Radio Sutch & City - Part 14
Issue: 7 Updated: 11th August 2020
A look at the times of the Calvert a musical impresario of the late 1950's & 1960's
Reg Calvert Musical Entrepreneur
Southampton Sweet Shop
Tentative steps into the world of entertainment came through playing the piano in the evenings, during the day Reg & his wife Dorothy ran a sweet shop in Southampton in the 1950's
A small printing firm, dances at fairs were the prelude to Reg arranging dances in the town a prelude to his Package Tours
Dorothy balances the Mirror Ball (1958)
The Mirror Ball was especially made for the Civic Hall in Southampton. It was too heavy for the ceiling so was hung in the Royal Pier
Reg overlooks a Danny Storm (David Hurran) & the 'Strollers' rehearsal performance (1960)
Danny Storm with Eddie Sex comes off stage (1960)
Danny Reg's 'Cliff' was to appear on a number of low cost long playing records (LP's) of the day
Clifton Hall purchased by the Calverts (1961)
Reg & Dorothy Calvert ran their 'Rock School' until 1965, a lovable rogue Reg picked up the nick name 'Uncle' from his boys, a tag that continued to be used through his days running Radio City
The Calverts; Susan, Dorothy, Reg & Candy at Clifton Hall (1961)
Reg & Dorothy pictured in Clifton Hall (1961)
Bands lived in the hall, and were encouraged by Reg to change name & line-up for his 'Package Tours' and recording sessions in a never ending quest for chart success
Danny Storm Pye Single (1963)
Danny had a minor hit with with 'Honest I Do/Sad But True' released on Pye Records 7N 32025 it made #42 in the UK on 13th July 1963, the follow up 'I Just Can't Fool My Heart/Thinking Of You' 7N 35091 failed to make an impression
Collectors pay up to £15.00 for Danny's singles & some compilation albums that include his songs make £25.00 & more
Audio |
Danny
Storm on the Package Tour Compilation LP from 1963 |
This was one of a number of similar LP's that formed part of the small record library
The 'Package Tour' long player GGL.0268 on Golden Guinea (Pye Records) (1963)
Reg & Dorothy Calvert working in the office at Clifton Hall
The beat group 'Robin Hood'
Rod Allen - Bass*, Gary - Drums , Robin Hood (Mike West) - Lead Vocals & Barry Pritchard - lead Guitar*
*Later members of one of Reg's top groups the Fortunes, a later band line-up included Fred Heath later to join the Federals who became Johnny Kid (And Pirates) who exploited Mike West who had a very bad squint hidden by an eye patch
Federals Parlophone (EMI) Single (1964)
Another rarity the penultimate single of six released on parlophone between 1963-1964 'Twilight Time' R5193 now valued at £15.00
Audio |
The
Federals - Twilight Time on Parlophone Records 1964 |
The Federals released six singles without chart entry before evoving into Johnny Kid and the Pirates
David Edward Sutch (1963)
Above seeks election victory for his Monster Raving Loony Party for detail see Sutch & City Pics - Part 1
I'm A Hog for You Baby Decca Records Single (1963)
Most of the original releases now sought after by collectors for example the double A sided 'I'm A Hog For You/Monster In Black Tights' on Decca 11747 from 1963 is now valued at £20.00
Reg had signed David & his band The Savages who he managed from 1963 - 1966
Sticker from a 1960's groups Reslo RBT ribbon microphone
With a stage name David 'Screaming Lord' Sutch built up a following making records with Joe Meek promoting his Rock Horror Show as alter ego Jack The Ripper which toured across the UK and much of the Continent
Approaching Shivering Sands Forts from the west (1964)
Reg Calvert, David Sutch and Brian Paull on Shivering Sands Gun Towers (May 1964)
Together in Radio Caroline's wake they cooked up Radio Sutch, at first a publicity stunt for Screaming Lord Sutch & Reg's roster of bands, the station developed a life of it's own attracting a reasonable local audience to its amateur low powered output
Confusion over Brian Poole and Brian Paull (Daily Mail 2nd June 1964)
Susan Calvert (1963)
Reg Calvert introduced both his daughters to his radio stations, Susan once made an appearance on 'Britain's Teenage Station'
