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Tony Soley

Well here we go with another of our presenter profiles and this time, it's the turn of the fellow we fondly call 'The Guvenor', lovely Tony Soley, the hardworking Chairman of Apple AM.

What’s your name?

Tony Soley (Saxon for South-Field ?) A.K.A."Tone the Moan".

How long have you been a broadcaster?

I joined Taunton Hospital Radio August 1977. Orchard FM 1989-1990. Quality Europe FM one of the first satellite radio stations & sister station to Radio Luxemburg 1990 till it went bust!

Why is volunteering at Apple important to you?

Local radio has always been important to me and we have never really had a really "local community Station" and by that I mean supporting local artists, musicians, organizations in fact anybody and anything associated with the community, that to me has always been of prime importance.

Tell us about your favourite music genre and artists.

It’s very varied, I started in a church choir, went on to Skiffle and Trad Jazz, was always a bit of a Rocker (in the Fifties) Moved on to Modern Jazz in the sixties which has always been my big love, love classical music, (but not too modern) in fact in the sixties had a Classical jazz outfit called "Thee,Me & Opus Three" till I moved from London to the West country and that was the end of my playing drums. If I had to name two favourite artists I guess they would have to be Dave Brubeck who I have seen many times and ‘Head, Hands & Feet’, a country rock band from the seventies who I have also seen many times also.

Who would you have in to do a dream interview with on your show?

What an incredibly difficult question, I have interviewed many people over the years Mostly about music, which of course is very important to me. I think now, that I would like to interview two people more than anybody else. Number one would be Edward Heath MP who lied to the British people about Europe, I really believe now that he new all along the idea was not to just to trade with Europe but to be governed by Europe, as we now know. Number two would be Tony Blair. Any Country should not be lied to by the people who were voted in by the people of the country. Tony Blair lied about Iraq he lied about the referendum but more than that he lied just like Heath about Europe, I am English and like a lot of people don't want to be a European, but we will never know how many because we have been denied a say by referendum. Well, you did ask!

If you could make a wish come true for Apple AM, what would it be?

My main wish for the station would to be granted a licence for community radio for the Vale of Taunton. For many years we have been the hospital community station. But in the area there are a lot of more mature people, Blind people, and people who are not catered for in the community, this always tends to be the norm today cater for the young but not the people who have served the country for years, That is my dearest wish.

What’s the name of your show?

Every Wednesday evening I present a show of my first love in music, Jazz. "The Wednesday Show" as it was called in the past I have presented for over thirty years but not in this format, for over Twenty years it was the ‘Wilkes,n,Soley’ wireless show which ran on T.H.R./Apple AM and for a time on Orchard FM It is now called "Jazz on the Big Apple" and features a large percentage of jazz not available in this country, but sent from the U.S.A. many tracks pre-release. You can catch it 8-10pm every Wednesday. Since retiring I have presented the breakfast show, Monday to Friday 8-10am, it is a show to make you think about life and modern day living, you may not always agree with me but it will make you think. I'm not called ‘Tone the Moan’ for nothing.

What do you consider to be the highlights of your shows and do you have any new bits coming up?

I would like to leave the decision on any highlights to the listener if any! New bits; I always try to slowly change round the breakfast show. My music is different every day, as the rest of the girls and guys will tell you the great thing about this station is you choose the records yourself, unlike the majority of radio stations where you play what the computer tells you to play.
Radio has always been a big part of my life; I intend to go on for as long as the good Lord allows me.