Thorpe Park Radio

[Phill Pritchard]

Thorpe Park Radio was the park’s own on-site radio station that played chart music and ride & show adverts to guests in the ride queues.Unfortunately this Thorpe Park classic was taken off the air at the end of the 1996 season.Does anybody else remember Thorpe Park Radio?

[pluk]

I remember that, I remeber it being cheesy as hell but I liked it. Am I right in thinking it was done live, not from tape, and 'broadcast' from somewhere near teacups where there was a window that requests and birthday shouts etc could be made to the dj? Or have I invented that?

[Fred]

By teacups is the request window - there's also a door where it used to lead to the offices or something. On the door, there's still a sticker either mentioning thorpe park radio, or that something about radio. It's very, very cool.

[Han30]

I remember the radio - it was cheesy but quite enjoyable! I didn't know that you could do requests - shame they removed it

[alexander]

I never got to experience it, wish it was still around, could create some more atmosphere to the park!

[Phill Pritchard]

By teacups is the request window - there's also a door where it used to lead to the offices or something. On the door, there's still a sticker either mentioning thorpe park radio, or that something about radio. It's very, very cool.

Yes it used to be broadcast from the studio based in this building.It was cheesy but was great fun at the time. I remember queueing many times for the classic Flying Fish listening to Thorpe Park Radio. :(Edit - Blimey I didn't realise how large the photo would come up, is there any way to resize it? Edited May 2, 2011 by Phill Pritchard

[StevenVig]

I Clearly remember said Radio.In particular, I remember when I walked past and heard Take On Me - Aha playing.I suspect the supposed sticker Peter mentioned was on the window where they've have now inevitably slapped the new Merlin Advertising Panel.

[Zappomatic]

This is from ReRide.net which I still have backed-up and eventually will get around to updating and uploading again!

