''Carnaby Street'', also referred to as ''Carnaby Street International (CSI)'', is a radio programme broadcast on

Manx Radio Manx Radio (legally Radio Manx Ltd.) () is the national commercial radio station for the Isle of Man. It began broadcasting on 29 June 1964, almost ten years before legal commercial radio was licensed in the United Kingdom. The Isle of Man, hav ...

on Saturday mornings and features music from the 1960s. Presented by Chris Williams, the show formally comprised music and news from two chosen years with a general mix of 1960s music covering the transmission of the last Saturday of the month in addition to the monthly Radio Caroline North broadcast, of which the show forms part. However from the winter of 2025 ''CSI'' features a sundry 1960s mix as the playlist, augmented by a ''Listener's Top Three.'' The programme is sponsored by the Isle of Man Railways and produced by Chris Williams Entertainments. ''Carnaby Street'' is broadcast throughout the

Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...

on FM and MW frequencies. In addition the transmission covers

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

Southwest Scotland South West Scotland is one of the subdivisions of Scotland. Under the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics (NUTS), it was classified as a NUTS-2 statistical region. In the revised classification in 2016, the region was split into two s ...

and Northeastern parts of

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

on 1368 kHz AM (219 metres

medium wave Medium wave (MW) is a part of the medium frequency (MF) radio band used mainly for AM radio broadcasting. The spectrum provides about 120 channels with more limited sound quality than FM stations on the FM broadcast band. During the daytim ...

). It is also broadcast worldwide through the

website. The title of the show is taken from

Carnaby Street Carnaby Street is a Pedestrian zone, pedestrianised shopping street in Soho in the City of Westminster, Central London. Close to Oxford Street and Regent Street, it is home to fashion and lifestyle retailers, including many independent fashion ...

, seen by many as the epi-centre of

Swinging London The Swinging Sixties was a youth-driven cultural revolution that took place in the United Kingdom during the mid-to-late 1960s, emphasising modernity and fun-loving hedonism, with Swinging London denoted as its centre. It saw a flourishing in ...

in the 1960s. The show commences at the conclusion of the 8:00am news bulletin and begins with the playing the show's theme tune, '' Crunchy Granola Suite'' by Percy Faith & His Orchestra. Williams then gives a brief outline of the chosen years of that week's show, together with the artists which will be featured, and concludes his introduction with the phrase; ''"Let's get on with it!"''http://www.manxradio.com/radioplayer/od/1393/

Show format

Until the winter of 2025, the show's format was usually that of a contemporary presentation in the two chosen years. Williams, with the assistance of his ''"co-presenters" Gladys or Doris, the Tea Lady, Harry the Engine Driver and Roger the Fireman'', would take the listener on board the Isle of Man Railways time train, whereupon they were transported back to the chosen year. Music from the particular year was played together with Williams reporting contemporary news items which were spoken about in the context of the present tense. The format would differ on the last Saturday of each month when the show comprised a general playlist of 60s music with no specific years featured. ''Carnaby Street'' leans heavily on the kind of presentation common on

Radio Caroline Radio Caroline is a British radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly and Allan Crawford, initially to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopol ...

, making reference to that station's strong links to the

. Radio jingles and competitions which would have been familiar to listeners of

in the 1960s are common throughout the transmission. However if the chosen year is pre-1964 (i.e. prior to the commencement of Radio Caroline broadcasts), jingles from

Radio Luxembourg Radio Luxembourg was a multilingual commercial broadcaster in Luxembourg. It is known in most non-English languages as RTL (for Radio Television Luxembourg). The English-language service of Radio Luxembourg began in 1933 as one of the earlies ...

are used instead. Certain Radio London jingles also feature, and the show is very much geared to giving the feeling of a

pirate radio Pirate radio is a radio station that broadcasts without a valid license, whether an invalid license or no license at all. In some cases, radio stations are considered legal where the signal is transmitted, but illegal where the signals are rec ...

broadcast in the spirit and style of ''Caroline'' and ''The Big L''. Numerous competitions from the programme's sponsors are also featured with various prizes offered. The music covers a broad spectrum by well-known 60s artists, and the playlist also includes three; million selling records from both of the featured years.During the winter of 2025 a ''Listener's Top Three'' was introduced with the programme's listeners invited to

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the show with their favourite three 1960s tracks. The manner of the presentation and tempo of the show is upbeat and vibrant, being referred to by Williams as: ''"the biggest little 60's show on the radio."'' Often heard would be quips by ''Doris'', and now ''Gladys'', which invariably take the form of ''

double entendre A double entendre (plural double entendres) is a figure of speech or a particular way of wording that is devised to have a double meaning, one of which is typically obvious, and the other often conveys a message that would be too socially unacc ...

