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Radio & Me: ANDY WARD

Like most of our generation, my love affair with radio began in the early 80s. I’d sit doing my homework every night listening to the finest Soul on BRMB (Birmingham, UK) and spend every Sunday, pretty much like every single person I know, taping the Top 20, attempting to cut out the presenter ‘ruining’ the tunes by talking over them.

In the early 90s I DJ’d for pirate stations around Birmingham but getting on the mic was the last thing on my mind. In the mid 90s I began on Choice 102.2 (Birmingham) as an official Mix DJ, eventually being given a Friday night slot where I HAD to talk, despite feeling extremely uncomfortable and conscious about doing so. Eventually I would be commanding three prime time slots across the weekend as both mix DJ & full blown presenter with a record review show which included several studio guests. As time went by, I became more and more comfortable on the mic but I still disliked ever having to use it in public. Roll over into the 2000s, Choice became Galaxy and several live broadcast opportunities meant I had to also conquer the fear of talking in front of an audience. I continued on Galaxy right up until relocating my family to Spain in 2003.

Fully settled in Spain, I landed a specialist show on local FM station TKO around 04/05, just at the moment my worldwide anthem as Soul Central “Strings of Life (Stronger on my own) went Top 10 in the UK. I would travel the world as headline guest DJ and in my downtime at home I discovered internet radio. There were a few stations of note at the time with varying levels of support and I had several guest mixes aired on a regular basis.
Eventually I would be invited by Carol Gold aka GrooveJunkieDiva to join Pressure Radio, the actual date of my first ‘official’ show is still unclear but we think it was Spring 2005.

With the advances of technology today and the ease at which chat functionality and online stations can be set up, it’s easy to forget just how special those times were and the time & effort that went into the whole thing. Thanks to the know-how of Paul aka DJP Pressure and the guys at TKO, I was able to simultaneously present the Vocal Booth Radio Show on TKO & Pressure, enjoying the immediate feedback that the chat room provided.

Eventually, I would leave TKO and broadcast solely on Pressure Radio and became one of the strongest shows on there. I introduced several people to the station and am not afraid to say that I’ve always been one of its biggest supporters and strongest allies.

I have always been very clear on the fact that it was the community we built on Pressure that led to the first Vocal Booth Gathering in Spain in 2009. What started out as a way for the ‘chat room crew’ to meet face to face has turned into an event that has, without exaggeration, changed lives and created life-long friendships. Thanks to Pressure Radio, relationships have formed and there have been marriages and babies conceived all thanks to the positive and welcoming vibe that Pressure provided. Competitive banter between non-DJ music lovers in the chat room led to the creation of the legendary ‘Clash of the Titans’ in 2010. Over 15 years in Spain, literally hundreds of DJs were given their first chance to play at Vocal Booth Weekender via the Pressure Radio broadcasts, many of whom have gone on to play at some of the world’s biggest and best Soulful House events. All thanks to Pressure Radio.

In 2024, the time has come to draw a curtain on Pressure Radio. Circumstances change, priorities differ and DJP has agreed to bow out with the final show on NYE. Rather than hand it over for anyone else to run, DJP prefers to keep the memory of Pressure and its legacy alive, with the website remaining as an archive and the live radio element being retired.

This is where Vocal Booth Radio steps in. It’s a natural progression. An amicable opportunity to continue with the legacy Pressure provided and to continue to provide a safe space for the, let’s face it, Broken Souls that we are to hang out, chat shit and listen to amazing music.

Check out the full station schedule, a timetable that includes weekly and monthly shows, presented live wherever possible and by DJs who love to share their personality through the music and words they have to offer.
We have some of the longest standing Pressure DJs with us who care to follow and also introduce a lot of new names. Rather than strictly House music like Pressure was, VBRadio will be a variety of quality music of Soul, across all its genres.