Wogan has 8 Million Listeners

But Who Picks The Music?

A staggering 8 million of us switch on our radios every morning and tune into Terry Wogan, the two key ingredients of which are Wogan’s sharp wit and the music. It may be the flagship for TOGS, (Terry’s Old Geezers & Gals), but in truth the age range is quite wide. With such a successful show, the Wogan banter needs no explanation, but who selects the music?

The answer is Doctor P. DeWinter McGuillycudie Courtney Claybourn Walters as christened by the loyal listeners, aka Paul Walters.  Those who listen to the show are just as emphatic about the musical input as they are about Wogan’s chat. The program features a superb mix of tunes many of which are happily well away from the mainstream. If a Stones number is wanted, Walters will likely look for a good, but often unplayed song from one of their many albums rather than just taking the easy route of opting for one of their obvious hits.

The choice of music weaves from rock to proper R&B to soul, country and folk or whatever is considered a good song. The play-list for each show is put together by Walters who is just as happy selecting gems from the distant past or discovering new artists. This genuine appreciation of music comes from a career that took him from a secondary modern school in Harpendon to become the producer of one of Europe’s most listened to radio programs.

Paul left school in 1962 at the age of 15 to take a job in the post room of commercial TV company ATV after his father wrote to the firm. His first weeks wage was £4:17s:6d (that's about £4.87p for the bairns), but he says he was as happy as a pig in do-do and it gave him a chance to see what was on offer. Paul recalls, “It was natural for me to go into an entertainment environment, I was a bit if a musician and loved drama, so it felt right”.

The musical grounding came from his father who played in jazz bands and he learned the guitar at an early age with groups like the Shadows as his big idols.  The teenage Paul Walters could be found gigging with his dad or as he says, “If anyone needed a guitarist I was there”. A key influence in those first few years after leaving school was R&B when bands like the Rolling Stones were evolving around the clubs of London.

In those days he recalls there were some cracking live shows which he would catch at his local Odeon, “In one night you could see Helen Shapiro, Billy Fury, Peter Jay & The Jaywalkers and Joe Brown & The Bruvvers on one bill” says Walters enthusiastically “It was brilliant”.

Walters stayed with ATV for eleven years, but decided to leave when the studios were moved to Birmingham. It was the mid 70’s and as there was no pressure, so he took a year out and did a bit of gigging earning enough to get by. Time moves on so he took a job in the complaints department of a Rank factory which manufactured TV’s and radios. It is strange though how a simple act can change the whole direction of your life.

Paul explains, “I used to get the train to work which was two stops from St Albans to the factory in Elstree. On the train I would read the Daily Mail, but one morning there were none left. My choice was the Sun or the Telegraph, I knew the Sun would only last one stop, so I bought the Telegraph. It was a Thursday and at lunchtime I was still reading it and came across a half page advert for the BBC. I later learned that Thursday was the BBC’s only advertising day. I spotted a job in the film department for which I was qualified. I applied, had an interview and got a job working in the television dubbing theatre. I often wonder where I would have ended up if I’d bought the Sun”.

After a couple of years dubbing, Walters applied for a six month post as a trainee producer working on shows for the likes of Jimmy Young, Pete Murray and Tony Blackburn. At the end of the attachment the management liked his work and asked him to stay and Walters remembers, “I really liked it and have been doing it ever since as it is something that suits me".

His relationship with Terry Wogan started in 1981 when he began producing the show and lasted until 1984 when Wogan moved across to television. It was about 1992 when he returned and asked him to again produce the program.

The success of the Wogan show and Radio 2 as a whole has been quite phenomenal. Whilst there is a grand strategy, it is down to the individual presenters and producers to make it work. Each week there is a playlist meeting which looks at the new releases. Walters admits that he may not take them all, but maintains that there are so many good records around so there is no reason to take songs that don’t fit, but conversely the show plays songs that others won’t touch.

Whilst the Wogan slot is said to be the spiritual home of Radio 2’s old fart listeners, the show has an amazing knack of bringing new talent into the public eye. It was the Wogan show that first played Katie Melua’s work, a decision that pleased several million listeners. The result was a Number One in the album charts for Melua in February. The same happened with Eva Cassidy who went from obscurity to massive recognition thanks to the Wogan show. Other fine singers such as Juliet Turner will not be heard elsewhere, but rated highly by Wogan followers.

When something new or different is played and liked by the listeners, the resulting emails and calls for more information can be very satisfying to the Wogan team. Of course Paul Walters places a great deal of planning into each show selecting the basic play-list up to two weeks ahead. The working day is not just two hours during airtime. Walters usually leaves home around 5.00am to drive to London and arrives in the office at 6.00am subject to the successful working of the many traffic lights. The next hour is spent reading up to 600 listeners emails that have come in overnight which he whittles down to between 80 to 100 for the show.

Terry Wogan arrives at 7.00am and they have a chat like the rest of us about last nights TV, the traffic, the weather or whatever and then on air at 7.30am. Other than the music play-list, there is no particular script as Wogan works through the emails, ad lib's and takes it all in his stride. The day doesn’t end at 9.30am for Walters who has a mix of planning meetings, working on new play-lists and currently he is making preparations for the nations favourite, Eurovision.

Among the daft questions, we asked what was his favourite food - tin tomatoes on toast. What are your top five songs? “Well of course it changes according to mood, but in no particular order, today I would go for Paul Simon’s “Kathy’s Song”, Elton John’s “Your Song”, The Stones “Down The Road A-piece”, Lennon McCartney’s “I Will” and Beth Nielson Chapman’s “All I Have”.  Basically I love good lyrics where the songwriter comes up with something special and I wish I had said that”.

His big hero was the Poet Laureate John Betjamin who he once met. Walters recalls, “I was working in the TV dubbing theatre years ago, it was lunchtime and everyone had gone out and I was just reading the paper. Up walks John Betjamin and says to me “Here I am in the heart of the Television Centre and you are one of the arteries”, I wish I had written it down and got him to sign it, I was really chuffed, it was a marvellous moment”.

What is the best concert you have seen? “Oh that was in 1979 I think when I went to Woburn to see Neil Diamond. There were 50,000 people on a fantastic August evening, the sunset, the atmosphere, it was magical, everything fell into place.” Any complaints about Terry? “Yeah, he has the knack of fading out some excellent instrumental bits such as good sax or guitar solos, I’ve told him, but I’m sure he just does it to wind me and the listeners up” 

Clearly the blend of Wogan’s chat alongside the music played works. The listening figures are quite remarkable having grown from 5.8 million in 1999 to 7.89 million at the end of 2003. Radio 2 itself can boast over 13 million listeners with a network share of 16% (source RAJAR).