Mcmanaman's 'Radio Head' reviewed

ABCtales Editor Tony Cook reviews Mcmanaman's first major book:

John ‘mcmanaman’ Osborne’s first book, Radio Head, is described as a love letter to radio – and that’s a pretty fair description.

I guess I should be slating it – as it’s the first book from a mainstream publisher by an ABCtaler without a nudge and wink in our direction. I could take double umbrage as I worked in the radio business for many years and John didn’t care to pick my brains on its workings.

Happily, I can’t hold a grudge for long because reading this book is just a delight. Many of us know that John is a fine writer – but here we discover that he is willing to reveal a great deal about himself in the course of examining the innards of one of our great national institutions.

John is stuck in a dead-end job, data inputting in Norwich. His only light relief is the fantasy figure of Poppy across the office but she seems ever more elusive as the days go by. In order to make life bearable John listens to a different radio station every day on his i-pod. He doesn’t just flick in and out, he listens, non stop and a lot of his ‘data inputting’ is making notes of what he hears.

The man is obsessed with radio and its culture. He goes from Virgin Radio to BBC7 via Resonance, Kiss, Capital, Radio 4 and Test Match Special, to name but a few. Each day he regales us with the funny stories, the dire links and the sheer exuberance of each radio station. He ties them in to the drab and dull surroundings of his life and then goes off and interviews some of the most important people in radio, to try and make sense of it all.

You really don’t need to be a radio anorak to enjoy this book. It’s funny, incisive and captivating. I commend it to you all.

‘Radio Head: Up and Down the Dial of British Radio’ by John Osborne is published by Simon Schuster and costs £9.99.