Six Years and Counting

When I first started broadcasting the BBB, it was an acronym for the "Bowness Bit o' Bollocks", with my surname, Bowness, being said slightly differently to sound like "Bonus". This was because it was an irregular mid-week bonus to The Z Show which was transmitted every Sunday with co-host Kenz. On 18 June 2005 I moved to Sweden. This meant the end of Z of course - while one could theoretically have two hosts in two locations, it just doesn't have the same dynamics because two people feed off each other with body language as well as speech. The BBB had become regular and - thanks to Slaygon - continued almost immediately after my move. The show came simply to be known as BBB and, for the sake of closure, was given the backronym of "Boz's Bit o' Bollocks".

The first BBB was on Wednesday 3rd November 2004. Tomorrow I would have been doing the show for six years. Initially, when I had worked out the dates, my reaction was "who'd have thunk it?" But the more I think about it, the less surprised I am.

I am, after all, doing a hobby which I enjoy. I'm playing remixes of old Commodore 64 tunes, which satisfies both the inner child and the inner geek. I was at the right age to own and appreciate a C64 and the SID soundchip inside, especially with the "two generations" of composers that came along[1] - hence, the inner child. Like-minded people came along, listened to the originals and made remixes using modern equipment - the inner geek.

More importantly, there's the listeners. The listener count has waxed and waned over the years but there has always been a core of regulars, some of which I have had the opportunity to meet in real life and some of whom have become good friends. The regulars know how the show works and I can count on them to come up with a line on the chat service that feeds my next dialogue between two songs.

I've never pretended to be professional by any stretch of the imagination. As I mentioned, it's just a hobby. When one thinks about it, it's just a random bloke from the Midlands playing tunes that he likes to play and having a laugh with a bunch of other guys that just happen to be listening.

That's the best feeling anyone can have.

Here's to six years of the BBB. Maybe we can raise our glasses in four years' time for the Big Round Number.

Thanks everyone!

[1] I've always thought that there were two major generations of SID composers. The first wave included the likes of Hubbard, Galway, Daglish et al. The second wave was Maniacs of Noise, the Follin brothers and so on.