RADIO LUXEMBOURG : 2-08 METRES ON THE MEDIUM WAVE

 

At the beginning of the new decade of what would become to be known as “The swinging sixties” I was twelve years old, studying classical piano with local music teacher, Elsa J Baird, had my own rock band and was really into music. I well remember  lying in bed at midnight with my transistor radio firmly clasped to my ear [no parents allowed] listening to the Radio Luxemburg 208 DJ's playing the Top Twenty records from the 'Hit Parade'. Well, the BBC wouldn't play them.

 

Songs by artistes like Johnny Burnette, Johnny Preston, Johnny Cash, Johnny Ray,  Johnny Kidd & The Pirates, Johnny Tillotson, Johnny Leyton, and Johnny Presley were top of the pops, and were the records we played at our 'Record Hops' in the local Community halls. Of course I must confess to making that last named singer up. He was actually called Elvis [with a name like that I thought he wouldn't make it big], but Johnnies really were greatly in vogue at the time.

 

For all that I loved the Hit Parade, there was something else which caught my ear as I listened in. At 2am Radio Luxembourg ceased transmitting and signing off with a beautifully sweet number called At The End of the Day sung by a singer from the forties and fifties called Steve Conway. I later discovered that  At the End of the Day  had been used for over 30 years by Radio Luxembourg as their signing off record after each night's transmission and always followed by that country's National Anthem .

 

Steve Conway from London [who died at only 31 years of age] had a unique voice, however the sound which affected me more was the beautiful 60 piece Hastings Girls' choir singing the introduction which began:

 

‘Thank you Lord,  Thank you Lord            At the end of the day....‘.

 

In later years I searched out and found the Steve Conway LP and found out to my delight that the choir had been included on many other tracks, including numbers such as Bless This House.

 

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