This interview is from a print magazine I made as part of my fashion degree course FCP at CSM and was titled WMN -an acronym for Women’s Music News. It was a subtle play on the title NME, the print music weekly that was still in existence at that time. WMN mainly focused on stories about women in the music industry and Annie Nightingale kindly agreed to be interviewed. She had nothing to gain from this yet was enthusiastic, warmly engaging as well as very generous with her time. It was clear Annie Nightingale wanted to be accessible and open about her career to a younger generation which was very encouraging to me as a young woman with an interest in music and designs on becoming a writer/journalist. Art won in the end yet the below still inspires regardless of the medium.
The interview took place in 2005 and formed a critical part of my magazine.
Thank you Annie Nightingale. RIP.
Annie Nightingale, 62, was the first female DJ to arrive at BBC Radio 1 in 1970. Having had jobs as a newspaper journalist and television presenter, Annie brought a female perspective and enthusiasm to the BBC radio station where she now presents a Breakbeat programme every Friday morning from 0100-0300. Since Annie arrived at Broadcasting House, BBC Radio 1 has had many more successful female DJs who have followed in her footsteps but how did a mother of two in the 60s manage to break into male-orientated radio?
What advice would you give to someone wishing to pursue a career as a radio DJ?
Start off as someone who knows about their music. If you can be perceived as a specialist DJ I think it’s a far more satisfactory life than being a presenter who has to play songs they don’t like from a playlist. If that’s what people want then maybe that’s different, but to me, if you have a passion for music – which is why you wanted to do the job anyway – you want to play the music you like. When you get cast as a daytime presenter it’s very difficult to jump from that to being a specialist, I used to present TV programmes That’s For Me on ITV and The Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2 and then worked at BBC Radio 1.
Can you describe the music you play on your show on BBC Radio 1?
It’s now called Breakbeat and there’s a lot of quivering about the genres but it’s come from drum ‘n’ bass, wherever that’s come from! You can probably hear it playing in the background. Dance is a kind of umbrella term, a bit inadequate now. but the music I play is more urban than anything else. There are a lot of rock elements coming into breaks now. I’m interested in original new music that I haven’t heard before. New stuff is more difficult because it’s not so accessible so nurturing that and helping it go along, which can help make it successful is what I think I’m here for. I have a slavish devotion and madness for it.
When did you realise Breakbeat music was what you wanted to push?
It started about seven years ago and there was a genre called Speed Garage. The major record companies that still existed then spotted this new trend, jumped on it and suddenly there were all these Best of Speed Garage Volume 3 CDs everywhere. I think people started to get very nervous at that point because the speed garage scene had hardly started and there were all these CDs making it out to be something it wasn’t so it went further underground and became known as Nu Skool Breaks.
Why do you think music that originates from the suburbs is relevant to your listeners?
People can get into the capital without too much trouble and get their music heard. Places like Romford in Essex where the scene has gradually grown with people like Jani Macmillan. It’s taken it’s time and I’ve put my head right on the line with this and thought maybe it’s just me and if no one else likes this that’s it, I’ll be thrown out of the radio station!
You became a BBC Radio 1 DJ at a time when the station was changing its attitude to music and broadcasting after the pirate radio stations in the 60s. How did you fit in?
I wasn’t allowed anywhere near BBC Radio 1 because I’m female and now it’s completely changed. We’ve got as many female DJs now as blokes and the wonderful thing now is that it’s not an issue. I feel greatly pleased about that because it was such a battle and I had been involved in journalism working for a local newspaper in Brighton, had my own TV show on ITV, written for magazines and suddenly I went near a radio station and they said no because I’m female. It took me years to battle that door down. In the Breakbeat scene it’s vey male I almost feel like I’m starting again but I know that things will change.
Are there many women in the Breakbeat scene now?
