Keith Skues
Encyclopedia
Keith Skues MBE
(born 4 March 1939) is a British
radio personality
. He is nicknamed "Cardboard Shoes".
Skues was born in Timperley
, Cheshire
. His broadcasting career began on the British Forces Network
in Cologne
, Germany
in 1958. This was followed by overseas tours to Kuwait
, Kenya
and Aden
. He returned to Britain in 1964 and joined Radio Caroline
, then Radio Luxembourg
in 1966 and Radio London
in the summer of the same year.
He was one of the original presenters on the newly launched BBC Radio 1
in 1967, and was heard on the very first day, following on from Tony Blackburn
, presenting Saturday Club
. In 1969, he took over the weekday afternoon show before moving on to What's New, which was broadcast every weekday from 4.15–5.15pm. Other Radio shows included Album Time, Radio 1 Club and Night Ride, which was also broadcast simultaneously on BBC Radio 2
.
Skues left Radio 1 in 1974 and was appointed director of Radio Hallam (now Hallam FM
) in Sheffield. By 1980 he was the longest serving programme director in music radio . In 1987, Hallam merged with two other Yorkshire
stations to form The Yorkshire Radio Network where Skues was made Group Programme Consultant. In 1989, the group launched Classic Gold
on its AM frequencies and Skues became programme controller, as well as broadcasting six days a week.
In 1991, Skues briefly took over the afternoon show on BBC Radio Sheffield
. He then had a brief spell on the late afternoon show on BBC Radio 2
. In January 1992, he went to Saudi Arabia
for two months as Public Relations Officer for the Royal Air Force
detachment in Dhahran
. Squadron Leader
Skues was a member of the public relations team at RAF Marham
for the 75th anniversary of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1993, an event which was attended by five members of the Royal Family
.
From 1995, he broadcast programmes on Monday–Friday nights from 10pm–1am on BBC Radio Norfolk
, BBC Radio Suffolk
, BBC Essex
, BBC Radio Northampton
, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
and BBC Three Counties. BBC Radio Lincolnshire
also take his show on Sundays, although it is generally not in their BBC region.
In May 2005, Skues took semi-retirement, but could still be heard on the above BBC Local Radio
stations on Sundays 9.00pm–1.00am with a show entitled Pirate Radio Skues, which included an "archive hour", replaying an hour of classic pirate radio
from home-taped recordings. The "Archive Hour" was discontinued in 2009, following changes to BBC compliance rules. From the start of 2010, the word 'Pirate' was dropped from the programme's title, and the programme also included music from the 1970s. With effect from 3 October 2010, Keith's Eastern Counties programme was reduced in length - 11.00pm to 1.00am.
From 2007 until 2010 he also had a rock and roll show Saturdays 7.00pm-9.00pm, entitled Rock'n'Roll Heaven, on BBC Three Counties Radio
(Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).
He was awarded an MBE
in the 2004 New Year Honours
list, for services to broadcasting and charity.
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
(born 4 March 1939) is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
radio personality
Radio personality
A radio personality is a person with an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality can be someone who introduces and discusses various genres of music, hosts a talk radio show that may take calls from listeners, or someone whose primary responsibility is to give news, weather,...
. He is nicknamed "Cardboard Shoes".
Timperley
Timperley is a village within the Altrincham area, of the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, England. Situated within the historic county boundaries of Cheshire, Timperley is approximately seven miles southwest of Manchester....
, Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
. His broadcasting career began on the British Forces Network
British Forces Broadcasting Service
The British Forces Broadcasting Service provides radio and television programmes for HM Forces, and their dependents, in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Brunei, Canada, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Germany, Gibraltar, Kosovo, the Middle East, Northern Ireland and Tristan da Cunha as well as a live satellite...
in Cologne
Cologne
Cologne is Germany's fourth-largest city , and is the largest city both in the Germany Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia and within the Rhine-Ruhr Metropolitan Area, one of the major European metropolitan areas with more than ten million inhabitants.Cologne is located on both sides of the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
in 1958. This was followed by overseas tours to Kuwait
Kuwait
The State of Kuwait is a sovereign Arab state situated in the north-east of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south at Khafji, and Iraq to the north at Basra. It lies on the north-western shore of the Persian Gulf. The name Kuwait is derived from the...
, Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
and Aden
Aden
Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...
. He returned to Britain in 1964 and joined Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
, then Radio Luxembourg
Radio Luxembourg (English)
Radio Luxembourg is a commercial broadcaster in many languages from the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. It is nowadays known in most non-English languages as RTL ....
in 1966 and Radio London
Wonderful Radio London
Radio London, also known as Big L and Wonderful Radio London, was a top 40 offshore commercial station that operated from 16 December 1964 to 14 August 1967, from a ship anchored in the North Sea, three and a half miles off Frinton-on-Sea, Essex, England...
in the summer of the same year.
He was one of the original presenters on the newly launched BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
in 1967, and was heard on the very first day, following on from Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn
Tony Blackburn is an English disc jockey, who broadcast on the "pirate" stations Radio Caroline and Radio London in the 1960s and was the first disc jockey to broadcast on BBC Radio 1 in 1967. In 2002 he was the winner of the ITV reality TV programme I'm a Celebrity.....
, presenting Saturday Club
Saturday Club (BBC radio)
Saturday Club was an influential BBC radio programme in Britain, broadcast on the Light Programme and later Radio 1 between 1957 and 1969. It was one of the earliest - and for several years almost the only - radio programme in the country to broadcast pop music...
. In 1969, he took over the weekday afternoon show before moving on to What's New, which was broadcast every weekday from 4.15–5.15pm. Other Radio shows included Album Time, Radio 1 Club and Night Ride, which was also broadcast simultaneously on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
.