Thorpe Park RadioA presenter speaks!Every Saturday during his final year at university, Nik Rawlinson presented Thorpe Park Radio. Today. he presents The Lab on LBC (Thursday, 7-9pm on 1152 AM, London). Here, he tells us about his experiences of Thorpe Park Radio, how it worked, what they played, and why it ended. Thanks Nik!Why Thorpe Radio ever took me on, I don't know. The demo I sent was totally unsuitable. It was a long chunk of speech, punctuated at regular intervals by hic-ups. Someone liked it, though, and in late spring 1996 I got the job.Pay was £40 a day. Not much, especially when you take out the cost of travelling 67 miles each way, but enough to give a poor student, which I was at the time, some extra money for the week.I opted to work on Saturdays, the busiest day of the week, while another presenter did Sunday, and a third handled Monday to Friday. We never met, but wrote notes to each other in a large red log-book book in the studio. 'Don't let levels peak above four in the Fungle Jungle', 'Please note Splashtacular showtimes have changed this week.'For an in-house station, the set-up was fairly impressive. The mixing desk was a good five feet wide, with more channels, faders and gain and balance controls than you'd find in a professional broadcast station. Into this was fed a single microphone, two CD players and a couple of turntables, one of which ran slightly slow.Behind where the presenter sat, a large wooden unit, about the size of a filing cabinet, served as a rack-mount for half a dozen tape machines. These played pre-recorded output to some of the queues on the top rides. Loggers Leap and Depth Charge, in particular, opted out of the Thorpe Radio feed, prefering to promote themselves rather than the rest of the park, even though their audiences were already captive.The studios were located in what is now called Calypso Quay, looking out on the Teacup Twisters, Model World and, if you streched across the desk and craned your neck to the left, Burger King. They were two rooms, fronted by three panes of chunky glazing that weren't quite thick enough to stop you hearing guests bang on the outer window. There was enough of an insulating gap between each piece for you to safely ignore them if you felt unsociable and still get away with it though, especially if you had the music up loud.And the music was always turned up loud. Very loud.There was nothing in the way of a playlist. No prescribed set of tracks to be played at a certain time, apart from a general edict that after four we should slow down the pace in an effort to encourage people out of the park. We often brought in music from home, but the studio was stocked with an impressive range of material. To the left of the desk, CD racks mounted onto the wall held a range of compilation discs. A green floor-to-ceiling curtain sectioned off the opposite end of the room, which was filled with spare parts and several hundred 7in singles. Many were scratched, but there were some true classics, among them a dance remix of the Roobarb theme tune.The most fun was the half hour before the park opened up, though, when all areas except for the entry gates were fed direct from the desk, bypassing the tape machines.This was a chance to play loud tracks, as the team assembled at their positions and got ready for the day. The theme from the film version of Mission Impossible, practically anything by Bon Jovi, or U2's 'Hold Me Thrill Me Kiss Me Kill Me' were common. It was a small audience, but lots of fun, and there was no need to play the jingles or ads.The jingles themselves were very well made, and all led well into songs. They had definate start and end points, and some had no backing so they could easily be played on top of a track. One in particular, Mr Monkey asking visitors to come and see him in the Fungle Jungle, was exactly 28 seconds long, and fit perfectly into an instrumental half way through Like a Prayer.I have happy memories of Thorpe Radio. They made me cut my hair, which was long overdue, but warned me to take it no shorter than a number four, and I got away with never wearing a uniform. There was a sticky moment checking in one morning when the people who took the register had changed, and they asked where my uniform was. I spent an anxious few minutes sitting on a bench to one side while the tried to track down my manager, but as time wore on we got closer and closer to opening time and eventually they had to let me go, in my jeans and trainers, without a shred of a Thorpe Park outfit about me.I walked through the empty park, past the static rides, cutting by the deserted central square, and I felt I had made a lucky escape.Towards the end of the season the days got longer as the nights drew in and the management saw it as an opportunity for a fireworks display over the lake. There was no need to tone the music down - it could be loud and fast right up until eight, after which I would slip out and join the crowd, free of any uniform, and enjoy the display like a paying guest.I was sad when the park closed for the winter, and fully intended to return the next year if I was not doing other things by then. But when the call came the following spring it was no longer quite so appealing. The Performing Rights Society had noticed that the station was more than just background music, and as far as they were concerned it was proper radio. The music licensing fees were too high to sustain the station, so the presenters would be reduced to mere button pushers, occasionally permitted to announce a show or the temporary closure of a ride.And so I never did go back, but the further away I get from it the more I enjoy looking back on the long hours spent locked away in a noisy room all by myself.Thorpe Radio - the best radio station there never was.-- Nik Rawlinson

[Benin]

I suspect the supposed sticker Peter mentioned was on the window where they've have now inevitably slapped the new Merlin Advertising Panel.

It's been an advertising panel for years... I do wish people would stop blaming Merlin for EVERYTHING And it's quite funny how the park seems to have gone full circle with playing assorted real-life music from then to now... Only no Bon Jovi... I don't remember the radio though, meh... Won't stop me sleeping at night... I find Blackpool's tacky since I first went so I can imagine that Thorpe's may have been the same depending on whether or not they actually had the DJ speaking over it...

[Fred]

I suspect the supposed sticker Peter mentioned was on the window where they've have now inevitably slapped the new Merlin Advertising Panel.

Nope - the door to right right, top left corner above the smashed window. Can clearly see that sticker in the photo

[TraX]

I remember this very well! Great find, really interesting (you should really get that site back up on it's feet)!

[Phill Pritchard]

^ Yes, I couldn't agree more. I need another 5th Dimension fix *50th post *

Edited May 20, 2011 by Phill Pritchard

[Zusquared]

I remember a DJ called Dave, who had to endure wearing the same bright blue track pants as everyone else. Though I remember another DJ who didn't. Must have had a note from the doctor.I also remember bribing Dave with sweets to make him play a Smiths song.He promptly played 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now'. What a star.

[EmilyLovesVortex]

I never experienced this either, or if I did, I really don't remember it

shame the closest we have now is WWTP which gets old fast.. well it's nice, don't get me wrong, but an updated playlist would be nice..