Starpoint - The Real Alternative
Latest news from Starpoint.....
The webmaster has been away enjoying himself at the Caister soul weekender so it's another slightly delayed update this week.
Systems upgrades
You may have noticed that some of our shows are not running according to the schedule this week. This is due to essential hardware and software upgrades to our computer systems and our technical staff are working flat out to minimise this disruption. We at Starpoint are committed to ensuring that the quality of our broadcast streams is every bit as high as the quality of our music and we have therefore adopted a policy of continuing improvements to achieve this goal. Our sincere apologies for any disruption to the service and rest assured we will do our very best to complete this phase of work as quickly as possible. We thank you for your patience folks!
New shows, new presenters
New recruit Pete Simpson will be presenting the Midnight Saturday to 2am Sunday (BST) slot here on Starpoint every third weekend of the month with Wayne Reid covering the same time slot every second week of the month.
Another new boy on the block is Chris Box. Chris will be in the driving seat at Starpoint Towers between 6pm and 8pm (BST) every Sunday.
We're very pleased to welcome both Pete and Chris to the ranks of this fine radio station and we do hope that you will make a point of listening to their new shows to make them feel right at home. We look forward to hearing your shows guys!
Dj Blaque Velvet
Thought we ought to let you know that DJ Blaque Velvet is taking care of business in her Rare Groove Lounge whilst Steve Rumney takes a few weeks break. The Rare Groove Lounge brings you a heady cocktail of rare groove, r & b and slow jams every Tuesday night/Wednesday morning between 11pm Tuesday and 1am Wednesday (all times are BST).
Alan Sage RIP
Once again we unfortunately bring you sad news, this time of the passing of Alan Sage, a good friend and former management associate/presenter of Starpoint Radio.
Alan Sage was the owner of Mi Price Records (now Swag Records) in Croydon in the 1980's The shop was renowned for selling soul, house, and jazz, and had a particular niche in the acid house and techno field during this period. Employees included Colin Dale, Jazzy M (of LWR fame) and probably most significantly, Luke Slater. These guys along with Alan were major players in bringing the Detroit house sound to the UK. Luke Slater went on to become an influential house/techno/disco punk producer and released material under a number of pseudonyms. Alan was Luke's musical collaborator on his forays on the GPR label as Morganistic and Luke Slater's 7th Planet and also worked closely with Luke on many other projects.
Alan was also very much a radio man who helped to run several stations, these being Q102.3, Solar Radio, and Starpoint Radio. Throughout the eighties he helped to run and finance the then pirate Solar Radio,.When Solar left the airwaves he turned his attention to Q102.3 which was an alternative music station on which Alan presented a jazz show. Q102.3 went on to eventually become XFM which has been a legal licensed station broadcasting from London since 1997. In the late eighties Alan started providing financial support to Starpoint Radio and it is widely acknowledged that this support was crucial to Starpoint remaining viable.
Alan approached Solar when it returned to air in 1998 and started presenting his Jazz show 'No Room For Squares' which was one of the best received shows on the station. He was also instrumental in attracting advertising revenue to the station which again was significant in ensuring Solar's stability.
After leaving Solar in February 2005, Alan helped with the relaunch of Starpoint Radio, at this time his health was not good but nevertheless as was typical of Alan he put his heart and soul into the operation and his radio show 'No Room for Squares' was heard once again but this time on Starpoint Radio. Unfortunately Alan's run on Starpoint was fairly short lived as his deteriorating health forced him.to give up broadcasting.
Alan was a man of great integrity and he had a real passion for certain types of music, particularly leftfield and a bit of latin jazz and also some of the latest independent releases. It would be fair to say that his musical tastes were quite varied., he would never shy away from playing something quite diverse but would often follow it with a relatively mainstream track..Variety was the order of the day for "No Room For Squares" and most things would be played on his show just as long as it was left of centre.
Our condolences go out to Alan's family.
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