Emperor Rosko

I seem to have an alarming amount of records made by Deejays.
Most of them are comedy or novelty records of course, but not all.
If you are under 30 this post will probably mean nothing to you because you may not know who I’m talking about.

For the rest of you Emperor Rosko (real name Mike Pasternak)was a DJ who Broadcast on BBC Radio one in the 70`s and based his presentation style of Wolfman Jack.

I can’t think of any other presenter who sounded like him on mainstream UK radio back then, so he was like a breath of fresh air to me. I loved his delivery and American style Jingles and whilst others were spinning Gary Glitter and the Osmonds, his playlist  seemed to include far more “hip” and trendy soul classics.
With the possible exception of Friday night when he hosted Roskos Round Table. A weekly review of new releases with famous guests spouting their opinion on forthcoming releases.

He released several Atlantic Souls Classic compilation albums and the track listings included some of the greatest records ever made with such artists as Aretha Franklin to Otis Redding.
They were segued together like a radio show & presented by Rosko himself complete with Jingles and all.

I’m not sure his style has stood the test of time, to be honest I think I would find him slightly annoying nowadays, but it does bring back good memories and the music included on these albums are still stunning to this day.

A sample of his presentation style from the albums is included below.

60s Radio Jingles

Radio Jingles have changed quite a lot over the years, nowadays all you get is the station indent repeated over and over by voices that range from a Barry White sound alike to a small choir boy on helium.

But in the 60s and 70s you got a full American Barber shop quartet singing the introduction to the weather report in what now sounds quite kitsch. The only thing that ever came close to those over the top produced jingles from the past were the home made ones by Kenny Everett. I have some of those on tape somewhere as well and if i get chance to transfer them over onto MP3 i'll bore you all with them.

I have no idea where this record came from (honest) or why I have it in my collection, but these classic jingles crack me up.

They remind me of Radio One, Radio Caroline, Radio Luxembourg, and many other 60`s and 70`s radio stations of this era
Favourite of the bunch “Drive carefully, ‘cause we love you”
Bring back jingles like this, that’s what I say, they jolt as many memories as the records played between them.

Mobile DJ 1979

It’s 1979 and I’m doing my first gig as a DJ. This was long before Pete Tong and Judge Jules. I’m not playing to a crowd of thousands at the Ministry of Sound. This is upstairs in a pub for a silver wedding anniversary to about 30 people. No banging house music or hip hop, it’s the Nolans I’m in the mood for dancing and Gloria Gaynor i will survive.

The first Record I play is Heart of Glass by Blondie, the extended 12” version so I can go for a wee after spending hours setting up two speakers and a state of the art lighting system that comprises of a rope light, an ultraviolet strip light and a set of traffic lights. Spectacular I think you’ll agree. Although there were problems with the ultraviolet light. When the happy couple came up to make a speech it made her white dress look see through revealing bra and big pants to the world.

One of the things about being a DJ is learning to have a thick skin. One night It can be a disaster, the next it’s brilliant. On the nights it goes down badly you tell yourself that you will never, ever, do it again. But I did do it again so my first time must have been ok, I don’t really remember.
There were only two types of mobile DJ back then. The personality DJ and the music DJ.

I was more into the music, only talked when I had to, and concentrated on trying to pick the right records to play, in order to keep things going. But I did know others who had the gift of the gab. They were more performers than DJs. They could play almost anything they wanted and still keep the party swinging, they played games, made jokes, talked the punters to death over the mike and generally annoyed the hell out everyone Although I admired this kind of DJ for his work. In reality I thought most of them were tossers. I know this because when I moved away from playing records to selling them I had to deal with a lot of them on a daily basis and they could be just as bad without the aid of a microphone. I have to say not all of them were like that , Just say, about, 99%. Give me a music loving DJ any time (But more on that some other time)

I did quite a few parties, weddings, birthdays & pubs for a while before I was given the opportunity to work in a club. I dropped the Nolans and Blondie. It was New Order Blue Monday and Frankie Goes to Hollywood Relax. I stopped ending the night on Gerry and the Pacemakers You’ll never walk alone (common as muck) and moved on to Frank Sinatra New York New York (a touch of class). Another downside to being a DJ has to be that you are playing for an audience. It’s not what you want to hear, it’s what they want to dance to. As I remember thinking once when I slipped on Goombay Dance Band Seven Tears.