Ron Lundy

There is a sound now absent from British radio. In fact, it possibly never quite got here at all. The ‘Boss Jock’. Frighteningly tight, loud, and more about sound and energy than content; but the words well-chosen. Presentation which iced the music rather than interrupt it. In the ‘60s, the pirate Swinging Radio England tried to create it from its rusty hulk, with the Brits on-board trying their best to emulate their Stateside cousins. The offshore Radio London was also tight, but in a more English sort of way.

On land by the 1970s, the United Biscuits Network became a famous training ground for a fledgling commercial radio network; and here a variant of that slick jock sound was cultivated. That sound of the UBN diaspora then spread across some of the ILR network, not least to Capital, Beacon and Trent.

Pop music radio had all started very late in the UK. Auntie was still very Light, when 50s rock and roll radio was blasting out of highly compressed AM stations across the States, with its distinctive sound and energy. Hot presenters there too were allowed to be old.

Here, from 1997, enjoy the last show of one of the true US greats at the age of 63: Ron Lundy. Listen to the projection, and the studio echo.

Ron had ruled on-air in New York City for more than thirty years. Those were the days of catch phrases, with his being simply "Hello, Love”. Radio back then was unashamedly positive, and Ron hailed the big Apple as the Greatest City in the World". He died in 2010 .