Aaaargh! Where do I begin? At the beginning of course.

After leaving school (so far back I can’t even remember the year), I joined the SABC as a sound engineer. I really wanted to be a drummer but it was impossible to make a living from that unless you liked playing conventional music, which I did not. Although the SABC was very formal in those days - suits and ties and all that - we managed to have a lot of fun in the studios, which was not really allowed! This was the best initiation into radio and I had the opportunity to work with all the old greats on Springbok Radio and learn the rudimentary skills of radio presentation.

After a few years I got rather fed up with government radio and auditioned at LM Radio when I was still in my teens. Much to my surprise, they offered me a job on air. I was quite rebellious in those days which stood me in good stead later on in my career, believe it or not. It was at LM that I first came across "Progressive Rock".

I started playing Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix and most of the Supergroups of the day. I even had a minute silence on air when Jimi passed away. Needless to say, I nearly derailed my on-air career before it even started! The bosses were not too happy with me for the on air tribute I paid to Jimi Hendrix at 8 o’clock in the morning… Time is money, according to the laws of commercial radio. Say no more.

Eventually, the war in Mocambique got too hot too handle and I split. A week later, a hand grenade was thrown into the LM Radio reception. Good timing on my part.

After a short stint back at the SABC in the early 70’s, Swazi Music Radio opened in South Africa and I was invited to join the station. I was their first local employee and very proud of it. They were magnificent in those days. I had total freedom to play the music I liked and soon the audience joined in and got turned on by the sounds which you could find nowhere else on radio. This was when "Innovations" first hit the airwaves and when I started using the name "Buddy Lee" instead of my real name Leon Fourie, which was a bit cumbersome. Everyone was calling me "buddy" or "Lee" anyway, so that made sense.

For three wonderful years I presented the Innovations on a nightly basis. The timing was perfect. A plethora of bands were making awesome music and the show took off beyond our expectations. There were times when management tried to derail the success we were having with the show but on the few occasions when I was forced to play rubbish, the listeners took action and demanded that "their" show was re-instated. I fondly remember one particular day when I was called from reception to help clear the building of Innovation fans who had gathered in reception, complete with a petition, to demand that the show remain intact. The very next day, the show was back on air.

Eventually, due to pressure from the government of the day and the resulting lack of advertising revenue, the station had to close down. That was the worst day of my life. I decided to move to England where commercial radio had just started and joined Radio Orwell in Ipswich on the east coast.

I always wanted to live and work in London where all the action was and started my own radio syndication company in Chelsea in 1980 and ran that for 10 years. We were supplying the local radio stations across the country with interviews and, during this time, I interviewed many of my favourite artists like Genesis, Hawkwind, B.B. King, Lou Reed, Slade and many more. I was also fortunate enough to see all the live bands I always wanted to see when I still lived in S.A. I even saw Frank Zappa live. What a blast!

After 15 years in the U.K., and after the demise of apartheid, I decided to return home. Following short stints at Radio 5 and Highveld which I did not enjoy at all because of all the music "formatting", I became a full time voice artist and that is still my profession today. It is one of the most challenging and enjoyable occupations I have ever been involved in and I enjoy it tremendously!

I was convinced that my radio career was dead and buried and had no inclination to work in an industry where music choice is strictly regulated. What’s the point of all that? I refuse to be someone’s puppet on radio.

Then, out of the blue, David Blood called me up and told me about 1485AM and asked if I would be interested in joining the team. I only said "yes" because they promised me total freedom on air and in my choice of music. A breath of fresh air at last! The answer was clear. It was time to dust off Innovations and all the old sounds and bring it to the S.A. audience once again. Everyone I have met at 1485AM have the same goal in mind and, although we are small, our hearts are in the right place. They are a wonderful team and I am very excited about our future prospects!

I sincerely hope that we can have as much fun as we did in the "old days" – the weirdest thing is that people still like the music from the late 60’s and 70’s and many young people out there today have the good sense and taste to listen to "real" music. Don’t get me wrong – some of the music released currently is excellent but it hardly gets any exposure on air. I will be playing some of that too…