Crunch & Roll

This is part 2 of Foxy's chat with former presenter, producer, music guru, TV bloke and pop-quiz-question-setter.
The first part is available now, but if you're up to date, prepare to hear about how he was probably responsible for popularising some of the most annoying songs of the early 00s; how TV wasn't for him; and how he came to be part of the most listened to feature on UK radio every day.
 
Support Crunch & Roll: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll
 
Listen to Ten to the Top, every weekday morning with Vernon Kaye on Radio 2, or catch up with on the podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06q6h18/episodes/downloads
Test your own level of music geekery with Lee's book, The Official Charts' Music Quiz Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Charts-Music-Quiz-Book/dp/1789295017
 

People often ask how we choose our guests. The answer is quite simple. People who've had varied and interesting careers and have a good story to tell. And it always helps if we know them.
So getting this episode's guest on was a no-brainer.
Lee Thompson has been a presenter, producer, author, head of music, TV guy... and is now part of the most listened to feature on UK radio.
He tells a bloody good story, and he has plenty of them from working at Metro, Viking, Radio 2, Box TV and more.
In this, the first of two parts, he chats to Foxy about how he heard the "phenomenal" demo of a 16 year old, future radio star; chatting with one of the 90s most iconic stars; and getting sacked from a radio station in Wales for doing something truly mad!
Look out for part two, coming very soon.
 
Support Crunch & Roll: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll
 
Listen to Ten to the Top, every weekday morning with Vernon Kaye on Radio 2, or catch up with on the podcast: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06q6h18/episodes/downloads
Test your own level of music geekery with Lee's book, The Official Charts' Music Quiz Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Official-Charts-Music-Quiz-Book/dp/1789295017
 

This is part two of Foxy's chat with the brilliant Allan Lake.
Part one is available now, if you want to hear his origin story.
In this episode he chats about how a cow nearly got his employers evicted from their studios; losing his "dream job"; and how the tragic death of a good friend and colleague affected him.
 
Support Crunch & Roll: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll
 

As Oscar Wild almost once said, "To lose one job may be regarded as a misfortune, to lose several looks like carelessness."
John Fox's guest on this episode admits to getting sacked a lot. He also admits he struggles with "where the line is". There could be a correlation...
Allan Lake is a brilliant, one-of-a-kind radio presenter. Lesser presenters would have sunk without trace after the feature that lost him his first job, but Allan came back stronger after every set back.
He has a CV many of us could only dream of: Capital, Absolute, Power FM, Red Dragon, Galaxy, Viking... 
One of the most notable entries on his CV though was his iconic Capital Disney evening show. And where do you go after entertaining the kids, that's right, a porn station! He'll make it make sense.
This is the first of another two-parter, in which he talks about accidentally taking the radio station off air before his first ever show; how he was hidden from a group PD; and what might explain his penchant for pushing things just that little bit too far.
Look out for the second episode soon.
 
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We've heard lots of reasons why people get into radio on this podcast. Often it stems from a childhood obsession, starting with good old Bedroom FM, then maybe doing mobile discos, hospital radio and what have you... It's almost a calling.
For the guest of this episode though, that really wasn't the case. She just wanted to dress up as her local radio station's mascot!
After realising her ambition, she then went on to become one of the most heard voices on UK radio.
Sally Bailey presented the ubiquitous, showbiz evening show Music Control.
She also had iconic stints on Galaxy and Red Dragon, forming memorable double-acts with with Kam Kelly and Kevin Hughes. In fact, if you were to say "Kam and..." or "Kevin and..." to a generation of radio people they'd all know the only acceptable response is "Sally".
These days, Sally is one of the hardest-working and most recognisable voiceovers in the UK, as well as doing a daily show on Virgin Radio Chilled.
In this episode hear about how she worked for free for a ridiculously long time; which global mega-star made her cry; and who she did an "abysmal" demo with to try and get on Capital.
 
Sally's on Virgin Radio Chilled, weekdays 10-2: https://virginradio.co.uk/play/virginradiochilled
Hear some classic Kam and Sally here, including their very first episode: https://www.aircheckdownloads.com/uk-airchecks/corecontrol/2000s/kam-sally-first-show-sept-2nd-2002-723
Sally's voiceover website: https://www.bristolvoiceover.co.uk/
 
Help keep the Crunch & Roll episodes coming, and support us on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll

This is the second part of John Fox's chat with Manchester radio stalwart Adam Cole.
Catch up on part one if you've not heard it yet...
... because this episode he swaps Moss Side for Miami.
Hear about how this hot jock ended up reading the news; presenting a breakfast show with his boss; and probably the most uncompassionate and brutal sacking we've ever heard about ("In for a penny, I've got nothing to lose").
It's a rollercoaster.
 
