Firstly, on behalf of all the members of Radio Wey, I would like to express our deepest sympathy to Donna, Rihanna and all of Ray’s family.
Ray was a member of Radio Wey for more than 15 years and brought an immense amount of gusto with him! His first slot with us, in early 1981, was on Monday evenings where he co-hosted a request show with me. I was 20 and he had just turned 18. He was great to work with and he set the standard for me – I have never since worked with anyone who had so much zest and enthusiasm.
We had a lot in common. We both loved music, doing discos, CB Radio and photography. We were both Radio Jackie fanatics and had grown up listening to Jackie pirate broadcasts in the 70’s.
Every week, whatever the weather, he trekked around to collect requests and spent a great deal of time with patients in St. Peter’s hospital, often coaxing a free cup of tea and chocolate bar from the tea lady who did her rounds in the early evening! He would always generate a whole pile of requests and we regularly had follow up phone calls from listeners during the programme because he had persuaded them to take part in our weekly competitions, which, incidentally, cost us a huge amount of money each week! If it wasn’t a free Radio Wey sweatshirt, it was a record token, or, if we were particularly broke, it would be a box of chocolates!
We presented the same programme together for 8 years – He was such an easy person to work with – and we had so much fun and laughter. However, there was a downside - Throughout those 8 years I was subject to probably thousands of Ray’s jokes. They would come right out at me, just when I least expected it. And, quite often, my responses to him would start with the question – “This isn’t a joke is it??”
The legacy of our 8 years presenting together lives on – We recorded every programme and I have spent the last couple of weeks listening to some of the shows again. Indeed, those were special times that will never occur again on live radio.
However, our programme didn’t always come first in his life. Sometimes I had to cover for him and ‘pretend’ he was there when he wasn’t. This didn’t happen that often… in fact, only when he was off to a Level 42 or a Diana Ross concert!! He was crazy about live music. I managed to get Mike Lindup, Level 42’s keyboard player, to send Ray and Donna a wedding card when they were married last August. Ray thought it was a wind up, but it wasn't.
31 years after first joining Radio Wey, I am back presenting a weekly request show on Monday evenings. Over the past few years I have had the pleasure of having Ray and Donna appearing as guests – Ray, always smooth and relevant on the air, and, of course, with lots of one-liners!
The past few months had been difficult for him – He was frustrated with not getting his voice back properly and I knew that all he wanted to do was get back on the radio… However, I can reveal, this afternoon, that a particular caller, who always waited until almost the end of the show until they called, was, in fact Ray – masquerading as a complaining listener. All bets would be off on exactly what this ‘mystery’ caller would say – but it was always entertaining, witty and focussed on the listeners.
The last time he called me on the show, just after we had come off air, I asked him what he thought of that evening’s programme – He said that he’d enjoyed it but that I needed to 'talk less'.
I am now taking your advice Ray – Thank you for everything you brought to Radio Wey and to me personally. I will miss you very much.
Very lovely and very heartfelt
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