Former radio DJs gathered to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Radio Luxembourg programme director Phil Ward-Large’s era.
The European responsible for starting the careers of many DJs in the 70s and in the 80s including Neil Fox, Paul McKenna, Gary King, Tim Smith and Shaun Tilley remembered the era with a reunion lunch in central London.
They reminisced and celebrated a golden era in broadcasting and music which they helped to shape.
Phil was a producer at BBC Radio 1 until 1985 before he was offered the chance to become boss of Luxy until 1988. .
Speaking after the lunch, Phil said “I’m incredibly proud of my time programming The Great 208 during the second half of the 80s as the station is still truly iconic. FM became the dominant force in UK radio towards the end of that decade but despite its dodgy AM signal, Luxy continued to enjoy huge listening figures as many parts of the country still didn’t have local radio and if they did, they were mostly broadcasting specialist shows that time of night.
“You only have to look at those here today to be reminded of how we still had hugely talented DJs on air in those days who in most cases, have gone on to have very successful and lengthy careers.”
Following his departure from Radio Luxembourg, Phil worked for stations such as XFM, BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2 as well as producing Neil Fox on The Pepsi Chart when it overtook BBC Radio 1’s Top 40 Show in the ratings to become the UK’s most listened to Sunday evening countdown.
In the photo you can see Mike Hollis, Tim Smith, Paul McKenna, Gary King, Neil Fox, Peter Antony, Alex Dyke, PWL, Mike Knight and Shaun Tilley.
This story first appeared on radiotoday.co.uk