“I STILL can’t listen to anything we did, because it’s not fair - we should still be doing it,” confesses Sean Coyle of the hundreds of hours of radio he co-presented with his late friend Gerry Anderson.
This week marked the 10th anniversary of the Derry-born broadcasting legend’s death following a battle with cancer, which ended his 30-year-long career as one of the north’s most popular presenters. The father of two made his name with The Gerry Anderson Show, his hugely popular mid-morning weekday programme on BBC Radio Ulster.
Characterised by its presenter’s laidback personality, quick, dry wit and easy charm, the show combined the entertaining back-and-forth/bickering between Anderson and his foil, fellow Derry man Coyle, with live phone-ins from an assortment of colourful characters and the odd bit of music too.
“There were some mornings where he may have started the programme with one CD, and not another song would be played for the entire show,” chuckles Coyle (78) of their BBC Radio Foyle-based show’s flexible format, which occasionally found him having to kick things off solo while Anderson remained AWOL.
“On more than one occasion, Gerry would have still been sitting upstairs in the kitchen while I was down in the studio starting the show.
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“He would have been upstairs reading the paper or drinking a cup of tea or whatever, and I would play his introductory music and then maybe also the first song as well. I’d be telling the listeners, ‘He will be here - eventually’, and then of course he would burst into the studio shouting, ‘Nobody tells me anything, nobody tells me the time!’”
Such antics were simply part of The Gerry Anderson Show’s refreshingly anarchic DNA, a fact recognised and embraced by the programme’s long-time producer, Mickey Bradley, AKA ‘The Undertone’, who appreciated his lead presenter was experienced enough to keep the show on-track.
“Mickey knew not to interfere,” explains Coyle, who joins Bradley for Gerry Anderson: Radio Rogue, a commemorative two-part radio programme celebrating the late broadcaster’s life and career which begins this afternoon on Radio Ulster.
“He would have maybe had a word with me to say something like, ‘Don’t take him down that road’ or to avoid a certain topic, but he knew too that Gerry was ‘safe’.
“Although Mickey sat in a room behind us, I could see his reflection in the studio glass, and more often than not he’d be sitting there laughing. He was a wonderful producer and he was made for the two of us.”
Today’s tribute show represents a rare trip down memory lane for Coyle and Bradley, and finds the duo revisiting favourite on-air and behind the scenes moments from their long-running collaboration with the Radio Ulster legend - something which rarely occurred when The Gerry Anderson Show was actually still on the air.
“It’s quite difficult, actually,” explains Coyle of the bittersweet experience of putting together this tribute package to his late friend, who was inducted into the UK Radio Hall of Fame in 2005.
“When the day’s programme was over, we would have gone into the studio to see Gerry and he might have said, ‘Ach, I enjoyed that today’ - and that was it, meeting over. There was no discussion about what worked or didn’t work, there was no dwelling on it.
“In fact, we talked about everything under the sun other than the programme, which to us was just another programme.
“I don’t mean that in a blasé way, like, ‘Oh, weren’t we great’, it was more that the shows were basically just two friends chatting or arguing, only we happened to be on air. Nothing was ever scripted, and that’s what made it sort of sound natural and real - because it was natural and real.”
Indeed, you probably couldn’t have invented some of the show’s regular callers such as Mary Bell from Belfast, Loughbrickland farmer Geordie Tuft, stuttering local comic Tommy Kelly and the many others who could be relied upon to crack up Anderson and co on a daily basis.
These live phone exchanges were such a signature feature that they were immortalised in animated form - along with Anderson and Coyle - for the hit BBC Northern Ireland TV spin-off On The Air, produced by Flickerpix.
“Mary Bell was a real wee Belfast character, she was great,” enthuses Coyle, who is still on the air with his own afternoon radio programme on Radio Foyle.
“She was really the caller who started the ball rolling. Mary was an elderly lady and she had lived life to the full. Her husband died when they were quite young and there was a lot of heartache there, and a lot of joy.
“Mary was a beautiful singer. and from time to time Gerry would ask her, ‘Mary, sing me a wee song’. He would sit back in the chair in the studio, close his eyes, and just listen to her singing.”
While callers like Mary Bell and co could be relied upon to lift the late presenter’s spirits when needed, his close personal relationship with Coyle was also integral to making The Gerry Anderson Show the unique, inimitable vehicle that is still much missed by its legion of fans.
“Rarely did I see Gerry Anderson in a bad mood, if ever,” notes Coyle.
“But I would have known when he would have needed me most on the programme. He was only human, and some mornings you would have come in and saw that he might not have been firing on all cylinders - maybe he was out the night before, or there could have been something preying on his mind.
“I would sense that and I’d say to Mickey, ‘I’m going to have my work cut out today’. But I would just sing a wee song to him - ‘How’s the wee man today, how’s the wee man today?’ - and he would laugh at this.
“You would literally see him coming round. I just loved to make him laugh, and I think he appreciated that.”
Coyle adds: “Gerry was an absolute joy to work with, and anyone who ever worked with him will tell you the same.”
The first episode of Gerry Anderson: Radio Rogue, Spinster of this Parish, will be broadcast today on Radio Ulster at 1.05pm. Episode two, The Bard of Sackville Street, will air on Saturday August 31 at 1.05pm. All episodes of On The Air are available now on BBC iPlayer. Enjoy BBC Radio Foyle’s Gerry Anderson archive at bbc.co.uk/sounds.
Hard to believe #GerryAnderson is ten years gone. A rare broadcasting talent, a wordsmith of the highest order, a mighty fine bass player and a very funny guy. He’s missed every day. We’ll never see his like again. Pic courtesy of @franmccloskey pic.twitter.com/iuaBDF27fs
— Ralph McLean (@RalphMcLeanShow) August 21, 2024
