Radio Bahrain History (English Service).

(1977 april)

Ahmed Suleiman was the guy with the original idea of putting together an English speaking station. His idea was to eventually cover the Gulf but initially the strength of the signal went down the road for about 2 mile. He had to rob equipment from all over and he pulled in ex-pats from all walks of life, i.e. Gulf Air Stewards, Teachers, etc. The theme of the radio was based on the BBC World Service with accompanying frightly far back English accents. They where broadcasting for only 6 hours a day. At this stage the invasion of the English DJ and Radio 1 style of presentation was only in Ahmed's nightmares. (for more details on Ahmed see 'Where are they now'

Bobby Gee, Radio Bahrain, [old studio 77]

Chimes Disco Agency of Bahrain was made up of Tony Walker (owner Kodak in ASHRAFS) Graham Carter Dimmock (back), Tony walker & Gordon Hawthorn. They had the idea of bringing to Bahrain, English DJ's and approached Zartaj restaurant who agreed to have a DJ Wed, Thurs, Sat & Sunday. The first DJ was Bobby Gee (back). This was the first disco on the island and naturally was a resounding success, it quickly became packed every night and proved that the Island could do with another Disco, so the Tylos Hotel was approached and agreed to have one in their restaurant.

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The Tylos Disco (back) was advertised in a big way and Chimes had approached a DJ (Adrian Ross) who agreed to come out to the Tylos but had a problem with his passport. So, Graham Dimmock flew to the UK to find another DJ to open the Tylos; with little time at hand he phoned people in the industry who suggested Mike Ocean (moi). I was doing the Radio 1 road shows with Paul Burnett, DLT, Simon Bates, etc. I had just started a 3 week holiday when a call came in asking me to open a Disco in Bahrain, all expenses paid. My first reaction was "Where the hell is Bahrain" I was told it was sunny and full of stewardesses and I need only stay for two weeks if I wanted as the other DJ would have his passport sorted by that time. Hey, I wasn't going to turn down a paid holiday with those ingredients. I left everything in the hand of my partner and 24 hours later I arrived in Bahrain at 3.00am, Thursday morning, to open the club that night. That night was full and we all had an incredible time, the atmosphere was something that I had not experienced before. Two weeks later, Graham Dimmock told me Adrian had not got sorted, would I stay, only a fool would have said no. I was totally intoxicated with the atmosphere of Bahrain and the abundance of beautiful women

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Radio Bahrain [old studio]

During the first month of my arrival Chimes had seen the benefit of getting DJ's on the Radio which would help advertise the Disco's. Ahmed Suleiman allowed us in the morning to play Pop music from 11.00 - 11.15 only. The equipment was made up of an old Gates mixer & 3 Garrad turntables that took 1.5 turns to get up to speed. Jingles were made and played on a Revox reel to Reel, a total nightmare to time intros and with all mechanical switches it bought a new meaning to the expression "clunk, click every trip". With three albums and a dozen BBC records in Radio Bahrain's Library, the musical content of the station was very limited hence, we had to bring in our own records. Even though my first show, my first record "Ride a White Swan, T Rex" got stuck in the first 30 seconds (typical), we had a lot of people phone in and Ahmed increased the program slot to 30 mins then to an hour. The momentum had started.

As the programs were increased, out came Adrian Ross (back) to open the 3rd disco Dreamland. Salleem Baig had become a good friend of mine and a regular at the Tylos. So I initiated Adrian into the Bahrain way of life by keeping him up 3 straight days before his opening night, which with a little alcohol got of to a good start. Adrian joined the Radio Station as the hours of broadcasting had increased up to 12 hours a day in October 77. I had started doing the Mike Ocean Top 20 show on a Thursday night, Adrian was doing the lunch time show 12 - 1 and Bobby Gee was on in the afternoon but he was shortly to return to the UK for the love of his girlfriend (later to be his wife) and never return. I had just met the love of my life, later to be my wife (& 25 years later, still my wife and still counting) Carin Eldering (back) (Dutch) who had been living in Bahrain for 8 years with Kenya in between. Carin left Jashamals and came to work with me at the studio answering all your calls and requests. Bob McCreadie (back) had turned up at the station with Bobby Gee initially, later, sitting in on my shows. Bob was training to be a teacher in the UK and decided to have a year off and came to Bahrain. He paired up with Bobby Gee first then with me on the afternoon show and eventually took over the lunch time slot. I used to tape his show for him, then at his request advised and criticised. I trained him in the basic art of Radio presenting and in my personal opinion he turned out to be a far better radio DJ than any of us, he was just a natural (annoying realy). At the time he would have been classed as a cross between Noel Edmund & Kenny Everett, which at that particular time was a hell of a compliment.