Her sister Candy was heard more frequently on 'Candy's Pop Shop' a short weekly show centred around the 'happening' music scene from her own chart research with snippets taken from fanzines in between 'the platters that mattered'
Radio City Letter Head (1964)
Radio Sutch lasted a short five months before Reg turned it into Radio City
There were few girls in radio in the 60's, and who was first is a close call: Mandy Raven could be heard with husband Mike on KING Radio, and later Radio 390
The Calvert girls cousin Tamara Harrison made a brief appearance & Romford Essex beauty queen Linda Bass given the name Peggy Knight by Reg was thrust in front of the Radio City microphone in yet another publicity stunt
Tower of Power Poster (1965)
By 1966 with it's impressive 200' antenna it was christened the Tower of Power by Engineer Tony Pine
With the big antenna transmissions sounded more powerful than the meagre 800 watts thanks to the efforts of Senior Radio Engineer Ian West
Compilation The Screaming Lord Sutch Story' (1991)
The LP contains the best of his Rock Horror live set
David's crazy hair party piece was achieved by him bending over forward then quickly throwing body upright as the photograph taken
Composit Tower of Power Logo
By September 1965 Reg had re-branded Radio Sutch Radio City
Dorothy & Candy Calvert in a Press shot (1965)
Dorothy & William
Dorothy would venture to Whitstable with William, her pet monkey tucked in her coat. Anything went in the 'Swinging 60's' but then the town was a sleepy back water different than its reputation today as Isslington-on-Sea. Dorothy and David Sutch's antics before her scared half the population witless
299 Transmitter Valve
Not much remains of the controversial transmitter delivered to the Towers by Project Atlanta
Above one of two surviving 'bottles' from the RF amplifier, there were another two in the modulator, the valve is rated at 10kW RF (CW) & stands 2 feet high and is a foot wide
These RCA valves were forced air cooled & are heavy
The big problem on Shivering Sands was that there just wasn't enough generator power available to run the transmitter, it would take plenty of juice just to heat the filaments on the four valves!
Hardly surprising the TX was abandoned as unserviceable
Susan Moore's (Calvert) play based around her Fathers life as a pop entrepreneur & early British Commercial Radio pioneer
Poster pdf : Page 1 pdf : Page 2 pdf : Page 3 pdf : Page 4 pdf : Play Text pdf : Play Front Page pdf
Baby it's cold outside
A copy of a silk painting for Christmas by Susan K Moore-Calvert painted during a session with her granddaughter, Clara, who wanted to paint a picture of 'Puck' from Midsummer Nights Dream for homework
04/12/08 - I worked for Clifton Hall Artists under the name of Johnny Washington. I lived at the Hall from 1962 through to late 1963. I recorded as a solo artist on Fontana Records & in 1966 became a member of the Applejacks (from Solihull). We toured in the USA in the late 1960's and after the group broke up in the early 70's I moved to America to live
Al Jackson the original lead singer before me, owns a pub somewhere in the Midlands. Megan Brady (nee Davis) works in the medical profession in London. Don Gould (piano) Has his own company that makes commercial Jingles for Radio & TV. Martin Baggott (guitar) is a general contractor who builds multi-million dollar homes in Palm Springs California. Gerry Freeman (drums) has been the musical director/drummer for Shirley Bassey for the past 30 years. Phil Cash (guitar) still lives in Solihull where he owns his own engine repair business. I have been living in the USA for the past 38 years still recording, still performing and still enjoying it. Jon Washington
Grateful thanks to Dorothy & Susan Calvert for their valuable contribution to this feature & to Robin for the transmitter information
This feature has been produce to compliment the superb personal feature produced by David St John on Reg Calvert
The story will continue in Sutch & City Part 15