There’s one DJ called 10 Sui and quite a lot of established house DJs are getting involved in Breaks but she’s someone who’s come directly from that background. Jem is more of a singer-songwriter and she’s very talented but not a millions miles away from Breakbeat as she used to work for a Brighton-based label Marine Parade which was started by Adam Freeland who’s one of the great Breakbeat heroes. Jem’s been discovered in America and I’m going to make a showcase programme with her soon. I think she’ll do really well and will appeal to people who like things a bit broader. The biggest names are the Plump DJs who won nearly everything at the 2005 Breakspoll Awards. The Evil Nines are such big blokes, so tall! I go out DJing in clubs and they invade the DJ box and its really daunting so I have to hold myself high. They’re all really good to me and one of them called me the Fairy Godmother of Breaks and I wondered what had happened to my fairy wings!
What were the main things you had to fight against when you started in radio?
Complete prejudice of being female. The other prejudice was that I hadn’t worked in radio before. They’re all techies and they love it so the first thing they ask you is can you work a desk? I didn’t know what that meant. Operating a desk on a radio station is like being a passenger on a 747 and the pilot and co-pilot have slumped over the controls unconscious and someone plucks you out of the passenger area and tells you you’ve got to fly the plane. You’re in mid-air and you don’t know what any of the controls do or where they are. Eventually you know a few of the controls but then things go wrong and you’ve gone off air. That’s a terrible thing to happen and you get points against you. My mixing is really bad and I’m trying to get better but even now I’m going for lessons just because there’s no excuse. I’ve got the records people want to hear on the radio coming in everyday and I don’t need to mix on the radio because I can talk over the join but when I go to clubs I’m a nervous wreck.
You’ve travelled to many places including Iraq. Are you planning any more trips for documentaries?
We’ve started shooting a documentary about Breakbeats but we’re not sure where it’s going to end up. We did a show The Last Weekend Summer Sunrise Party of 2004 at the top of BT Tower in London and now we’re researching where we can go to do that at the end of the summer, maybe South Africa or Moscow because I want to do shows about DJs and great towers of the world. DJing takes one to all kinds of interesting places. Warsaw was amazing, Krackow is really into drum ‘n’ bass. I’m going to Serbia to cover the July festival Exit for BBC Radio 1. Right now I’m concentrating on doing benefit gigs as a friend of mine and her baby died in the Tsunami in Thailand. The benefit is in her name, Ruby, and we hope to build a school in Thailand in her and her baby’s memory.
Since John Peel sadly passed away how do you think BBC Radio 1 can carry on his legacy?
There are three DJs who have taken over his slot on three different days and I think that’s absolutely right, I don’t think anyone has that extraordinary great sense of taste that John had and it’s a very difficult situation. Nobody would be able to mix it up like he did. John used to say that he wanted to play music he hadn’t heard before and I can’t put it any better than that. He was my support, the one person who had always been there playing music that wasn’t mainstream and had the respect of everyone to be able to do it. I owe him so much and miss him so much.
Is self-belief and vision key to your success?
I had very little self-confidence but I believed in the music. I’m not sure whether I believed in myself. Being a conduit between the music and the audience, I do love that thing of connecting with people, I really do. That’s what’s very important to me. I found that as soon as I was in front of a microphone the thought came into my head that I like this! For once I wouldn’t have to transcribe my interviews. I do want to connect with people. What a perfect job, listening to music and talking to people.
You’ve had an extraordinary career that was accompanied by having two young children. How did you manage to be a mother and have a high-profile career?
There are prices you pay. I had my children very young and we’re all good friends now. My son and I are more like brother and sister. I would have been a very miserable person to be around had I not been able to explore the things I wanted to at the time. At my early days at Radio One I’d take my children with me and I’d tell them to go off and run around Broadcasting House and I’d see them later. I wouldn’t know what they got up to. They’d come with me to festivals so they grew up with music. I had to be away from them for a bit but I didn’t go on long tours but you have to make a lot of compromises. My children were already born and were established kids by the time I’d got into Radio One.
What do you think was different about starting a family and a career in the 60s as opposed to now?
It was an incredible time because you could do almost anything you wanted and I feel very fortunate to have grown up during that time when such creativity and freedom was around and people felt like they could have a go at anything. Having children didn’t change that. When people are young they should have that sense of freedom. I used to go to what is now known as the University of Westminster to do my journalism course but I had a great affinity with people mainly from art colleges who tended to become musicians. I didn’t learn anything about journalism at all but I learnt a lot about growing up!
GEMMA O'BRIEN 