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Carin & Me, Tylos 77

After Christmas 77, we saw the arrival of Paul Stevens to take over my position in the Tylos. Unfortunately there was a dispute between myself, Tylos & Chimes who felt I had nothing to do with the fact that to get into the Tylos, you would have to book a week in advance and the money they where turning over was phenomenal. The management was so dismissive of my contribution to its success that I decided to prove a point that a DJ has a certain power within a club. I knew by this time, nearly all the regular expats and with 3 weeks to go to the end of my contract, I played only the B sides of all the records, as they had insisted that the music was not the reason anyone came?!? and went around each individual table recommending that they leave and go to Dreamland, having pre arranged this with Salleem & Adrian. This they did, leaving Tylos practically empty & Dreamland packed and from then on they never looked back. Paul Stevens (back) unfortunately came to a club when it still had a bad rep with the expats because of their treatment of me and had at that time, established themselves at Dreamland and later the Galaxy, he then did a spell on the radio, helping to bring Tim Manns onto the scene but later left to join American Express in Manama (see below).

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Tylos, New Year, 77/78

This then saw the arrival of Patrick Allan (back) but the rot had set in and though he was a brilliant DJ he was unable to get the club going and it finally closed for a period of time. Pat became a good friend of mine and shared shows with Adrian Ross on the radio before his return to the UK. The Tylos later re-opened after some time (Oct 79 approx) with Tim Mann at the helm.

Bob McCreadie, Galaxy 78

before the extension

In the meantime, the Royal Hotel, heard of the dispute between myself & the Tylos and asked me & Carin, to assist them (Farook & Waheed Al Alawi) in designing in the Hotel the first purpose built Disco. I was blacklisted by the Tylos, so as to stop me working but with friends in Royal circles I was re-sponsored by my good friend Taqui the jeweller in Gold street (Souk) I was able to return and carry on. We imported all the equipment from the UK and started work in the building of the Galaxy Disco (back), named after the title of a record called Galaxy by the group WAR. With the first birthday of the Radio station coming up we arranged to open the Galaxy a couple of weeks after, on the 15th April 78. I got Bob McCreadie to work with me with the intention of doing a couple of nights a week.

By the spring of 78 Radio Bahrain was quickly becoming popular all over the Gulf, at this time I was lucky to have 8 shows a week which consisted of Mike Ocean Top 20, Revive 45, Soul show, Gulf Mirror Request show, etc. sharing the breakfast & afternoon show with Bob who later, when he dropped out of the Galaxy, did all the afternoon shows calling them the "Afternoon Delight" and I was able to grab some zzzz's in the afternoon. The original Jingles we both made were too rude, but if you use your imagination, you could probably guess what they were like. It became a full time job for which Bob was more suited. Bob had an imagination second to none, presenting competitions, etc. and became more involved with the running of the station with a little and occasional help from me, but with the running of the Galaxy there was not enough hours in the day for me so I mainly concentrated on my shows & the club.

"Hi, good morning my good people its Radio Bahrain; 96.5 on your FM dial and 1485 on the AM band...... so cram those digits in the dial and give us a call"

Carin & Me, Galaxy 78 after the extension

On the first birthday in April (2nd) 78, we went "FM". In one year this was a hell of an achievement!! I opened with the breakfast show on that day and it was organised chaos....... engineers where still connecting wires up to the new FM stereo mixer while we where going out live and I was going back and fourth between the old studio and the new..... during this time we had all the DJ's in Bahrain guesting on the show and linking up with the hospital. The dignitaries kept coming all day. This was what Radio Bahrain was all about..... RAW & flying by the seat of your pants........ that's the edge that made it what it was..... today you wouldn't have gone on air. All the shows were sponsored by big names e.g. Top 20, U.T.A. & Cathay Pacific, Afternoon Delight with Gulf Mirror, Revive 45 show with Gulf Daily News then later the Gulf Mirror, Breakfast Show with British Airways & Concorde Champagne breakfast..... Soul Show, Marlboro and loads more that I can not remember for the moment.......... A little known fact but I was doing the Soul Show on one Friday afternoon and was so relaxed with my free Marlboro cigarettes, that without thinking, I actually took a drag live on air during the rap between records.... boy did the phone start.... as this was Ramadan and you shouldn't smoke in public..... I nearly had visions of being on the next flight and out of there....... fortunately Ahmed calmed the powers to be and everything was ok........ My only comment OOOPS!!!!!!!

