when he took the call that Simon Forster was ill and unable to do the late show. ‘If you fancy it, it’s yours,” said Rich. […]
Technical Director and Presenter Rob Yarnold, and Breakfast Presenter Sammy Southall have been talking with Producer/Presenter Graham Hughes, about what led to an amazing day – the birth of Radio Wyvern. The radio station’s large reception area was big enough to host a party and at 7 am on that magic Monday of 4th October […]
Like many of the best things in life I came to Wyvern by accident and chance. I’d returned from pirate Radio Nova in Ireland and had tried to push for a community station for Southport – which it eventually got in the 1990s. The government went cold on the idea of uber-local radio […]
I have no idea how many of these Radio Wyvern pre-on-air promotional leaflets were printed or how many the 4 new presenters gave out at countless visits to all the main towns in the area who also had their own individual town named car stickers. But during the summer of 82 before our October launch we did give out […]
Not every station had a QSL card but at Wyvern we were not going to miss ou. After all, it was real radio enthusiasts who drove the inception of the station. According to Wiki, A QSL card is a written confirmation of either a two-way radiocommunication between two amateur radio stations or a one-way reception of a signal from […]
Six Fabulous Wyvern Cheerleaders with Danny Lee ( A great supporter of Wyvern and charity fundraiser walking miles with a pint of beer on his head ) at Hereford United V Manchester United ( Thank’s Matt Healy )
This wonderful piece of art is an image of a print reproduced from original watercolour paintings by David Birtwhistle. David is a prolific watercolour artist who was based in Belmonte house Bransford road in St Johns, Worcester. I can’t remember exactly when the picture was commissioned but I suspect it was very late 80’s or early 90’s. […]
Wyvern was offered the franchise to broadcast to Hereford & Worcester, directly in a phone call to Sir John in his Hereford home, from the IBA (John Thompson). We were given a few days to accept or reject the offer and we had to keep it a secret over a weekend before the press release embargo was […]
We must have had someone looking down on us when someone manages to get Central TV to make a documentary about the inception and the making of radio wyvern. We had the cameras in many times while the station was coming into being – here is another chance to see an amazingly frank and honest look […]
More thoughts from Rob Yarnold about the early months of Radio Wyvern As there was no one really on board, from the industry before we got the franchise, I had to get all the info together for the Board to understand. I took The Chairman and a few Board members to Beacon a few times to talk to […]
Where do I start? I met up with Sammy Southall in 1971 a mutual friend new we were members of the Free Radio Association. !!! We both wanted to be DJ’s, once I had heard Caroline, Big L and Swinging Radio England, I knew that was what I wanted to do. There were no radio […]
Sammy Southall – 1982 – 1998 My Wyvern story well where do I start it’s been a long time since I thought back about all the different things that happened to me on my road to being on-air at Wyvern and the 16, mostly very happy years that followed. The story really starts in 1972, […]
Back in 1982 I was working as a freelance presenter and reporter for another commercial radio station, Chiltern Radio, in my home county of Bedfordshire. At the time I’d been looking for a full-time position in broadcasting and therefore responded to an advertisement for Radio Wyvern. I was invited for an interview at the Talbot […]
Graham Hughes – Launch Presenter/Producer – Weekdays 1-4pm and specialist music Monday – Wednesday 7- 8pm. If you’ve worked in broadcasting in the last few years you’ve probably missed out on a great event – opening a new radio station. Radio Wyvern was my second of four “new” stations in my career but my first […]
Mike Henfield called me at my home in Harrow to invite me up for an interview as they’d listened to my cassette and wanted to know more. I’d previously done work at Radio Victory in Portsmouth hospital radio in Ealing and broadcast to a captive audience of 250 in a Royal Navy frigate HMS Eskimo….only […]
I have a couple of memories from the time before we went on air. I was born in Worcestershire so getting the job at Wyvern was like coming home. But in 1982 Wyvern must have been the only radio station in Britain with a gazebo and fish pond in the back garden and an extensive, […]
A number of people have mentioned the launch newspaper. Again Wyvern had an amazing start as far as awareness was concerned with a huge amount of publicity afforded by a launch newspaper which was delivered to virtually every home in the catchment area – I have included a few of the cuttings here sent over by […]