Tom Edwards

Tom Edwards was one of the young pirate radio DJs who made the transition to the BBC during the 1960s. He was on the fort station Radio City when the Reg Calvert shooting occurred, a key moment that led to the inevitable outlawing of the offshore stations. Next to Caroline before heading back to his home town of Norfolk and to the BBCtv’s ‘Look East’ programme as well as radio shows in the region such as ‘Happy Weekend, Everybody’ and ‘This is East Anglia’ - the start of his joint tv and radio career. In 1968 he was also on Radio 1 starting off on ‘Midday Spin’ and then by the early 70s becoming one of the staff announcers and newsreaders on both Radio 1 & 2. There followed countless mornings waking-up the nation as one of the regular hosts of ‘The Early Show’ between 1972 and 1982, first during the week and then for many years on Saturday mornings.

By now freelance Tom was also an in-vision announcer at Thames TV. His smooth voice and charming manner together with his radio experience made him a natural at filling the gaps between programmes, sometimes unexpected ones, and split-second timing. As well as Thames he would occasionally pop up on the screens of ATV, Southern, HTV, Tyne-Tees and Anglia. LA beckoned in 1988 as the temporarily moved to the States to work on TV and radio.

Back in the UK in the 90s there was more regional TV work and voiceovers on ‘Wipeout’ thanks to his friend Bob Monkhouse. After battling with some well-documented personal issues Tom now enjoys retirement at his Lincolnshire home, where he has since made a certain radio enthusiast and his wife very welcome when we have popped in to see him.