We did the first live outside broadcast at Ashrafs (May78) with myself & Adrian Ross at the store and Bob McCreadie as anchor back at the station. that was a laugh a minute none of us knew what we were doing, half the time we hit the wrong buttons, needless to say, that night all 3 of us got totally smashed in the true expat way!!

The Galaxy went from strength to strength, within two months we had expanded with one side of the club being a restaurant the other pure drinking and a stainless steel dance floor no less, in the middle. Besides the usual mob we were adopted by the American base as their official hang out. This made for some crazy nights. I must admit, I thought I shot myself in the foot by sending everyone to Dreamland when I left Tylos, though they initially came over it was still a little quiet as they seem to go back and forth between me & Adrian but with the ex-pat population growing all the time it soon worked out for the both of us and Adrian & myself had, what we would class as the two top disco's in town and dam proud of it. Some credit must go to two journalist friends of mine & Carin's and that was Ceri Richards & Kate Simpson who made sure that I was always in the newspapers, though sometimes not always for the right reasons (I tended to act as back up security sometimes and did not always go down well with the Guy that was being ejected), funny, they always seem to be in the club when something went a rye, anyway, all publicity is good publicity as the saying goes. Adrian for his own reasons, left very quickly and (back) Pete Barrie (sometimes spelt 'Pete Barry') arrived from my home town in Bournemouth and picked up the baton at Dreamland. Pete stamped is own style on the club and on Radio Bahrain later returning in 80 to open in Manama the first English Fish & Chip shop in the Gulf, which became a godsend to the ex-pat community. See a picture of Pete in the Rogues gallery at the bottom of this page.......

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Galaxy New Year, 78/79

With Radio Bahrain increasing its transmission strength and reaching all over the Gulf, to say we where all on a high would be an understatement. For the Mike Ocean Top 20, I was able to get the show on the air on Thursdays, just 4 days after it was on BBC (Sun) in the UK. The Radio Station still did not have any records to mention, so I arranged for my shop in Bournemouth to pick out the records on Monday, white label the blacklisted labels (RCA, CBS, etc;) and post them to Gulf Air offices in Heathrow, where one of the delectable stewardesses would pick them up on Wed, and bring them to Bahrain. They would phone me, sometimes as late as Thursday to pick them up for the show that night. I was very lucky, Farook had gave me his car an 76 Oldsmobile 442, as a gift but it still had the registration number 442, which in Bahrain, 3 digit or less, means it is the royal family, thus, allowing me to drive through red lights and to the radio station at horrendous speeds, with the police saluting me and probably thinking, "he looks pretty pale". In all that time, only once did they not turn up and I had to do the whole show on 6 records!! There was a lot of talking & hit picks on that show. If you were one of those stewardesses, then a big hello & thank you as I would not have been able to put out the show without your help. I then was able to get hold of Kenny Everett who was at the time in dispute with Capital Radio. He gave me cassette tapes of the New Captain Kremen series which could not be aired on Capital because of the dispute. I played the full series on the breakfast show. At that time we were the only station playing the tapes un-be-known to Capital as they were all still in court over Royalties.

1979 (May) I was offered a job to run an entertainment company and get a Radio station going in Sri Lanka, so we left Bahrain to start all over again in Colombo. Bahrain was an experience and a half for Carin and me, a community spirit that we have not found elsewhere. What was very spooky to us was when we arrived at the Hotel Oberoi in Colombo and walked into the reception for the first time to hear the background music all over the hotel was the Friday Mike Ocean Soul show on Radio Bahrain. It appeared that various Sri Lankan's had been returning from working in Bahrain and selling cassettes to all the major hotels of my Top Twenty Show, Revive 45 and Bobs afternoon show for there systems. So sitting in the lounge area, having a cup of coffee, hearing yourself from just a month earlier can be a little weird to say the least..........