Skues left Radio 1 in 1974 and was appointed director of Radio Hallam (now Hallam FM
Hallam FM
Hallam FM is an independent local radio station serving South Yorkshire and the North Midlands from studios in Sheffield. The station is owned and operated by Bauer Radio and forms part of Bauer's Place Network of stations.-History:...
) in Sheffield. By 1980 he was the longest serving programme director in music radio . In 1987, Hallam merged with two other Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
stations to form The Yorkshire Radio Network where Skues was made Group Programme Consultant. In 1989, the group launched Classic Gold
Classic Gold
Classic Gold was a network of three "Gold" music formatted stations which broadcast on AM in Bradford, Hull and Sheffield. They were the Pennine Radio, Viking Radio and Radio Hallam's medium wave franchises...
on its AM frequencies and Skues became programme controller, as well as broadcasting six days a week.
In 1991, Skues briefly took over the afternoon show on BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Sheffield
BBC Radio Sheffield is the BBC Local Radio service for English metropolitan county of South Yorkshire and North Derbyshire. This includes the city of Sheffield, plus Doncaster, Barnsley, Rotherham, Chesterfield and surrounding areas. It was the BBC local radio station, beginning on 15 November 1967...
. He then had a brief spell on the late afternoon show on BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is one of the BBC's national radio stations and the most popular station in the United Kingdom. Much of its daytime playlist-based programming is best described as Adult Contemporary or AOR, although the station is also noted for its specialist broadcasting of other musical genres...
. In January 1992, he went to Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
for two months as Public Relations Officer for the Royal Air Force
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
detachment in Dhahran
Dhahran
Dhahran is a city located in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, and is a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. Large oil reserves were first identified in the Dhahran area in 1931, and in 1935 Standard Oil of California drilled the first commercially viable oil well...
. Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader
Squadron Leader is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is also sometimes used as the English translation of an equivalent rank in countries which have a non-English air force-specific rank structure. In these...
Skues was a member of the public relations team at RAF Marham
RAF Marham
Royal Air Force Station Marham, more commonly known as RAF Marham, is a Royal Air Force station; a military airbase, near the village of Marham in the English county of Norfolk, East Anglia....
for the 75th anniversary of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1993, an event which was attended by five members of the Royal Family
British Royal Family
The British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
.
From 1995, he broadcast programmes on Monday–Friday nights from 10pm–1am on BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Norfolk
BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Norfolk, broadcasting since 11 September 1980. It broadcasts from the studios of BBC East in The Forum, Norwich on 95.1 FM , 104.4 FM , 95.6 FM , 855 kHz AM/MW , 873 kHz AM/MW BBC Radio Norfolk is the BBC Local...
, BBC Radio Suffolk
BBC Radio Suffolk
BBC Radio Suffolk is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Suffolk, commencing broadcasts on 12 April 1990. Its studios are at Broadcasting House in St Matthews Street, Ipswich on 95.5 , 95.9 , 103.9 and 104.6 FM...
, BBC Essex
BBC Essex
BBC Essex is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Essex. It broadcasts from its studios on New London Road in Chelmsford on 103.5 and 95.3 FM, and on 729 , 765 , and 1530 AM. It is also available on DAB and live streaming via the internet.-History:BBC Essex launched on 5...
, BBC Radio Northampton
BBC Radio Northampton
BBC Radio Northampton is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Northamptonshire. It broadcasts from its studios in Broadcasting House, Northampton on 104.2 and 103.6 FM. The station also has two studios in Daventry and Corby...
, BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire
BBC Radio Cambridgeshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Cambridgeshire. It originally broadcast from studios on Hills Road close to the train station in Cambridge - which have now moved to a new multi-million pound centre at the Cambridge Business Park on Cowley Road - ...
and BBC Three Counties. BBC Radio Lincolnshire
BBC Radio Lincolnshire
BBC Lincolnshire is the BBC Local Radio service for the English county of Lincolnshire — apart from the northern parts, which are covered by BBC Radio Humberside...
also take his show on Sundays, although it is generally not in their BBC region.
In May 2005, Skues took semi-retirement, but could still be heard on the above BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio
BBC Local Radio is the BBC's regional radio service for England and the Channel Islands, consisting of 40 stations. They cover a variety of areas with some serving a city and surrounding areas, for example BBC Radio Manchester; a county, for example BBC Radio Norfolk; an administrative region for...
stations on Sundays 9.00pm–1.00am with a show entitled Pirate Radio Skues, which included an "archive hour", replaying an hour of classic pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
from home-taped recordings. The "Archive Hour" was discontinued in 2009, following changes to BBC compliance rules. From the start of 2010, the word 'Pirate' was dropped from the programme's title, and the programme also included music from the 1970s. With effect from 3 October 2010, Keith's Eastern Counties programme was reduced in length - 11.00pm to 1.00am.
From 2007 until 2010 he also had a rock and roll show Saturdays 7.00pm-9.00pm, entitled Rock'n'Roll Heaven, on BBC Three Counties Radio
BBC Three Counties Radio
BBC Three Counties Radio is the BBC Local Radio service for the English counties of Bedfordshire, Hertfordshire and Buckinghamshire...
(Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire).
He was awarded an MBE
MBE
MBE can stand for:* Mail Boxes Etc.* Management by exception* Master of Bioethics* Master of Bioscience Enterprise* Master of Business Engineering* Master of Business Economics* Mean Biased Error...
in the 2004 New Year Honours
British honours system
The British honours system is a means of rewarding individuals' personal bravery, achievement, or service to the United Kingdom and the British Overseas Territories...
list, for services to broadcasting and charity.