Johnny Beerling
| John William Beerling | |
|---|---|
| Born |
12 April 1937 England, UK |
| Children | David Beerling |
| Website | www |
John William "Johnny" Beerling (born 12 April 1937) is a British radio producer and station controller.
He attended the Sir Roger Manwood's School in Sandwich, Kent.
He began his radio career during national service from 1955–7 when he ran a radio station for the Royal Air Force station British Forces Aden in the Aden Protectorate, acting as its station manager, studio engineer and morning DJ.
In 1957 he joined the BBC as a Technical Operator and soon became a Studio Manager. In the early sixties he was appointed as a producer in the Gramophone Department where he worked on a number of popular programmes such as "Housewives Choice", "Midday Spin", and "Two Way Family Favourites" as well as late evening shows like "Music to Midnight". Beerling brought in Simon Dee from the pirate radio scene and he was also the first producer of Terry Wogan. As an admirer of the pirate radio stations he devised a fast moving new radio show on Saturdays called "Where It's At" which used the early talents of Kenny Everett. Beerling was one of the few employees of the BBC Light Programme in the mid-1960s to regard the model of offshore pirate radio as one which the BBC would have to follow and to that end he managed to take a trip to visit Radio London to see for himself how they operated.
In 1967 the Marine Offences Bill led to the close down of the pirate radio stations and the BBC decided to set up Radio 1 to provide a legal alternative. Johnny was at the forefront of this process, recruiting the DJ talent and devising the jingles, subsequently producing the first ever show with Tony Blackburn. He became and Executive Producer in 1972 and in 1973 he conceived and launched the show for which he is best known, the Radio 1 Roadshow. This grew from a small caravan operation on Newquay Beach to an 80-foot mobile stage show housed in a series of articulated trucks, supported by a giant outdoor TV display visited by 500,000 people a year.
In 1985 he was appointed Controller of the Radio 1 Network, responsible for the entire output including such major projects as the sound for Live Aid. During his time there he unfortunately cultivated the "Smashie and Nicey" image despite appointing more music oriented presenters like Mark Goodier, Nicky Campbell and Simon Mayo. He oversaw the transfer of the Network from AM to a better quality FM transmission system. In programming he was responsible to for increasing the Social Action campaigns, extending the News coverage and increasing the coverage of live concerts and music sessions recorded in Radio 1 studios. He also introduced comedy onto the airwaves of Radio 1 with shows like "The Mary Whitehouse Experience" and "Victor Lewis Smith".
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