......However...... the Radio Station continued to grow in popularity with all the expats, locals in and around the Gulf..... After we had left for Sri Lanka, Tim Mann had arrived in 79 and joined Radio Bahrain after wandering into the station and bumping into Paul Stevens and then later hooking up with Bob McCreadie. Around 1982 the radio Station moved from Isa Town to the old site of the Arabic Service in Adliya, under the control of Bob McCreadie. Bob had pulled in some friends by then including Mark Morrell and Tim Manns.
Tim did the breakfast show & the Lunchbox for 4 years during which time Geg Hopkins came in 84, his style was completely different and apparently caused a love hate relationship with the public. Due to this conflict Bob McCreadie resigned & Tim took over. Later bringing in Roy Silverthorne. Roy is still there and still broadcasting. Other disc jockeys on air at the time was Richard Riley, Malcolm Taylor, Ian Fisher, Cromer Collie, Johnny Allan and Roy the Boy, hey perhaps you remember them............. During this period the British Airways sponsored satellite link ups with UK commercial stations. All together Radio Bahrain linked with over 40 different stations and at its peak the show was going out for two 13 week runs every year proving to be very popular. Tim and Bob had formed a partnership doing radio advertising and sponsorship. Their biggest success was with Jasper Carrot & Rowan Atkinson in 83. Also doing Mobile Disco's, they probably done one for you.............

Adrian Ross returned in 84 along with an American Kathleen Pistillo to complete the line up under Geg & Co. By 1985, moves were afoot to move back to a new building in Isa Town. With a little internal resistance, the station moved back in 1986.

In 1990 Radio Bahrain went 24 and 7, a year later it was broadcasting worldwide on 6010 KHZ(49m) short wave....... The station now offers the usual local & International news on the hour, also covering the political, social & cultural activities with in Bahrain. Its music is still its main ingredient which accounts for 75% of its coverage giving 13 hours a day over the DJ's.............

........Tim Manns resigned and after a period of time, eventually left Bahrain in July 87 after a two year sabbatical, '89 found Tim in Qatar where he stayed for 6 years with QBS radio and also QTV eventually returning to the UK in 95........

That's it as far as I know for the Radio Station, being there at the beginning with Bobby Gee makes me feel akin to it in a very special way, if you have any more information for me then do not hesitate to get in contact and I will add it to the site..... Now back to us and our further exploits..............

1981 we had left Sri Lanka, and was now in Miami, Florida. Working in the Deauville Hotel, Collins Beach, this was a massive hotel and Carin & myself run the Musketeers Disco (don't ask) This is when the Brits invaded due to the weak Dollar, so was very busy, then my first daughter Bianca Carin was born, I went to Denmark, then, through the Bob Christy agency in Luxembourg, I had contracts all over Europe working in Holland, Germany, France, Belgium, etc. All this time we based ourselves in Luxembourg, I finished up working on occasion with Mike Hollis on Luxembourg (RTL) 208 and with Bob Stewart, Stuart Henry, who were unofficial God fathers/Uncles to my daughters and then left in 1986, just before it went off air in 87. With my second daughter Tanya Lian, who was born March 86, in Luxembourg, we came back to the UK. Luxembourg and Europe page coming........

1987 I retired from the music industry and bought a Mexican Take-away in the centre of Bournemouth, (don't ask) but this was on the main street that housed about 6 large nightclubs, so I did not really leave the industry, with all the DJ's & celebrities frequenting the business, I was just on the other side, so to speak. Later, we sold that and bought a 78 seated restaurant called "Scoffs" in Wimborne, which we enjoyed the most and gave us the best rewards, so we stayed and settled in the area.

2001 and counting, I am now (since 1994) a Projects & Commodities Broker currently specialising and representing Humanitarian Projects which I enjoy immensely, Through my Seal Management Group & HealthCare Benefits Inc., we are able to supply hospitals/clinics, ambulance boats, etc around the world to 3rd world countries and others. My contribution is donated free as I do the designing, Also have a small courier company, Concert Logistics and a communications company ICUK for wholesale telephone calls, broadband, etc. On occasion, with my daughter & wife as well I find time to eat and sleep........... on occasion.

