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The late Simon Young referred regularly to Sloopy’s nightclub in Fleet Street in his soul and disco show on the Big D and there were live broadcasts from there on Tuesday nights.
On this occasion, Simon hosts a round of the Miss Sloopy competition at the club with the assistance of Martin King. The ten contestants are interviewed by Simon, Rose of Tralee style, and at the end there’s a surprise appearance from an eleventh entrant, ‘Julie Carriage’ who sounds like an early version of Agnes Brown!
The recording is undated but we estimate it to be from August or September 1981. Sound quality is poor and it was necessary to aircheck some of the recording.
The advert for the Miss Sloopy contest is from 1977 and before Big D’s time, but there are some interesting names among the judges! Many thanks to Brand New Retro for the image and to Shay Geoghegan for the recording, which was made from 99.5 FM.
Below are two sides of a Big D card sent by Simon Young to Ian Biggar in 1979. The first side features current advertisers with the station and the other provides a schedule. There are some big names among the DJs, many of whom would go on to national prominence on RTÉ Radio 2, including Marty Hall (Whelan), Dave Fanning and Neil O’Shea. Of course, that was where Simon himself ended up.