Adam’s current project is the spiky upstart in the MCR radio market, and it’s rather good. Have a listen: https://www.thisisthebuzz.com/
Here’s some classic Cole cuts: https://aircheckdownloads.com/audio-search?term=adam+cole&sort_bef_combine=relevance_DESC
 
Help keep the Crunch & Roll episodes coming, and support us on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll
 

shaft
/ʃɑːft/
verb
past tense: shafted; past participle: shafted
vulgar slang, informal
treat (someone) harshly or unfairly.
 
There are moments in some people’s career where they’re riding on the crest of a wave and an exciting new challenge comes along and tempts them away with promises that are too good to say no to.
Then… see above.
Adam Cole is a stalwart of the Manchester radio scene and has been for a very long time. In fact, he’s worked at every major station in the market there, and at one notable example FOUR times.
His Galaxy breakfast show was legendary, hugely successful and multi award-winning.
And it’s probably his success there that set the scene for what was to come.
In this episode we find out why he got sacked from hospital radio, which legend he eagerly got CDs out for before his breakfast show, and hear about a wind up call that went a bit too well.
This is the first of two episodes with Adam – look out for the second on this feed very soon.
 
Adam’s current project is the spiky upstart in the MCR radio market, and it’s rather good. Have a listen: https://www.thisisthebuzz.com/
Here’s some classic Cole cuts: https://aircheckdownloads.com/audio-search?term=adam+cole&sort_bef_combine=relevance_DESC
 
Help keep the Crunch & Roll episodes coming, and support us on Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll
 

Some of our guests dip their toe in the exotic world of overseas radio but end up gravitating back to the UK. We get the impression that Ian Camfield though, would rather lose a limb than return home.
He's and XFM legend - there from the start and through the glory days which we hard about in part one of this two-parter. In this second part though, we cross the pond to the good ol' US of A where we hear the crazy circumstances of how he got his first gig over there; the cut-throat world of American radio; and a man called Don Belucas.
Ian's on Alt 103.7 in Dallas which you might find tricky to listen to outside America, so if you want to hear him, get some of these classic Camfield cuts in your ears: https://aircheckdownloads.com/audio-search?term=ian+camfield&sort_bef_combine=relevance_DESC
And he's got his own fancy website: https://iancamfield.com/
 
Follow Crunch & Roll on Bluesky for the heads up on future episodes and exclusive clips: https://bsky.app/profile/crunchnroll.bsky.social
And you can support the pod on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll

Some of our guests dip their toe in the exotic world of overseas radio but end up gravitating back to the UK. We get the impression that Ian Camfield though would rather lose a limb than return home.
He's and XFM legend - there from the start and through the glory days - but plies his trade in the US nowadays... but more of that in part two.
In part one we concentrate on the Camfield origin story, including which Radio One behemoth invited him into his (very loud) studio when he was just aged eight, and started him on his stellar career trajectory. Also find out how the stigma of working on a certain station almost meant his XFM dream died before it had even started, and which kings-of-rock asked him to help get their personal trainer a US visa.
This is part one of two, so keep an eye out for the second on this very feed.
Ian's on Alt 103.7 in Dallas which you might find tricky to listen to outside America, so if you want to hear him, get some of these classic Camfield cuts in your ears: https://aircheckdownloads.com/audio-search?term=ian+camfield&sort_bef_combine=relevance_DESC
And he's got his own fancy website: https://iancamfield.com/
 
Follow Crunch & Roll on Bluesky for the heads up on future episodes and exclusive clips: https://bsky.app/profile/crunchnroll.bsky.social
And you can support the pod on Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll

Hey man! It's Griffo!
For those of you not familiar with Griffo's work, he's a legend of the airwaves in North Wales and Yorkshire. He's tighter than a gnat's chuff and has a voice that Morgan Freeman would kill for.
As one former boss told him in a snoop, "You make my station sound BIG"!
Foxy's know Griffo for almost a quarter of a century having worked with him at V*king FM, so he has some stories to hit him with off the bat. And there's plenty of stuff he didn't know about too, including how he got his first break on air at 16; how an engineer fell on him mid-link; and there's a classic instance of a laissez-faire interpretation of GDPR with regards Phonebox.
He also reads out a memo sent by an eccentric MD in 1999, subject line: Men's Toilets. It's INCREDIBLE.
 
Griffo's website: https://griffomedia.com/
Classic Griffo: https://www.aircheckdownloads.com/audio-search?term=griffo&sort_bef_combine=relevance_DESC
Twitter: https://x.com/GriffoMedia
 
Support Crunch & Roll: https://ko-fi.com/crunchandroll