Equal pay helped us pirates to rule the airwaves
BACK in the Sixties, I was a DJ on the pirate station Radio 390, run by the thriller writer Ted Allbeury, which broadcast from a former wartime fort in the Thames Estuary. Everyone, from DJs and producers to engineers and librarians, got paid the same — £25 a week, a good wage then. No one felt superior or financially hard done by. We were part of a closely knit team and all did our bit in making the station one of the most successful and popular of the era. There were no big egos to be fed and what we all shared was a genuine love of broadcasting, which communicated itself to our many listeners. A lesson, perhaps, for the BBC?
DAVID ALLAN, Gerrards Cross, Bucks. WHEN I started an apprenticeship, I was paid the same as all the other apprentices, male and female. After four years, my course ended and I found to my dismay that my pay was going to be significantly less than that earned by the boys. Nothing I said or did made any difference to the attitude of the company. I don’t hold out much hope for the BBC’s female staff who are complaining about the gender pay gap.
JENNY HART, Slough, Berks. SOME of us who have appeared on the BBC were not overpaid, but simply pleased for the opportunity. When I was at college, I appeared on the very popular Billy Cotton Band Show. They needed couples who could dance a bit and then sit on stage during the live performance. To my great surprise, one of the dancers in all her glitter came and sat on my knee. I was mortified that my parents might be watching. Many years later, I was asked on to Crimewatch to drive a Porsche in a recreation of an armed raid. Filming took place during the night with the road closed by the police, allowing me to reach a speed of 106mph — probably a record for the Mile End Road in East London. I don’t think anyone I knew would have spotted me on TV as I had a stocking over my face. At least, at £50, it paid rather better than Billy Cotton.
MARTYN CHAPPELL, Faversham, Kent.