In 1967 when Radio 1 was based as a successor to the BBC Gentle Programme, one in all its goals was to achieve housewives – and to draw them, the station employed solely male DJs (or “husband substitutes”, as they had been recognized behind the scenes) for the primary three years. It was solely in 1970, bending with the instances, that it took on its first feminine presenter, Anne (later Annie) Nightingale, a former journalist and tv presenter with nearly no radio expertise.
The unique male presenters have lengthy since left the station, however Nightingale was nonetheless working for Radio 1 on the time of her demise, aged 83, and had grow to be its longest-serving broadcaster, most lately on air in December 2023. Recognized to followers because the Queen of Breaks – breakbeat was her specialist style – she defied the station’s ordinary profession trajectory (5 years as a top-tier presenter, then off to weekends or Radio 2) by staying related. She launched listeners to prog rock, punk, indie and dance music, and was unfeignedly keen about all of them. At 75, she advised a dance journal: “I take heed to what 13-year-olds take heed to as a result of that’s the long run. [I’ve] obtained to be forward of the sport on a regular basis.”
As a dance music specialist from the late Eighties onward – enjoying “the largest bass bangers”, as Radio 1’s web site put it – Nightingale spent the second half of her profession broadcasting to individuals too younger to have recognized that she had been buddies with the Beatles and Marc Bolan. However her age was immaterial due to her stature within the dance world. In 2001, she acquired Muzik journal’s Caner of the 12 months prize in recognition of her late-night life-style – her favorite of all her awards, which additionally included an MBE in 2002 for companies to broadcasting (superior to CBE in 2020), and an honorary doctorate in journalism.
She was a extremely knowledgable musical curator, and an knowledgeable at exploiting the intimacy of radio. Although Nightingale prioritised music over DJ patter, she recognised {that a} human voice was nonetheless an important a part of the combo; husky-toned and self-deprecating, she belied the station’s early worry {that a} feminine DJ would lack authority. In response to the author Irvine Welsh, who listened to her whereas rising up, her “cool, funky tones” stood out towards “the flatulent sounds of loud, boring, thick and egotistical males strafing the airwaves”.
An solely little one, Nightingale was born in Osterley, west London, to Basil, who ran a wallpaper firm, and Celia (nee Winter), a chiropodist. Educated on the unbiased Woman Eleanor Holles college in Hampton, she left earlier than her A-levels. Overriding her mother and father’ request that she have “one thing to fall again on”, she enrolled on a journalism course on the Regent Road Polytechnic (now the College of Westminster). Shifting to Brighton after commencement, she married a Fleet Road journalist, Gordon Thomas, and had two youngsters. After a brief stint on the Brighton and Hove Gazette, she grew to become the one lady within the newsroom on the Brighton Argus.
Together with reporting native information on the parish-council stage, she was given a music column known as Spin With Me, which gave her entry to the largest pop stars of the 60s. Her friendship with the Beatles later helped open doorways at Radio 1 – the band’s publicist, Derek Taylor, persuaded the station controller to let her audition after her personal requests had been repeatedly refused.
At a Dusty Springfield gig in 1964, she met Vicki Wickham, producer of Prepared Regular Go!, who employed her as co-presenter of a brand new pop present known as That’s For Me. It lasted just a few months, however the publicity led to writing work on the Every day Specific and Cosmopolitan, and radio appearances on Right this moment and Lady’s Hour. It was the period of pirate stations similar to Radio Caroline; she thought of making use of to Caroline however was postpone by the concept of “dwelling out at sea with a bunch of blokes”.
Lastly put in at Radio 1 in 1970, she was hampered at first by an absence of technical knowhow – her first day was marked by eight seconds of lifeless airtime when she by accident pressed the “off” swap in the midst of a file. But she shortly established herself, selecting her personal playlist nearly from the beginning. Her ability at persuading listeners that what she needed to listen to was what they needed to listen to led in 1978 to the job of presenting BBC Two’s “critical” rock programme, The Outdated Gray Whistle Take a look at. It had did not sustain with musical vogue, an issue she tackled by reserving essentially the most difficult artists she may get away with and braving the implications. She was delighted to bag Public Picture Ltd for a reside look, although frontman John Lydon repaid her enthusiasm by admonishing her for being “so fucking patronising”.
4 years at Whistle Take a look at had been adopted by a return to Radio 1’s extremely well-liked Sunday afternoon request present for 12 years. When acid home gained traction within the late 80s, she credited it with altering her life; from that time, she performed solely dance music on Radio 1, first within the influential Chill Out Zone slot, then on a longstanding programme that went out at 1am on Wednesdays. Her free time, she stated, was consumed by listening to the 1000’s of demo tapes she acquired each week.
Regardless of her achievements, Nightingale claimed she lacked confidence till she was robbed in Havana, Cuba in 1996. The assault left her unable to stroll for months, however made her “a stronger individual”, she stated.
Although she hated nostalgia, she did mirror that ageing had been isolating. The demise of John Peel, her buddy from the early days of Radio 1, provoked the unusually downbeat remark: “Now John’s gone there’s no person I do know in my age group who remotely likes this sort of factor. I don’t perceive why. I’m pushed by it.”
She revealed two volumes of autobiography, Chase the Fade (1982) and Depraved Pace (2000), and a Fiftieth-anniversary quantity, Hey Hello Good day: 5 Many years of Pop Tradition from Britain’s First Feminine DJ, in 2020.
She is survived by her youngsters, Alex and Lucy, from her first marriage, which led to divorce. Her second marriage, to the actor Binky Baker in 1978, additionally led to divorce.
