Welcome To CMRSradioone... How Did We Get Here....

Hello everyone and welcome to CMRSradioone.com. I hope you are all well and that you have enjoyed the journey so far. It was never intended to be this way but now we have a new radio station in which to enjoy, so let's enjoy the ride. Oh... one thing... this is my first ever "blog". It may get messy!!!

I suppose I should give you a little insight about myself and how this all came about. It's difficult to know where to start really... So let's go back in time where a wee lad of about 3 (it could be 4 or 5) years old. My love of music comes from my Mother and Father. My earliest memories were of playing The Beatles first two albums, Please Please Me and With The Beatles, as well as their associated singles (my Father never bought the first three Beatles singles... I never knew why). Part of my earliest recollection was watching a news clip of the band running to a stage, with a wire fence keeping them and their adoring fans apart. I later discovered it was a clip of their first performance at Shea Stadium. But I digress. As we had a gramophone player (anyone remember those? They were like pieces of furniture. The same size as a sideboard), I used to stack the singles on top of each other and play the singles relentlessly. We still have our original singles and the two albums. Despite the abuse they took from that boy (and girl... my sister Jackie joined in with the fun), they still play well. Such was (and is) the quality of vinyl pressings of yore. And so the journey began.

My Father was always playing his albums on a Sunday. For him it was Frank Sinatra, especially the brilliant "At The Sands" live album. That was his pleasure. My Mother, the classics. Especially the 1812 Overture. That was a great soundtrack for the lad that I was to play with his Napoleonic soldiers. Funny but  Wellington and his British army always won the day (not biased AT ALL).

It was my parents that encouraged me to take up the guitar. Music was very much a part of the family as my Mothers Father played piano (she inherited the upright grand piano which was his). My sister came along as well and we both studied classical guitar and took our Royal College Of Music exams. Sibling rivalry was very much to the fore.

As I got older, my tastes changed. The first album I bought out of my own pocket was The Beatles '62 - '66 on cassette (otherwise known as the "Red Album"). Following that and for some reason that escapes me, I started to take a liking to the band Sweet. Strange because the first single that took my fancy on the radio was Geordie's "All Because Of You" but I never purchased it. Instead I rushed out and bought Sweet's "Blockbuster" and from there my musical journey gained pace. The 'b' sides of the bands singles opened up a whole new area of music for me. With the band name checking The Who, Deep Purple and others too many to mention, my paperboy money was religiously spent on many a single as well as LP. I had quite a collection (still do).

And as the journey continued, I was introduced to different music. My Father always had an open mind when it came to music, art, movies. He would always listen and yes, give an opinion but would never call out an other persons choice as rubbish. I remember us watching Top Of The Pops and Golden Earring was on playing "Radar Love". Out of the blue he said "I like that". He had Pink Floyd's "Dark Side Of The Moon", he enjoyed "Focus Live At The Rainbow". On the flip, he was introduced to The Stylistics and Barry White and from there influenced myself to investigate further. Hence my love for old school r'n'b and soul.

So how did I come to this place? Well during the '80's, as well as singing in various bands, I did some mobile discos. Yup, I was the Wedding DJ. They were fun. It taught me a lot about pleasing people. It never mattered what was on the turntable, if the dance floor was full, people were enjoying themselves, I was happy. 

I gave that up during the '90's. During the naughties, I re-connected with another of my teenage attachments, Billericay Town Football Club. A situation arose where we needed a match day announcer. The Chairman of the day, Steve Kent, handed me the microphone, mixing desk, PA and said, "Go do it". My first match was a nightmare. I've learned that "radio" is an art. An art to entertain while staring at a screen. This was the same except, my audience was very much around me. My annunciation can be a little suspect at times (depending on how many pints I may have had before going live with the mic) and having a live audience which was available to comment, made things interesting.

I left BTFC back in 2017. 11 years was enough in my opinion and a change of Chairman was the catalyst for me to hang up my mic.

Over the following years, I joined a Twitter group called Mojo Rocks, which was affiliated to Phil Alexander's Saturday evening radio show on Planet Rock of the same name as the Twitter group. When COVID hit, the show sadly went off air. I still don't know the reason but the group disbanded but not without myself trying to step into the breach. First with a couple of Spotify playlists published at 8pm on a Saturday evening and then reaching out to Chris O'Connor of Voodooradio.online. Chris showed great faith in me and gave me a regular Tuesday evening spot which was called The Parish Hop (yup, the show is still going, Tuesday evenings at 6pm here on this very station). From there, Chris and I put together the Sunday Parish Prayer Meeting (also now aired on this radio station at 9.30am Sunday) and then he gave me the coveted Friday Night spot, which I dubbed the FNRS (also aired here on CMRSradioone.com at 6.30pm Friday evenings).

COVID was hard for us all and over the period of the two years, through the support that many people have given me and my shows, I discovered that through radio and social media connections, people were reaching out and getting through some tough times. Music is a great medium to connect with people and that is mainly why I am here. Those people that have supported me in my ventures, over the past two years and especially with Voodoo Radio mean the World to me. We have "The Hop", a chat page on Twitter where people come together and just "hang", sharing not only their opinions about the music played but also their lives. It may not be the whole reason I'm doing this but I can safely say, for those in "The Hop", as well as those friends on Twitter and Face Book, this would mean a whole lot less to me. I maybe the DJ but for me, reaching out to you guys is as important as you reaching out to each other. That is the reason why CMRSradioone.com is just as much yours as it is mine.

Music is probably my first love. It evokes the whole range of emotions. And without you guys out there who are kind enough to "lend me your ears", it'll be a poorer place in which to share it. So I thank you all for your support and hope that you'll enjoy the ride as much as I do. One thing you can guarantee, I will try to do my best to make this enjoyable for all of us.

If you made it this far, then I'm impressed. I have a habit of rambling and I would've given up long before now. You're obviously made of stern stuff.

Once again, I hope you enjoy the ride and thank you for your time, patience and friendship. As is the motto of this radio station "The little hand say's it's time to rock 'n' roll... bring the noise".

Once again... thank you for your time...
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Gary (Cardinal Capey)