Aircheck Legends
For Roger Scott - offshore jock (real name Greg Bance),, please see clarification in red at the foot of this page. Thanks. Ed
Profile: Roger Scott: Born in London on 23rd October 1943, it was some twenty or so years later after the peak of The Beatles success, when Roger arrived on the UK radio scene. In 1965 he was a merchant seaman, and this is where he found his interest in radio - there wasn't a lot more to do but listen to a transistor, particularly short wave broadcast. But he really learnt the radio ropes in America. Having sat down to read the UK Sunday papers, he was interested in getting into commercial radio. So, off he went to Albany's WPTR in the April of 1966, and a year later with Montreal's CFOX in Canada, later another station in Halifax, Nova Scotia, , before returning back to Montreal in a programme director role - becoming one of the few UK jocks to work the other side of the Atlantic. He was highly influential on a score of US radio jocks, in particular Boom Boom Branigan and Bob Baker. At CFOX he presented a show each day for a week live from the hotel in which John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their 'bedsit' - the Queen Elizabeth hotel - where, in the following year, the music legends wrote the accapella anthem 'Give Peace A Chance'. Roger actually contributed to the percussion of the recording by using bits of the room furniture.
Following his return to the UK, he didn't fire straight into radio, spending time with Associated Newspapers (who themselves had an interest in running a radio station). As with many reputable names, Roger built up his UK experience on the factory-based United Biscuits Network, based in Harlesden - a move he made in 1970 when the Conservative Government promised the arrival of commercial radio. At the same time, he was dipping his toes in the production side, putting together syndicated radio programmes for the US and Australia. As early as the beginning of the decade, independent local radio (ILR) was being talked about. But, Roger first appeared on UK radio under what most would call a pseudonym - Bob Baker. It was just before the start of his stint at London's Capital Radio that he first used this name, perhaps to protect what was to lie ahead, on Radio 1 - the name being taken from a former Canadian colleague. In 1973, at Radio 1, he hosted a series of four week blocks of airtime each Saturday.
The commercial ILR industry started in the UK with London's Capital Radio in 1973 shortly afterwards. Roger became one of the original team of jocks, becoming well known for regular features 'The Hitline' and 'The 3 o'clock Thrill' as much as those who wandered around singing his 'Grab a piece of heaven' jingle which was incessantly catchy when heard on the Weekday afternoon slot. 'The 3 o'clock Thrill' was introduced by the playing of the B-side of the Kalin Twins' 1958 hit 'When'.
A notable moment in Roger's career was in 1976, when he dusted off recorded material from Liquorice John Death & The Rock 'n' Roll Allstars, a group which stemmed from the sixties legends Procul Harum - who had entered Abbey Road studios in 1970 to record a mega-session of over 30 songs in just 12 hours. In November 1976, he passed a cassette to his friend and colleague, Nicky Horne who aired 'Your Mother Wouldn't Like It'. It was not known how Roger got hold of the material, which until then, had been locked away out of both sight and mind.
Reaching a landmark that many of today's radio staff could only dream about, it was fifteen years later, in 1988 that he left the commercials behind for the open arms of the BBC, and in particular, Radio 1. Under his proper name, Roger hosted a Saturday afternoon show (Saturday Sequence) and a Sunday late night show - two slots that drew in a loyal audience during his time from 1988-1989.
From his start on UK radio, Roger would go on to promote a great deal of acts that would grow and grow. Music was his first love - evident from his on-air style - a style which set standards, and you could often be forgiven for clearly identifying scores of soundalikes on radio elsewhere. He didn't just sit there and play records - he brought them on-air almost as a prrecious metal and something to be cherished. To this extent, he prepared his listener for the purity and quality that was to follow, or create an air of something the listener had been crazy enough to miss. It's a little known fact that Roger was the man who broke Bruce Springsteen's career here in the UK - Roger backing up this new talent with a brain that equalled the most sizeable reference books. But this was not to boring extents - if the facts were relevant and something worth saying, they were said. Other than that, the microphone fader stayed closed.
A lot of radio presenters have found a least a small side-step in television and all the trappings of being well known, be it supermarket openings, book launches and other types of personal appearance.. Roger was not into this kind of thing. He did what some would say is sadly missing from the radio of today - he talked to his listeners, not at them, drawing in and encouraging listeners to his own interests and enthusings.
Having found such popularity on the nation's number one pop station, his health started to suffer with the onset of cancer. His last show with Radio 1 aired on Sunday 8th October 1989. He knew what lay ahead with each and every weekly show. As he closed Radio 1 down just before 2am on the Monday morning, a link, which turned out to be his farewell link, came out of The Beach Boys' 1967 hit 'Heroes & Villains': "Thank you for your company, thank you for your support, and thank you for your kindness. I hope I'll see you next week, but there are no guarantees." He died aged just 46 after battling bravely onwards, and with none of the enthusiasm for his craft lacking, on 31st October 1989. Just weeks before his death, he'd recorded a programme called "Radio Radio" - the show was broadcast as a tribute and something which encapsulated his life on the airwaves - on 4th November 1989.
The man who took over from him was 'Whispering' Bob Harris - whilst Bob was obviously happy to be on-air, it was with great sadness that he took over Roger's slot. Since that time, Bob remembers his fallen comrade every October, as the anniversary of his passing is marked. Bob once said that Roger was "...the best DJ who ever walked the planet."
Please note that this profile is for a different Roger Scott to the one who spent time on offshore stations Radio Essex, Radio 270 & Radio 390 in the late 1960s. The offshore jock went onto work under his real name of Greg Bance on 1970s commercial radio.