Battle of the DJs

Sunday lunchtime, a coffee shop in Belfast. Three people gather for a pow-wow. Between them, they talk to thousands of people a week, and there’s no doubt that some of their fellow diners would recognise their voices, but their faces don’t matter...they’re radio presenters. Around the table are U105 breakfast presenter and Head of Music Maurice Jay, Downtown Radio’s drivetime man Johnny Hero, and BBC Radio Ulster’s late night presenter Donna Legge. Collectively, they’ve clocked up 50 years on the air in Northern Ireland – so who better to have a chinwag about the state of things in NI music and media past and present?

Donna: Potted history on all our careers – I presented Across The Line from ‘98 and the Radio 1 show from summer ‘09, and now present my own late night radio show.

Johnny: I started playing in bands when I was 17 and always had a mad interest in NI music. I still play in Glam Slam just for the craic and revive my old band The Ex-Producers every few years. I try to give the local bands a turn when I can, but sadly the medium I work in has become more and more corporate. God help trying to get airplay nowadays, it’s an uphill struggle.

Maurice: I started DJing as a hobby at school and got into playing in bands. Unlike Johnny I hated all the other local bands! (laughs) We were gonna be the next big thing, so we weren’t interested in anyone else. I sort of fell into radio, doing a local music show called Gigs And Stuff on Belfast Community Radio, and worked my way up from there. I’d love to get back to playing with a band, though. Glam Slam might be auditioning a new member after this!

Donna: We’re all coming from a local music background, but because of the BBC’s public service remit I’ve been encouraged to play local stuff. Have you noticed a squeeze on that in commercial radio over the years?

Johnny: Commercial radio is definitely becoming more corporate and more multi-national. It’s fine if you want to hear the standards, but for bands wanting to get that first step on the ladder it’s a disaster, it’s heartbreaking. People blame us, but it’s the guys across the water in suits making the decisions.

Maurice: As Head of Music at U105, I’ve got to be mindful of our audience. One of the biggest reactions we’ve had lately was to ‘Sailortown’ by Anthony Toner. People just loved it and even when we play it today, there’ll be people ringing up going ‘What’s that song?’. That’s how I judge songs – is it strong enough, does it fit with the station and the time of day?

Donna: Do either of you try and keep abreast of what’s going on in the local scene?

Johnny: Well, I still get sent a lot of demos from my years doing the indie show, and I would try and keep an eye across the websites. I like those nights like Gifted in The Empire, where you can see maybe four bands in one night. There’s a band from Coleraine, This Day We Die – they sent me some stuff and it’s just brilliant, really experimental, like Cocteau Twins or The Orb. There’s a lot of great bands who aren’t in the Belfast clique, which I think is a bit self-destroying. Some of the Dublin bands like Baby Jenx or Kopek – those are bands that are ten times better than anything we have in terms of professionalism, songs, the whole package.

Maurice: We’ve often said how untogether a lot of bands are – you get this blank CD with no details on it and a handwritten note.

Johnny: It could be the best thing you’ve ever heard in your life but if it’s on a blank CD and you’ve lost that wee bit of paper...

Donna: Let’s talk about gigs – what was your first?

Johnny: Stiff Little Fingers and The Starjets at the Ulster Hall. I remember thinking these are two bands from Belfast! Then shortly afterwards, I went to see The Clash and I stood there nearly crying during ‘White Man’. Before that, no-one came here, except for Rory Gallagher at Christmas.

Maurice: Mine was Whitesnake at the Ulster Hall. I was a wee bit too young for the punk thing, more into the new wave stuff. I remember really liking Cruella de Ville. They could have been big but missed out on their break ‘cos their video had bonfires in it and Saturday morning TV wouldn’t show it.

Johnny: A lot of bands from here have had awful luck. The Four of Us got dropped the week their single charted in the UK. But there’s no-one here who can really pack a venue out, and that’s what A&R men want. Watercress used to sell-out three nights, The Minnows could sell out The Empire. No-one really does that now.

Donna: Apart from The Answer and ASIWYFA.

Maurice: Part of the problem is there’s too much music, people are surrounded by it, and everyone’s on the same playing field in terms of exposure because of the internet.

Johnny: It’s not like when you had to go and poster Shaftesbury Square at 3am in the pouring rain!

Donna: Where do you think radio’s going with the advances in technology?

Maurice: Radio needs to give people something different to what they can get on iTunes, podcasts, the satellite stations. The only way radio will survive is through personality.

Johnny: But as it becomes more corporate, personality is the thing that’s being knocked out of DJs. It’s all just time-checks and competitions.

Donna: Except on the BBC! Have either of you ever had a Russell Brand moment?

Johnny: Well, I had a row with James Galway – it was a live interview and he was just being an arrogant creep. I phoned him up afterwards and told him where to go!

Maurice: I’d a similar thing with Toyah Wilcox. I hung up on her after a minute. And I once did a wind-up call where I tried to buy plutonium from Sellafield nuclear plant. When I rang them afterwards to explain it was a joke, they put me through to Special Branch. Thank goodness it was in the days before caller ID!

Donna: I loved Russell Brand’s Radio 2 show – it was totally personality-based and you didn’t care what music he played. It was all about the links. Do either of you have any favourite presenters?

Johnny: I loved John Peel, but not for his indie show, for Home Truths. He was a brilliant communicator, just chatting to ordinary people about their lives. I used to get it taped, my wife thought I was mad!

Maurice: I was a Top 40 kid, so I suppose it was DLT. And I loved John Kelly too. Nowadays I tend to listen to more talk radio.

Johnny: We don’t listen to music!

Donna: Sometimes it’s the last thing you want to hear when you’re working with it all day.