home Letters from our listeners. If you would like to reply to any of the letters made here, or simply want to tell us what you think of Radio London then send your comments via one of the following: Telephone 07774 801945 E-Mail: letters@bigl.co.uk Write: RADIO LONDON 21-23 Walton Road Frinton-on-Sea Essex CO13 OAA United Kingdom ........................................ Dear Roger, > > I'm trying to listen to the Big L webcasts but I get a message saying I > don't have Real Player 7 or higher installed. > > I've actually got the beta version of Real Player 8 Basic installed so I > can't understand why I can't hear your station. > > Yours, > > Andy Roberts > Producer > BBC Online Wales ........................................................................................................................................... Dear Andy, You may have had a problem over this weekend due to our US servers being updated, If you still have a problem you need to check that you have Shoutcast-stream ticked in the propeties of real player, but the best way is to download winamp lite which will then install the mp3 plugin that you need , when you click on the yellow button on live from Clacton Pier it should connect to the strem and open winamp, you can download winamp from our on air page near the top section, Hope this helps you, please contact me again if you have any more probs Thanks for BIGL2000 Roger Davis ....................................................................................................................... Receiving you OK on the web in Orlando Florida. However, (I am on line through Time Warner cable's high speed access - , so am not using phone lines). Reece Porter ................................................................................................................................ Roger, I've been trying to connect to the internet link for an hour - help! Downloaded winamp as recommended - followed all the links. All I can get is error messages trying to connect to the host... What is the correct URL for the live link? Any suggestions welcome as nothing I do seems to work and its an awful long way from Deepest Devon to Clacton. Best wishes Alan (a genuine 60's listener to Big L who actually visited the ship in '66 courtesy of Ed Stewart & Mike Lennox) .................................................................................................................... Hi Roger, I'm listening on Sunday morning in north Dorset, courtesy of the Internet, and it's great! Using my two ISDN lines (128kbps -- my ISP is a freephone number at the weekend) I'm getting almost uninterrupted reception -- Live365 drops the connection about every fifteen minutes or so, but a click re-establishes it. Quality is v. good -- just like listening on AM -- what memories! Great to hear all the old jingles again -- I was 12 years old when the original closed and I'll be trying to tune in on Monday to hear the Final Hour once more (work permitting). Good luck to all of you! Bob Kingsley ........................................................................................................ Dear Roger have been listening to BIGL on the web in Vancouver BC CANADA... and must say... kudos, u guys are doing a fantastic job... sounds like 30+ years ago, when I was 14 years old... grew up in HAMBURG and actually did see the MV GALAXY is Hamburg Harbour ... Keep up the good work... really am enjoying the programms... and thank to the internet for allowing us to relive the good old days... and if he is listening... a big hallo to JUERGEN STEINHOFF... a free lance journalist who was keeping us up to date in HAMBURG in those days ED GOLD VANCOUVER CANADA .................................................................................................. Roger, Thanks for the information. Obviously we cannot receive the broadcast on 1143 as the next channel (1152) is occupied by the local Classic Gold station which swamps the signal. Internet reception is good, obviously much better than the RNI broadcasts which were, in effect, re-transmitted onto the internet from Ipswich, some miles from the ship so they suffered radio interference and night time fade etc.. We normally listen after 6 pm when we get free internet access and at weekends when it's free all the time. I suppose it's a bit 'chicken and egg' as far as internet radio is concerned, because if you cannot receive the station in the conventional way you probably don't know it's there. I'm sure that at present listening figures for any station which also broadcasts on the 'net must be very low. I don't really see how a station like Stormlive can generate sufficient listenership to succeed just as an internet station when the choice is so vast. After all, with conventional transmissions there is always a finite number of stations that you can hear clearly so something of a captive market exists for, say, Virgin, whereas if you're competing with thousands of easily accessible stations on the 'net your percentage 'reach' must be lower, plus the fact that there is surely still only a small internet radio listenership anyway. I know Stormlive have said it makes an ideal background to those surfing the 'net but that is the ultimate in 'wallpaper' radio so hardly a recipe for success I would have thought. Thanks again for the e-mail: keep up the good work. Best regards Nigel .......................................................................................................................................... Dear Roger As a one-time Caroline/RNI listener I'm thoroughly enjoying your Clacton broadcast on Live365. Unmetered off-peak net access is a real boon! I've only just got a fast (56k) modem so I've only just discovered net radio and this is a great start. Unfortunately I only have net access on a P120 so if I try to do anything much else with it I get dropouts. The audio bandwidth seems a bit limited, pleasantly reminiscent of MW, and I seem to be getting a bit of phasing at night, as if you're getting the feed off the air instead of out of the mixing desk (?) The feed from Live365 has been available every time I've logged in. Although I doubt it affects reception very much, I'm in Lancaster UK. Do you do - or even remember - QSL cards? If I had a credit card I'd send you a donation... Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Good luck. jon davies .......................................................................................................................................... Hi Roger, Good to hear BigL on the internet this time. Reception in the evening is loud and on at a constant level, but as it is obviously a Medium Wave relay, there is quite a bit of background interference - Just like it was in the 60's! Regards, Steve Szmidt. .......................................................................................................................................... Hi, Listening daily on the Internet: Spectacular !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! S U P E R !