Dream job awaits for DJ after 50 years of broadcasting to an audience of one
THE Deke Duncan Show on Radio 77 had it all – songs from the hit parade, bouncy jingles and a DJ passionate about his craft. It also had the smallest audience in Britain. Namely, his wife.
Although he dreamt of being a professional DJ like his heroes on Radio Caroline, Mr Duncan did not have a licence. Every Sunday, he would retreat to his garden shed in Gonville Crescent, Stevenage, to present his show, making regular dedications to “Mrs Teresa Duncan” as she did the housework a few feet away. The studio was hooked up via a cable to a speaker in their sitting room.
He continued playing records even as the audience disappeared – when Mrs Duncan popped out to the shops.
So seriously did he take the station that between records, he would play adverts for the fictitious 77 Record Store and read out local news bulletins. In 1974, he was featured on the BBC’S
Nationwide programme and said: “My ultimate ambition would be to broadcast to the rest of Stevenage.”
Forty-four years later, his dream is about to come true. After the Nation
wide clip reappeared on the BBC Archives Twitter feed last month, Mr Duncan was tracked down by BBC Three Counties radio and offered his own one-off show broadcasting to listeners in Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire. The hour-long show will air this Christmas. The 73-year-old is delighted, albeit wistful that the offer didn’t come when he was in his prime. “I just wish they could have done this when I was 29. I’m old now,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
He founded Radio 77 in 1968 in response to the demise of Radio Caroline, his favourite station. “It was magic. I wanted to be a DJ but there was nowhere to go after that so I thought, ‘I’ll make my own show’.” In 1974, after getting married, he moved into Gonville Crescent and set up the shed, running a cable under the lawn to the solitary speaker. The “77” name came from a jingle that he purchased as part of a job lot from a defunct American station.
He now lives in Stockport, Greater Manchester, and retirement means he has more time to devote to the station.
He still broadcasts – to his second wife, Pamela. “She loves it. She’s my biggest fan,” he said.