Bianca past her A levels in Graphic design, etc.,...... she passed her exams at college and now is a qualified Holistic Therapist in Indian Head and normal massage and is currently taking aromatherapy, she has currently a Therapy room at the famous AMETHYST, Bournemouth, Dorset UK; for more details, get in touch through the contact page..... Bianca is now engaged to Simon Johnson and they are getting married 11th April, 2009..... Bee also has her own section within this site........

Tanya has gone to King Alfred's University, Winchester to do her Honours Degree in "Sports Development" and after graduation, she will be going to the USA to coach kids at a summer camp for 6 weeks, then back to take a 3 year course at Bournemouth University in "Counselling and Physiology"..... assuming if there is time between all her other sports activities as seen in the rest of this site..... She is off to camp Cayuga again this year (2008).......

Carin, Was coaching at the Canford Netball club and team manager for the West Dorset County Netball team, currently company secretary for "Concert Logistics Ltd" now slave, personal secretary, wife, mother, you know the usual......... and she is now squeezing in a hairdressing course (3yr, finish 08), just to keep herself on her toes....

Bobby Gee; he is currently living in Reading and was involved in the starting of a Radio Station called "BLAST" and worked for Reading College as the station manager. Now, he has now taken on the role as Publicity and Advertising Manager for JustOxfordshire, a Community Radio station in Witney........

Bob McCreadie at Pirate FM

Bob McCreadie; the old tart is still going on Radio, he is now working for Pirate FM 102 in Redrouth Cornwall, as Station Manager and DJ'ing.

Tim Mann; has now left Bath Radio.

Roy Silverthorne; He was the breakfast show presenter at Spectrum Fm Marbella, Costa del Sol Spain. Started there in July 2002 but now is the Drive time presenter at REM FM, Costa del Sol (www.rem.fm)

Graham Carter Dimmock; living and working in Washington DC as Technical Director to an electronic publishing company.

Adrian Ross; Thanks to Ceri Richards, we have found him, still in the business, as mad as ever, in other words, three parts short of a full load, but hey.......... you had to be that way to get on in the media business. He currently runs an entertainment agency in the UK and is playing a key role in the new Chorley FM, Lancs. Like me, not enough hours in the day but thats what keeps us going....

Ceri Richards; Currently in Wales and now a very eminent Researcher in finding missing persons, I know personally how good she is...... you will not find anyone that is that good and still has ethics.

Paul Stevens; Currently owns a pub in Suffolk and is about to take up to a year out and see Europe and then plans to get back into Radio again...

Pete Barrie; he owned a restaurant in Bournemouth only a spit away and was looking for a wine bar (glutton for punishment is our Barrie), and every time we sat down for a drink or meal together, we always end up talking about the infamous Bahrain and our time there and around the world because so much went on........ Pete (Barrie Thomas) unfortunately passed away in February 2005. He will be sadly missed, most of all his dry wit and charm that made him one of the most popular DJ's amongst his peers, disco goers & clients.......

Ahmed Suleiman; The station manager and top man as far as Radio Bahrain was concerned with out him, it would never of happened. It was Ahmed that encouraged me and Bobby Gee onto the English Radio Bahrain to be the first English DJ's on the station along with a Gordon Hawthorne.

Unfortunately Ahmed passed away December 14th 2005 and will be sadly missed by all of us that passed through Radio Bahrain's studios.........

Prior to his arrival in Bahrain, he served with the BBC as a broadcaster, producer, reporter and scriptwriter, from 1959 to 1965. While working in radio in Bahrain, he also served as a freelance reporter for Reuter News Agency and BBC.

Ahmed started off the English language station in a brick building in Isa Town, from where it sent out its first signals on April 2, 1977. 1978 saw it go from just MW to FM stereo as well. The station then moved to Adliya, before eventually moving into the now ultra modern studio at the Information Ministry complex in Isa Town. The climax of Radio Bahrain was when it started 24-hour transmission, initially during the Gulf War in 1991.

Starting a radio station in English in Bahrain was "certainly worth the effort", Ahmed believed.

He convinced the authorities that it was very important to have a service in English for expatriates in Bahrain and the region. Radio Bahrain had started operating at the time when real development started in Bahrain and the rest of the region, following the improvement in oil prices in the early 70s and never looked back...... perhaps with the exception of now.