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other people's shows and then after a while I got my own show, and in fact, it was
a double header. It was me and a young lady who was also a part of the team, and
we used to do a Friday night, two or three hours, I can't remember the show. I

thoroughly enjoyed that and with the hospital radio we went out and did a lot of
public appearances at fetes and carnivals and things like that. And again, I mean, it
just played to my love of showing off, I suppose [chuckles], doing things in public
and making a fool of myself in public and

not giving a damn, basically.

BiTS: Okay, let's move on the Digital
Blues programme. When did you start?

You were working for Gateway FM, was
it? Was that the name of it?

AS: I'm currently on Gateway FM.
Originally, I started Digital Blues on a
station based in Brentwood called

Phoenix FM, and that was in April 2001.
At the time, it was an Internet only
station, but eventually it became a pukka
FM community station. I had a big time falling out with the management of that

particular station, and for a while my shows were Internet only, but then through a
friend I approached Gateway, and started the relationship with Gateway, and I think
I've been doing that now for probably getting on for 16 years. So Gateway is another

community station based in Basildon in Essex and that broadcasts on the DAB radio
throughout Essex and on FM, as well as being on the Internet, of course.

BiTS: So like me, you make your programmes at home, I guess, and send them

electronically to the station, is that right?

AS: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, that's the joy of the Internet, isn't it, that you can do

that? I can sit in my little home studio here in the depths of the French countryside
and put together a show and upload it and it now goes out to stations in the UK, the
USA, France, Germany, New Zealand, Tenerife, Spain. So yeah, it's a worldwide show
[laughs].

BiTS: That's wonderful, and an excellent programme it is too. I've listened to it on
a number of occasions.

AS: Thank you.

BiTS: You chose at some stage to become a kind of advocate for the blues though,

by putting yourself forward for various jobs to bring things - the music - up to a
more appropriate level, let's call it that. Why did you choose to do that?

AS: I retired to France in 2008. I was lucky enough to retire at the age of 60, and I
suppose it was basically the fact that I had more time on my hands because I was