Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2010/January 2011 | Page 56

interview

Island Life - December 2010

Photos: Alex pictured in the production studio with his
producer Alun Newman. Inset Alun Newman.
Right: Nadine Jukeson
Right: Alex working away on the 7:30am Red Funnel
Ferry on his way to work. Right BBC Radio Solent weather
presenter Sam Fraser.

already had 10 years experience as a DJ
under his belt.
Alex’s next significant step up the
radio ladder was working for Radio
Luxembourg in their Mayfair studio in
London, while living in Twickenham. He
stayed there a year before moving back
to the south coast to join Ocean South
in Fareham, which was later split into
Ocean FM and Gold AM stations.
He spent nearly five years at the
station, working on both networks,
before returning to the Island to work
for what was then a recently opened
commercial station. But at the same
time he was still spreading his talents
far and wide, doing recorded shows
for a variety of stations and rubbing
shoulders with many top performing
artists including Edwin Starr and Leo
Sayer while appearing at such venues
as Southampton and Portsmouth Guild
Halls.
But it was during his lengthy stint
on the Island’s radio station that Alex
became renowned for his controversial
and outspoken style, particularly in
his daily phone-in programme which
gained the best ever listening figures
in the history of the station. He also
hosted a late night talk show, as well as
introducing the popular Soul Show and
later the equally popular ‘Bubble Gum
and Cheese’ show.
“The local radio station was
networked with 27 other radio stations
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spreading from Falkirk in Scotland to
Sunderland and Harrogate, and right
down to the south coast. So many
of the shows I was doing were being
heard nationwide,” he recalls.
After switching briefly to the Island’s
first internet radio station, Alex and
his family finally fulfilled their lifelong
dream in March last year when they
moved to the United States, living in
a town aptly named Celebration in
Florida.
“The whole family moved over there,
including the dog, and we rented a
house out there for a year. I began
work with ESPN Radio doing talk shows,
and was still doing a bit of work for the
digital station over here that I helped
set up. I am sure that type of radio will
happen big time one day, but perhaps it
was just a bit too early,” he says.
After a year in the United States Alex
and his family decided it was time
to return to the Island. “It was for a
combination of reasons. The economy
over there was very bad, something
you wouldn’t see in Disney World
or Universal Studios, but something
you were very much aware of if you
were living around the edges. We
were seeing people who had been
millionaires coming out of the place
with just two suit cases – that’s how
bad it got.
“We were doing OK, and had rented
out our house in the UK for three years.

But after a year the people who rented
it moved on. So the house here was
empty, and it was going to take a lot
of money just to come back and sort
things out- and what would we do with
the dog while we were away?”
At the same time Alex was aware that
the BBC had shown a lot of interest
in his ‘Bubble Gum and Cheese’
programme, and when he was offered
the chance to present it on Radio Solent
it proved too good an offer to turn
down.
So a year after leaving for the States,
he was back on the south coast
radio station where he began his
broadcasting career as a raw novice
some 26 years earlier. Initially his show
went out each Saturday, but when the
mid-morning slot at Solent became
available he successfully applied for it,
and took up the position in September.
“The show is a combination of music
and talk, and a lot of people do phone
in. And the good thing is that because
there are no commercials in between,
we get more air time. As far as work is
concerned I really couldn’t be happier,
and I am so glad I am with Solent to
celebrate their 40th anniversary this
year.” he added.

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