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Good the 70's hits !!!!!!! On my site Radio Caroline and Radio Veronica, have seen it before my eyes..... Met vriendelijke groet, Martin J.A. .......................................................................................................................................... STEFANO VALIANTI C.P. 295 IT - 40100 BOLOGNA Hi Roger! What a night! I'm listening to Wonderful Radio London, last time I heard Big L was in 1967, with an old tranny (as portable radio were called those days). It seems like yesterday, just now I'm listening to the same jingles and the same music - only not on 266 metres but on the Internet now. I have tried both "Radio London 56", just in time to listen to Waterloo Sunset by the Kinks, and "Radio London live from Clacton Pier", they are both good with our PC (yes, we are two listening here actually), I've lost signal a couple of times but I could log in again. Thanks for bringing back Big L, and thanks for the music. Stefano .......................................................................................................................................... via modem 56k sounds very good though has dropped out a few times. 1143 khz is receivable here in Ampthill near Bedford using a Kenwood hf rx plus 1m loop. Good luck with the broadcast Dave Thorpe .......................................................................................................................................... > Hello Roger, > > Just a quick note that I can receive the 28k stream quite well. However > I cannot find the 33K or 56K stream. > I would have loved to come to Clacton, but my holiday plans do not > permit this. However I will be in Britain next weekend and hope to hear > you on the car radio. > > Regards to Ray, Paul and everybody else > Peter > > -- > Peter Messingfeld .......................................................................................................................................... Listened all day 9.00am till midnight! Just one word - BRILLIANT! What can one say? It's just great to hear Big L back on air Ð should be 365 days a year, not 28. Will be down to see you all next weekend. Best wishes to all, Colin Wilkins .......................................................................................................................................... What can I say? Brill! Listening here on the East Kent coast (Broadstairs) and reception very good. Love the format and especially those PAMs jingles (of course!). .......................................................................................................................................... > i finally can here you in winamp great station buffers quite a bit say hello > to paul graham from john fitzpatrick he knows me keep the good work up john .......................................................................................................................................... Dave Burke The Reception here in Leigh-on-Sea is now VERY GOOD. Dave .......................................................................................................................................... Enjoyed listening to Radio London at work here in Brisbane yesterday afternoon, on an ISDN line, so the reception was very good. No breaks in the signal, in fact it sounded just like the local AM stations! A work mate and I enjoyed singing along to the songs, and it was good to hear the jingles on a radio programme rather than all together on a tape. To make it even more like England it was pouring with rain here in Brisbane! Mind you it was 20C and the middle of winter! Enjoy the broadcasts, and I will continue to listen when I can. Best Wishes, John Preston .......................................................................................................................................... I can receive Big L here, despite LBC on 1152. So I detune to 1141 and it's quite loud - 9/5, even! (HARLOW ESSEX) .......................................................................................................................................... Mrs. Don Pierson August 27, 1998 Eastland, Texas Dear Ray, You were very thoughtful to send me the Big L newsletter and I really appreciated getting it and enjoyed reading it. All of this continued interest in Radio London is fascinating to me, and I know Don would have loved it. Please give my best to the others I met when I was there. Thank you again. Sincerely, Anne (Pierson) Hi There, Thanks for some great programs during radiofest. They were the clearest I've ever heard Big L. It's a great pity Satellites weren't around in the sixties! I think it's great news that you may be broadcasting full time son. On Astra satellite I hope! All the best for you future (and Radio London's) Regards, Ormonde Carter. Hi, I was shocked to hear Radio London here in Hong Kong on shortwave. The TV here is terrible and the radio very limited. Was it really 31 years ago! I enjoyed the nostalgia and the style made a change. The signal was quite good for shortwave and I listened for over an hour. Keep up the good work. Regards, Jeffrey Ellis. Hi, Tuning around my receiver I came across your programme. Very pleasant stuff, great jingles, great records. Everything fine. I understand this is to be a one off operation. Personally I would very much welcome a permanent programme as it brought back very pleasant memories of the days when, a good many years ago as a 12 year old I used to listen to a station called Radio London on medium wave. Are you the same people? Remy Friess. A great big thanks to all for the chance to hear Big L once more. I heard the broadcast yesterday, and the years just rolled back to the great summer days spend listening to Big L. Hurry up and tell us when you are back on air. All the best in the future. Terry. Hello! Just a note from Stockholm Sweden telling you that I really enjoyed listening to Big L. I listened to the digital output on Eutelsat @ 13E. The news and weather was read in a superb way! I was in Clacton last year when you had the RSL, so this occation reminded me of the golden 60's. Regards, Per Alarud. Dear Ray, After all the good things I heard about your two RSL attempts to revive good old "Radio London/Big L" I was really looking forward to last weekend. And I must say: I'm over the moon! I was only able to listen in for half an hour on 9912khz but immediately felt that certain shivering down my back again like in my childhood days. It was that old sound, the onld jingles, the old records, the old commercials again, even the news sounded the same like 30 years ago! Amazing, how you did it. The only thing that was missing was the voice of Paul Kaye. But as far as I know he is now reading the news to Saint Peter... My request: Please continue with the Big L revival as soon as possible. Ludwig Schieffer. (We reserve the right to edit any letters before publication)

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