Ralph Winser

Monday to Friday 15:00 to 18:00
Saturday 18:00 to 20:00 - Winser's World

"Listening to the radio at night under the blankets on my new transistor radio that I got for Christmas at the ripe old age of seven was really my first introduction to real radio, as in Radio Caroline and Radio Luxemburg. The fact that it faded in and out gave it a magical mystery of being miles and miles away, yet I could hear it and thought that maybe I was the only one that could. Of course I didn't understand at that time what the spirit of free radio meant and Loving Awareness was a complete mystery as well, but I did know practily every jingle and dj voice and the music they played was somehow different to my parents record collection, but I couldn't really understand why, after all, music was dance bands and Perry Como and Shirley Bassy. My eldest brother had gone to join the Marines and the Royal school of Music, so he was playing proper music and at the time I didn`t understand that either.

I kept listening to Radio Caroline and Luxemburg so I suppose my musical influences come from the early 70`s, the glam rock and album rock that these stations were playing, although I remember liking the way DLT and Noel Edmonds were sounding on Radio 1. It all sounded like fun to be talking into a microphone and playing your favourite tunes.

Soon after I got my first record player along with a Suzy Quatro single, so along with the portable cassette player I already had, I was away, playing record then tape and introducing them as they played, sad I know but we all started somewhere. Learning to play what I could hear on the radio was my next quest, failing at piano and guitar I ended up as a bass player still it could have been worse I may have turned to drums.

The draw of spinning discs and babbling on a microphone never left me though and I was soon involved with a mobile disco and got my first chance to do a recorded program for the pirate station Radio Atlantis, that's when the bug really bit. I joined the Hastings Rock team on the very first broadcast in 1993 thanks mainly to Nick Thomas who gave me a mid morning weekday slot. This is where I met many great people who gave me a lot of support, and in fact still do, I have managed to appear on every broadcast since and still really enjoy the station and its goals.

I was lucky enough, thanks to Steve Masters, {what a great radio voice} to join the Radio Caroline team aboard the Ross Revenge 4 miles off Clacton in 1995, boarding the ship on the same launch that took Jonnie Walker off after his reunion with the ship. The first steps aboard the Ross took me straight back to the days of listening to Caroline all those years ago.

Hastings Rock and Radio Caroline have given me a great chance to meet and interview some well known and interesting people, like Roger Daltery, Steve Hyams {Mott the Hoople} Peter Sarsted, Chris Slade {AC/DC} and so many more, culminating recently with an interview with Ian Gillan{Deep Purple}.

I shall hopefully remain part of the Hastings Rock team in the future, supporting their bid for a full time licence and remain a presenter for Caroline. Why not tune in to them both and give your ears a birthday. Keep the music alive, cheers Ralph."