Island Life Magazine Ltd August/September 2007 | Page 44

life WAVE 105 the isle of wight’s best variety of hits It all began with Luxembourg radio John Clayton At about the age of 7, John was given a tiny transistor radio for his birthday present, from his music loving Dad. Each night, John took it to bed with him and started listening to Radio Luxembourg at night, when he was meant to be sleeping! This was the start of John’s love affair with radio. As John got older, he started listening to Radio One and Capital Radio and became a big fan of Peter Powell, Mike Read and Mike Smith. Soon he began ‘broadcasting’ Bedroom FM to anyone who happened to be in the house at the time. This lead to hospital radio and eventually the big break! Following a speculative visit to his local commercial radio station – Essex Radio, John found himself on air that night, broadcasting from 2am to 6am. In no time at all, the Programmer of the station, noticed John’s talent and flair and he got given Weekend Afternoons. This was perfect for John, since he loved covering John Clayton is here with the evening Show every weekday from 4pm. 44 the Sport on a Saturday afternoon and continued working at his ‘proper’ job, training as an accountant for a large investment bank in the City of London. Then came John’s big break. The phone call he had been waiting for from Keith Pringle, the Programme Director appointed at the brand new radio station for London, Heart 106.2. John was given the weekend overnights, quickly moving to weekend afternoons and daytime cover / swing presenter. During this time John completed his accountancy exams. From here Johns radio career took him from Heart London, onto Wave 105, where he poached to present at rivals Ocean FM. John then took a sabbatical from Radio and started travelling the world with his full time job until after several requests from radio bosses persuaded him that ‘he really should get back into radio.’ After having the first of his 2 children, John did precisely that and started working weekends in Kent. Soon, after more badgering from his Programming Director he resigned from the ‘real’ job and took over drivetime in Kent, only to then end up back at Wave 105. John is married with 2 fantastically challenging children. They are both (almost) at school (the youngest to start in September). The family have moved into the area, near Winchester and loving life on the South coast. So much of John’s time is now taken up with decorating the new house and still emptying boxes. In addition to all this, John is a fanatical West Ham supporter and tries to get to see them as often as he can. He also plays football, tennis and played squash until his wife almost killed him with a delicious hit in the eye!! Does John regret leaving the City life? No, not at all, Radio is really what I always wanted to do, from the day that my Dad gave me that tiny transistor radio and I illegally sneaked it under the bed covers! That’s where it all began…….. As for the show… Well John has been on evenings for nearly 2 years now. During that time, the show has evolved and has numerous interactive features. Each night, a cabbie from the region is invited to take part and choose a favourite song. In return they also get a certificate to proudly display in the office of their cab, along with getting a chance to win the chance of a flight on the Wave 105 Bournemouth eye. Additionally, Johns listeners get to influence the music that gets played on the show, by way of voting for the single of the week. All this coupled with the Chill out tune and late night love songs from 11pm, including a chance to win that romantic dinner for 2!! In addition John adds his own slant on life and gets the region talking on a number of subjects, including ‘ what’s the point of skimmed milk’ or ‘Why do you have to book a hair appointment for your 4 year old boy’ Feel free to join the fun from 8pm each night, Monday to Thursday, or join John for Sunday afternoons, where you get to choose the music. Why not mail John and start taking part, go to his page at the website, Wave105.com Email John: [email protected] Island Life - www.islandlife.tv