15 janvier 1943: Alan Black

Alan Black was born in Rosyth on 15th January 1943 and had previously worked as a commercial artist.

He entered a competition organised by Radio Scotland and The Daily Record to find a new broadcaster and won a job on the station, joining in time for its launch at Hogmanay 1965. Radio Scotland broadcast from a former lightship, the Comet, then anchored in the Firth of Forth. In September 1966 Alan travelled south to join “Swinging” Radio England but it closed down soon after his arrival. He stayed aboard the ship working for its sweet music sister station, Britain Radio. This was relaunched as Radio 355 the following year and Alan continued to broadcast on this new station. According to the Offshore Radio Themes web site, Alan used Flamingo by Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass and, later, Wooden Heart by the Gary Blake Orchestra as theme tunes. Radio 355 closed down just ahead of the introduction of the Marine Offences Act. A highly proficient cartoonist, Alan then worked on the Beatles animated film Yellow Submarine. He continued to broadcast for many years on Radio One and was one of the presenters of Sounds Of The Seventies and In Concert. His cartoons also appeared in Radio Times. For a couple of examples of Alan's cartooning skills, see Jack Curtiss' memorabilia page. After his time at Radio One, Alan worked for Polydor Records but eventually turned his back on the music business. When the Radio England reunion took place in May 2006, Alan was not able to attend because of poor health. Only his closest friends knew how seriously ill he was and he died in March 2007. There is an excellent obituary in The Independent. The Pirate Radio Hall Of Fame's tribute is here. (With many thanks to Raoul Verolleman for this photo. There is another picture of Alan in Look Boden's photo album and a more recent one, taken in 2005, here.)

Alan Black on Radio Scotland from an afternoon in March 1966. Tape kindly provided by John Lilley (duration 2 minutes 41 seconds)
Alan Black, along with Tony Windsor, introducing a live session from American singer José Feliciano in July 1967. Despite Alan's comment about this being the first live session on offshore radio, it was actually the second. See the entry on Simon Dee for an extract from the very first. Tape kindly provided by John Aston. José performed in John's cabin because there was not enough room in the studio (duration 2 minutes 24 seconds)
Alan Black during the last ever programme on Radio 355, 5th August 1967. All the presenters talked about their careers, paid tribute to their colleagues, past and present, and said goodbye to the listeners. This is an edited version of Alan's section of the show. Tape kindly provided by Nick Widdows (duration 2 minutes 9 seconds)

Thanks to Michael Wickham for this Tony Blackburn Yawners Club membership card.