Autobiography - Across the Waves - Nick Bailey
From his time on pirate radio in the Swinging Sixties to being the voice that launched Classic FM. Nick Bailey’s career spans fifty years of broadcasting.
Contains more than 140 pages of historic photographs.
Foreword by Paul Gambaccini
Produced by Otherwise Publishing - ISBN 978-1-9999222-1-4
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© Bob Larkins, photo taken on board Radio Caroline South's vessel, the mv Mi Amigo.
Born in London, the son of the actor Robin Bailey, Nick’s career in broadcasting got off the ground at the tender age of 19 when he started as a newsreader on Radio Caroline in 1966, in those final twelve months before the Marine Broadcasting Offences Act made the pirates illegal, the exact period covered by the film The Boat that Rocked.
Since then, he’s navigated the world combining his passion for radio and travel, working for five years in Australia where he emigrated at the age of 20 as a “ten pound pom”. Nick subsequently worked for over ten years with the British Forces Broadcasting Service and was posted first to Gibraltar during the period that Franco closed the border. Cologne was next, during the era of Family Favourites, followed by three years in Berlin at the height of the Cold War.
He also had a close connection with Hong Kong where his three children were born. Nick spent ten years working for both Forces’ radio and Radio Television Hong Kong where for five years he presented the morning current affairs programme in the run-up to the territory’s handover to China, including the tragic events surrounding Tiananmen Square on June 4th 1989. He was also the original BBC Radio 5 Live Hong Kong correspondent when he was invited to join Classic Fm.
Nick was the voice that launched Classic FM when the station opened on the 7th September 1992. The following year he was awarded a Sony Gold award for the best Breakfast Show, and in 1996 his Classic Romance show was voted Programme of the Year. During 25 years with the station, Nick became the only person to have presented every programme. Nick Bailey left Classic Fm on its 25th anniversary in 2017.
© Photo courtesy of Classic FM
In between radio jobs Nick imported Moroccan goods from Tangier; sold ice creams at the Moscow State Circus; worked in both a factory and a bookshop; lived in a brothel and was a rather unsuccessful odd-job man on a barrier reef island.
For charity, Nick has trekked the Inca trail twice; walked the Great Wall of China; and even broadcast his breakfast show from Calais prior to walking through the Channel Tunnel - before the trains started running!
For many years, Nick hosted Music Festivals at Sea for P&O, and presented the Classic Choice for British Airways.
Since July 2022, Nick has been one of the station voices of Boom Light, the sister station to Boom Radio, playing Easy, 50s and Standards music. And since April 2023, he's been presenting a regular Sunday morning show, also on Boom Light, between 10 and 12.
Currently living in Bingham in Nottinghamshire, Nick still makes regular trips to London.