On The Radio: A tribute to folk music show presenter Pete James


Pete presented the Folk Programme – Folk, Blues and Beyond – every Thursday evening, never missing a single week, for more than 15 years, which is an outstanding achievement.
His was one of the first specialist music programmes which we introduced in 2008.
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Hide AdWe'd been to a garden open day near Grantham to record a feature and by chance we met two ladies who asked us to publicise the Vale of Belvoir Folk Festival. We invited them to the studio for an interview and discovered how popular folk music is locally.
We invited them to present a regular folk programme on the station. They said they couldn't do it, but knew someone who might....thus began Pete's radio career on 103 The Eye.
Pete lived in Rutland and was a fine musician, singing and playing guitar, particularly at Grantham Folk Club, and even had his own record label.
His weekly radio show featured local and nationally known artistes, some of whom visited the studio to do interviews and perform live. Eventually so many artistes were sending him music to play that he launched a second show, Something Different, on Sunday afternoons.
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Hide AdOff-air Pete played a full part in the life of the station. When we teamed up with Melton In Bloom and Downtown Garden Centre as a community project, he helped to plant 200 geraniums in one of the heritage gardens at Melton Council Offices.
Pete became unwell a year ago. Following hospital treatment he hoped soon to be back on air. Sadly it was not to be. We extend our sympathies to his wife Sue, his family and many friends. He will be sadly missed.
Pete's good friend Tom Lane, who had often visited our studio as Pete's guest, has been presenting the folk programme over the past few months. This will continue.
There is now an additional way of listening to 103 The Eye.
Reception on 103 FM is very good in the Melton area since we doubled our output power four years ago. However, there are still some pockets of weak FM reception in low-lying parts of the Vale.
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Hide AdThese are now covered by our new DAB+ service. Car radios can be programmed to switch automatically to whichever signal is stronger at a particular location. We also broadcast online via our website, smart speakers and other media.