Meet Len Groat
![]() |
I was born in London so fortunate to
first be inspired by the North Sea pirate station ‘Big
L’ in the 1960s. After 5 years on University radio in
Wales I was then 24 years old when commercial radio
launched in Britain. We finally broke the BBC monopoly of radio, and I loved my times on Metro Radio in Newcastle and Piccadilly Radio in Manchester. I then found my ‘radio nest’ in the East Midlands on Radio Trent for 17 great years. But one of my proudest moments was in 1988 when I dreamt-up the name 'GEM' for the first 'gold' station in the East Midlands – Solid Gold GEM AM. I was put in charge of the team, the music and the Dallas jingles – a ‘Dream job’ in radio! |
GEM kept me very busy as I
looked after the station, the DJs, and found some new
ones, including some who are still with us on today’s
Solid Gold GEM AM – including that naughty Andy
Marriott! It was great fun choosing the oldies and
helping create the memorable station jingles in Dallas
Texas, (some of which we have now revived plus many new
ones!) However, my work meant that on the original GEM I
never had a regular show, but I do now! |
|
![]() |
|
ENJOY LEN'S
GETOGETHER
SATURDAY & SUNDAY 10AM - NOON PLUS THE WEEKEND 60s CAFE SATURDAY NOON - 1PM AND AGAIN AT MIGHNIGHT |