‘Doing the show is what gets me out of bed in the morning’
PRESENTER WHO STARTED RADIO CAREER 11 YEARS AGO CELEBRATES 85TH BIRTHDAY
A RADIO presenter who started his broadcasting career at the age of 74 will be celebrating his birthday over the airwaves this weekend when he turns 85 today.
John Burton has turned his tiny flat in a retirement complex in West Bridgford into a radio studio.
From here John records his weekly show, The Collection, on 103 The Eye, the community radio station which broadcasts to the Vale of Belvoir, including parts of South Nottinghamshire.
“Doing the show is what gets me out of bed in the morning, ”says John.
“I’m a lucky boy because I was born in 1935.
“I went through a world war and grew up at a time of austerity but it was a golden age of music – proper songs, which tell a story in 32 bars.
“I enjoy sharing this music with the listeners on my radio programme The Collection”.
He has been presenting the show as a volunteer for 11 years, having started his radio career at the age of 74 after being talent spotted by the station at an event in Cotgrave Parish Church.
“John was the after-dinner entertainment when we attended the Mayor of Rushcliffe’s charity dinner.
“He stood on a little stage with two CD players, playing the songs and telling us all about the music,” says 103 The Eye executive director Patrick Mccracken.
“I thought – this is a radio show, a visual one, so when he’d finished we asked him if he’d like to start doing a radio show on our station and he has done so ever since.” Shortly after John began doing the show, he received an email from a listener who had known him for many years saying: “I’m so pleased you have finally acheived your lifelong ambition of doing a radio show”. John features music from stage and screen, mainly from the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s and has an encyclopaedic knowledge of the artists and songs. John learnt how to do audio editing on the computer, and he built his radio studio himself. Retired from the timber trade, he still enjoys doing woodwork in his workshop in Saxondale. John’s show is broadcast on 103 The Eye on Sunday evenings at 9pm and repeated on Wednesdays at 10 pm.
The station broadcasts on 103 FM and on the internet, and itself celebrates its 15th birthday on November 1.
It is the first community radio station in the UK to have launched in 2005, under the then new tier of radio licensed by Ofcom.