![]() Robin said: "I was an English import on an American Rock FM station - it went to the top of the Buffalo ratings book while I was there."įebruary 19, 2014: Broadcasters Robin Valk, Ed Doolan, Brian Savin and Rob Golding (news) at a Birmingham Ormiston Academy gathering to mark the 40th anniversary of the founding of BRMB (by then Free Radio) in 1974 (Image: Graham Young / BirminghamLive) Prior to BRMB, Robin had worked for WPHD-FM in Buffalo, New York from May 1971 until August 1972. “Some of BRMB’s success was an accident, some of its output was self-indulgent, but we’d just got to the point where we were doing better than Radio 1,” Robin said. Robin was Head of Music for BRMB and sister station Xtra-am as well as Head of Research for the Midlands Radio Group until 1993. UB40 launch heritage music maps for city's railway stations.Rakeem Omar to take over BBC Radio WM breakfast show.Along came 2 Tone, The Au Pairs and UB40.” Read More Related Articles We recorded their first session at Incognito, a Cavern-type club which no longer exists below the Hippodrome. “I arrived pre-punk, ELO were establishing themselves and the Steve Gibbons Band was having their first hit with Tulane. Then I did 10pm til 2am for another five years. ![]() LOTS of training work towards the end."īut in a 2012 interview with Graham Young he said: “I was hired to be the rock DJ and did five nights a week for the first five years. ![]() On LinkedIn, Robin, who was born in West London and grew up in Notting Hill Gate, modestly described his 20-year stint with BRMB from 1973-93 in one sentence: "Just under two decades here, and I did pretty much every show there was to do, starting off as a Rock Jock, and moving on to technical areas and management. And how I’d love his take on today’s insanity. He had to flee Germany because of Hitler’s anti Semitism, eventually washing up in the UK, where he settled and raised a family. He’s not here, of course, but I would so love to chew over what’s happening with him. "Over the past few days," Robin wrote, "I’ve been thinking about my dad. Serious about having fun: Robin Valk in Paradise Forum on April 2,2012 (Image: Graham Young / BirmnghamLive)ĭays later, Russia's invasion of Ukraine prompted this thought on February 27 about his late actor father, Frederick Valk. There's not a lot of room for old farts like me." Recognising how radio had become "a totally different beast" to the industry he'd set out in, the erudite philosophy graduate from the University of York offered just one lament: "As I have become ancient, clients have thinned out, which is only to be expected. Soon, even its award-winning sports coverage would be consigned to history, never mind the idea of doing a classical show with the brilliant name of The Ride of the Valkyries. Read more: Radio rock DJ Robin Valk tells his inside stories about Midland musiciansĪlmost 20 years after Robin left BRMB, the station became Free Radio in March 2012, along with Wyvern, Mercia and Beacon Radio. Though long out of the mainstream, Robin was still hugely active thanks to his own - pioneering, of course - Radio To Go blog and Lives In Music podcast. He was 73 and had used his unrivalled passion for local music to help to pioneer the success of commercial radio in Birmingham.Īs a DJ, and in his role as head of music at the brand new station he had joined in time for its launch in February, 1974, Robin Valk had the encyclopaedic knowledge to channel BRMB's music direction at the same time as backing the city's innovators and songwriting geniuses.Įarlier this year, in a mid-February Facebook post that now reads like his own epitaph, the father of two daughters said his career had been a "magic carpet ride", from his fledgling days at the University of York to working in New York and then spending almost 20 years at BRMB before leaving during the Capital Radio takeover year of 1993. Reggae giants UB40 have led the tributes to Robin Valk who has died after enjoying a "magic carpet ride" career.
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