109: David Lloyd - Trent, Leic Sound, Lincs FM, Radio Authority, Century, Galaxy, LBC, Virgin, Orion

This is a secret episode!

Over the course of this series, several folk have asked whether I’d (David Lloyd) ever be interviewed. Several luminaries kindly volunteered to interview me. Given the calibre of all the other subjects, I felt reticent. But – with lockdown and also passing 100 episodes - I thought I might succumb.

I invited my oldest friend, Mark Runacus MBE to pose the questions. He and I met at hospital radio and he went on to accomplish a huge amount in the ad world. Radio missed his talents. He has been a wonderful friend.

In this hour of Radio Moments Conversations, I talk about my journey from shy anorak to radio station manager and regulator.

I open up about my childhood, the excitement of hospital radio and the glee of my first gig at Nottingham’s Radio Trent, before moving on to management at a troubled Leicester Sound. Then, walking out the door in tears to no job, I tell of the unexpected task of establishing Lincs FM. Equally unexpected, I was recruited to the then regulator, the Radio Authority where I helped both to licence and reprimand radio stations.

Moving from there to run the music and speech regional Century brand for Border TV, before crossing to Chrysalis to seize the reins of a couple of the Galaxy stations, London then beckoned and a wonderful stint at the helm of LBC, before leaving as it became part of the foundation for Global Radio. Down the road in Golden Square, I moved to programme and market Virgin Radio and help manage the brand transition to Absolute.

The most recent chapter saw me at Orion Media, where we bought and then sold a handful of major market commercial stations including BRMB, Gem 106 and Beacon.

In my own words – this is my story.

There’s a much better account of all this – and everything that surrounds it in our mad radio world in my book Radio Moments: Fifty years of radio – Life on the Inside.

Hear the whole ‘Radio Moments Conversations’ series here – and sign up for the regular podcast for this ongoing series. Music by Larry Bryant.