Goodbye pop pickers

The death of Alan 'Fluff' Freeman has triggered a wave of nostalgia for Radio Luxembourg and for his Pick of the Pops programme of the 60s. Like virtually everyone of my generation, 208 was the only source of pop music in my formative years, the BBC being far too snobbish in those days to broadcast much in the way of contemporary records. Freeman was one of many Luxembourg DJs of the era, the list including Jimmy Saville, Ray Orchard, Pete Murray, Jack Jackson, Tony Hall, Tommy Vance, Sam Costa, Jimmy Young, Simon Dee, Alan Dell, David Jacobs and your DJ BA Barry Alldis among many others. I would listen to my transistor radio beneath the bedclothes and when I got a reel to reel tape recorder I spent many happy hours recording the latest 45s, despite the notoriously bad reception from Big L.
My happiest memories of Alan Freeman are from his Pick of the Pops days. On a Sunday afternoon a friend and I would cycle the not inconsiderable distance to Crystal Palace Park with our transistor radio to listen to Fluff but more in the vain hope of picking up girls (we never did). Happy days? Not 'arf.
Nice article on Radio Luxembourg in today's Indy, plus many obits of Fluff in today's papers.
http://news.independent.co.uk/media/article2023838.ece