Carl Kingston and I were but schoolboys when we first met, largely thanks to Radio 270. We both shared two great loves – music and radio and we both had – ‘The Admiral’ Robbie Dale as our original DJ hero.
As Carl told the Caroline audience during his last show on 7th September, I repaired family radiogram the day we met and we then spent all day talking about music, radio and girls. A year or so later, I was working as a DJ (while still at school) and Carl came along to see me in action at the Skyline Ballroom in Hull and told me he was also going to become a DJ. He was just 16 when he set up his own Mobile Discotheque and later as a club resident DJ.
My own period on Radio Caroline sparked Carl to switch to radio and he did pogrammes for BBC Radio Humberside but was still a 100% dyed in the wool offshore anorak, regularly attending radio meetings and conventions. A meeting with Peter van Dam, a Dutch DJ on Caroline’s Dutch service, Radio Mi Amigo, led to him doing a weekly insert of all the latest pop music news from the UK. There was no better man for the role, as Carl had religiously devoured every pop music publication there was and his knowledge of the music scene was encyclopaedical.
Carl’s club DJ skills were soon snapped up by the biggest agencies in Europe and, when only 19, he began appearing at clubs across Europe. After falling in love his new bride Sue even took up a career herself as a DJ, on the European club circuit. I think she must have said “If you can’t beat ‘em, join em”.
Music and radio were the key things in his life; he had no time for hobbies, he rarely drank, didn’t do drugs, smoke or any other kind of chemical stimulant, because music and radio were all he needed.
While working in Norway he visited the studios of the NRK and was given a regular programme. His first experience of living offshore was on the Voice of Peace, where Carl learned real radio from, the late Howard Rose, better known then as Crispian St John. Carl would want me to say that he learned most he knew about radio presentation from Howard, a true master of the craft.
After his ‘Mediterranean cruise’, Carl found himself at a long list of radio stations, including Viking Radio in Hull and Radio Aire in Leeds where he stayed the longest – 23 years – nearly ¼ of a century.
One of his colleagues was the much-missed Peter Tait, who had been offered a job on Radio Caroline’s new ship, the Grimsby trawler Ross Revenge. Peter had got the job because his colleague Dale Winton had turned it down and he got Carl’s demo tape heard by the new station manager, Anne Challis. Carl went out to the ship in September 1983, one of the first new hires for the relaunched Caroline.
At last, Carl was where we knew he belonged – among a glittering galaxy of radio super-stars that included Andy Archer, Dixie Peach, and Paul MacKenna. Carl was an instant hit with Caroline listeners with his easy-going, but factual and precise delivery, couples with his love of a wide range of music. He was in radio heaven.
In the 1980s, Carl decided to try his hand in the “Land of Milk and Honey” – the United States. He chose a station in a capital city. It wasn’t to be Washington DC, but Sacramento, the capital of California. There at Magic 1380 KSMJ, Carl made many life-long friends.
On returning to the UK Carl was heard on many more stations, including Hereward , Minster FM in our very own capital city, York. as well as Stray FM Home FM, Alpha FM in Darlington, and more. In the 90s, Carl was recruited for The SuperStation, a national service headed by Richard Branson.
Holding down a full-length daily strip (that’s a radio-business term for a daily show, and not always descriptive of the DJs state of dress) was never enough for Carl, who could easily keep it up for 4 and 5 hours, while others would be drained after two hours on the air. Carl relished radio, and supplied programmes by tape, and later “down the line”, from Moldova on the Black Sea, via Blue Danube Radio in Vienna, to Radio Seagull, where he also did a couple of cruises for them too. Carl his shows were also popular at 99-WSFW in Seneca Falls, New York.
And yet still Carl had more to give. He dearly wanted his own radio station, so he took off to Spain with Sue and the boys, where he set up Spectrum FM on the Costa Calida. There were to be many more stations, from Thailand to Dallas where he recently started a daily show. but Carl’s life is now looking like a lengthy relationship with the old-style radio dials. Which is, in many ways, it was. If he had lived to be a thousand, Carl would have kept the same ambition – to be heard on every radio station around the world. The world would have been a much better place for that.
But Carl wasn’t just a radio person, performing hours of endless links. He was also a full member of Equity and was often seen ‘on screen’ in various TV shows, including, of course, Emmerdale Farm shot in his then home city of Leeds. He also appeared in many TV commercials and made hundreds of commercials in his career as a voice-over artiste; And Carl wasn’t just “jumping on the bandwagon”, as many artists have done these days. Carl was doing commercials over forty years ago.
But when he want heard on the radio or appear in TV, Carl was deeply involved in planning various new services and programmes, and helping his friends, and colleagues achieve their goals of getting that vital ‘big break’ into radio. Many well-known names of today are where they are now thanks to Carl’s unceasing generosity in encouraging new talent. Young wanna-be DJs were invited to join him at the studio and shown the ropes.
Carl knew that it is so important to nurture and guide young radio personalities, and help wherever possible – all DJs PDs and others in radio should heed Carl’s work very carefully. Some who do recognise the enormous help that Carl gave them are Chris Moyles, who was a Radio 1 breakfast DJ and still does the same shift on Radio X each morning. He began his career as a young teenager going into Radio Aire to help Carl answer the phones and make the tea. In his autobiography, Chris openly acknowledged that vital “fanning of the spark” that Carl gave and jump-starting his career.
Likewise Stephanie Hirst, who became infatuated with our noble industry after being encouraged as a 12 year old by Carl, leading to a glittering career including Viking Radio, Radio Aire and more recently thee BBC’s national channels. Steve Marshall too, who got into the industry after Carl put in a word for him at a DJ agency in Switzerland and helped to kick-start his career in radio. All these marvellous people share Carl’s help in common, and they have remained life-long friends. As Steve says: “Carl was a lover of life, good food, good friends, and most of all great radio”
When he settled in Switzerland some years ago, Carl installed ISDN lines, meaning he was at last able to broadcast live from home. Now everyone does it, but Carl was one of the pioneers.
And it wasn’t only radio folk who Carl helped. When Putin invaded Ukraine, Carl decided to do his bit and help the refugee mums and young children who fled to the west, not only helping them apply for citizen papers but also putting them up in his flat. I’m not talking an odd one or two refugees, but usually two or three plus their children too.
Carl and I have been involved in a new type of radio station in the last year or two and he was full of determination and positivity for the future. Carl worked tirelessly and would help anyone, but sadly he ignored his own health problems. He had been looking forward to taking part in a weekend of commemorative broadcasts from the Radio Caroline ship in September and flew over from Switzerland but sadly, he was very ill. Those who knew him well could hear it in his voice; although to the casual listener, they would never realise that anything was wrong. Carl was the complete professional and believed in radiating only happiness and joy.
That Carl made that last broadcast, among some friends and colleagues and his all-time favourite, Radio Caroline, will have been a comfort to him. The world is a much sadder place without Carl, and many will miss him, some for his direct help, many for his genuine friendship, and many thousands more, for his dulcet tones and his companionship on the radio.
September 2024 Paul Rusling
