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-= Capital. Radio - Chris Tarrant -=
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Capital Radio DJs have been "in on. it" from the start. One of the first
things I heard. in the summer of 1990 was from a Capital DJ who said, "If
he. listens to Capital then he can't be all bad" (supportive, you see. We're
not bastards). Much of what came. over the radio in 1990 is now so far away
the precise details have been obliterated by. time. No diary was kept of the
details, and although archives if they exist may. give pointers, the
ambiguity of what. broadcasters said would leave that open to
re-interpretation.
In spring. 1994, Chris Tarrant on his Capital morning show made an aside to
someone else in the studio, about a person he. didn't identify. He said,
"You know. this bloke? He says we're trying to kill him. We should be done
for. attempted manslaughter".
That mirrored something I had. said a day or two before. What Tarrant said
was. understood by the staff member in the studio he was saying it to; they
said, "Oh no, don't say that" to Tarrant. If any archives exist. of the
morning show (probably unlikely) then it could be found there; what. he said
was so out of context that he would be very hard put to find an. explanation.
A couple of days later, someone at the site where I. was working repeated the
remark although in. a different way; they said there had been people in a
computer room when. automatic fire extinguishers went off and those people
were "thinking. of suing for attempted manslaughter".
Finally, this isn't confined to the established. radio stations. In 1990
after I had listened to a pirate radio station in South London. for about
half an hour, there was an audible. phone call in the background, followed
by total silence for a few moments, then. shrieks of laughter. "So what are
we supposed to say now? Deadly torture? He's going to talk to us. now, isn't
he?", which meant that they could hear what I would say in my. room.
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