.'' The show generally ends with Williams reviewing some aspects of the show whilst ''Crunchy Granola Suite'' plays in the background. The edition is then available on the Manx Radio website to be listened to again for the following seven days. From 2017 ''Carnaby Street'' was also repeated in the early hours of Monday mornings as part of Manx Radio's overnight service. However as of the beginning of 2019 following a reappraisal of the overnight schedule the repeat transmission was discontinued with. Whilst

is a commercial radio station, advertising content on the show is from the show's sponsor only. However, contemporary radio adverts are also played in order to re-create the flavour of radio broadcasting in the 1960s.

Radio Caroline Link up

In November 2014, as part of the 50th birthday celebrations of

joined with

for an anniversary link up, part of which included Williams hosting a special transmission of ''Carnaby Street'' from onboard ''Caroline's'' floating base, the ''MV Ross Revenge'', moored on the River Blackwater,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. This association has seen further broadcasts of ''Carnaby Street'' from the ''Ross Revenge'' and in turn has subsequently lead to numerous collaborations between

and

Marine Offences Act Commemorative Broadcast

To mark 50th anniversary of the passing into law of the

Marine Broadcasting Offences Act 1967 The Marine, &c., Broadcasting (Offences) Act 1967 (c. 41), shortened to Marine Broadcasting Offences Act or Marine Offences Act, became law in the United Kingdom at midnight on Monday 14 August 1967. It was subsequently amended by the Wirel ...

, ''Carnaby Street'' broadcast live from

on Saturday 12 August 2017. This was part of a wider

commemorative weekend with an exhibition at Royal Theatre,

Clacton-on-Sea Clacton-on-Sea, often simply called Clacton, is a seaside town and seaside resort, resort in the county of Essex, on the east coast of England. It is located on the Tendring Peninsula and is the largest settlement in the Tendring District, wi ...

, in addition to which Williams broadcast his

Breakfast Show from Caroline's studio on board the ''MV Ross Revenge'' on Monday 14 August, to mark fifty years to the day when the act came into law.

History

The programme can trace its lineage to the 1970s with its genesis in previous

programmes of a similar genre such as ''The Golden Oldies Show'' which was presented by Stu Lowe. Following Lowe's departure from

, Andy Wint took over the presentation of the station's traditional 60s music slot, and subsequently set about enhancing the presentation style and the show's format, providing a more professional tone to the production. In 2005 the ''Carnaby Street concept'' was introduced by Williams resulting in the show's current make up.

Guest presenters

In May 2015 Chris Williams had to temporarily stand down from presenting ''Carnaby Street'' following a bout of illness, with Simon Clarke deputising. Following a period of

convalescence Convalescence is the gradual recovery of health and strength after illness or injury. Details It refers to the later stage of an infectious disease or illness when the patient recovers and returns to previous health, but may continue to be a sou ...

, Williams returned to present the show on 27 June. The programme was presented by Bob Harrison on 21 March 2020 as a consequence of Williams undergoing a period of self isolation during the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

pandemic A pandemic ( ) is an epidemic of an infectious disease that has a sudden increase in cases and spreads across a large region, for instance multiple continents or worldwide, affecting a substantial number of individuals. Widespread endemic (epi ...

. Still observing his period of self isolation Williams was however able to resume presenting the show on March 28, when he undertook the presentation from his home in

Peel Peel or Peeling may refer to: Places Australia * Peel (Western Australia) * Peel, New South Wales * Peel River (New South Wales) Canada * Peel Parish, New Brunswick * Peel, New Brunswick, an unincorporated community in Peel Parish * Pee ...

. Williams was again absent from 14 November 2020 while he recuperated from an operation, with Chris Pearson deputising as programme presenter. Following a ''"supposed disagreement"'' with Chris Pearson, ''Doris'' the left the show to be replaced in her role of tea lady by ''Gladys'', who made her debut on Saturday February 27, 2021.

References

External links

''Carnaby Street''

Street''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Carnaby Street (radio programme) Manx Radio programmes British music radio programmes