 |
| Radio Victory |
Back in early 1985, I was busily pursuing my freelance comics career from a bedsit room in Shearer Rd. in Fratton, Portsmouth. I usually had the radio on as I worked, and, one night, I was listening to a show by a DJ called GEORGE REID (I think) on the local station, RADIO VICTORY. (Whose premises were situated just along the road from me actually.)
George announced his regular 'phone quiz and offered up the following question for the consideration of his eager and loyal listeners. "I've got one, you've got one, everybody's got one - what is it?" Then he played some records as he waited for folk to ring in with their various suggestions. Eventually someone did, and the bold host repeated his question and then asked for the fellow's answer. "Is it 'penis'?" came the response.
The caller was immediately cut off and a record was played while the stunned George composed himself. When he returned after the song's end, he bemoaned what had happened, saying that in all the many years that he'd worked on radio (in America too, he was keen to point out), he'd never once had such a rude response to one of his questions as the one he'd just had the misfortune to hear (and inadvertently broadcast).
George then took another call, and a voice (which, to me, sounded suspiciously similar to the previous one) said "I'd just like to say how shocked I was to hear that last caller say 'penis' on the radio..." You could almost hear George's internal indecision over just how he should respond. The offending word had been repeated, but it was in the form of a complaint, so the repetition was perhaps legitimate - or was it? George hesitated and was lost, as the caller continued "...personally, I thought the answer was 'pr*ck'!"
George spluttered his indignation as I (and no doubt his entire audience) had a good laugh. Truth to tell, George sounded just a bit too far up himself, and the courts of the universe demanded that he be brought down a peg. He was, and in hilarious fashion too. His pomposity had been punctured, justice was served, and all was right with the world.
And what was the real answer to the question? I'll have to disappoint you all there, because I can no longer remember. I doubt it was as entertaining as the first one though. What do you suppose it might have been?
Update: I was astonished to discover after posting this that Radio Victory ceased broadcasting just over a year later on June 28th 1986. It had first started on October 14th 1975, and was one of the first 19 independent stations to be launched in the U.K. between 1973 and '76. It popped up again over the years in various forms and from different buildings, but I last heard it in 1985, 30-odd years ago.
The first thing that occurred to me, I must admit, was what the caller said. But that couldn't be it, anyway, because not "everybody's got one," only males.
ReplyDeleteI can't help but think of that saying, "Excuses are like anuses, everybody's got one, and they all stink." (Usually, the word used is some vulgar slang term for "anus." BTW, I did google "euphemisms for 'anus,'" but all the substitutes sounded worse.)
That DJ does sound like a pompous stuffed shirt who needed to be taken down a peg.
Mmm, everyone's got one, is it co...
ReplyDeleteSince publishing this post, TC, I've been racking my brains trying to remember the proper answer, and I was wondering if it's 'name'. Everybody's got a name, right? Or a heart? Any advance on heart? Incidentally, I also first thought of what the caller said when I heard the question. Great minds think alike?
ReplyDelete******
DSE, in all my 24 years of blogging...
(Well, it seems like 24 years.)
belly button
ReplyDeleteNot everyone's got one, Baab. Some people 'lose' them after abdominal operations.
ReplyDeleteBased on the world today [and it was probably just as true then] I'd say the answer is...an opinion. Everybody's got one.
ReplyDeleteThat seems to ring a faint bell in the recesses of my mind, JA, so could well be the correct answer. If not, it should be.
ReplyDeleteA body - everybody's got a body, unless they are a disembodied brain. I'm surprised that "penis" was considered so shocking on the radio in 1985 - after all, it had been 9 years since that Sex Pistols incident on TV in 1976.
ReplyDeleteA shadow?
ReplyDeleteI suppose a number of things would fit the answer, CJ & McS, but there's something about JA's answer (opinion) that strikes a chord in my memory
ReplyDeleteLovely bunch of coconuts ?
ReplyDeleteBoasting again, eh, Phil?
ReplyDeleteKid, if "opinion" was the answer to the quiz then it wasn't a very good one because not everybody has an opinion - try asking a baby if we should leave the EU or not.
ReplyDeleteA baby might not have an opinion on the EU, CJ, but it'll have an opinion on which baby food it prefers - even if it can't articulate it. (Apart from screaming at the ones it doesn't like.) So everybody has an opinion - on something.
ReplyDeleteOK, that's true but it was still a stupid quiz because, as you mentioned above, there could be several answers to the question.
ReplyDeleteWell, that can be said about a lot of questions, CJ (not talking Mathematical ones obviously). Have you ever read any MENSA questions? I think they sometimes come up with the answer first, then work out a question. That's because they could have more than one answer that would apply, but the only one that counts is the 'official' one.
ReplyDelete