Cash Peters’ show is leaving 5Live
The End of Cash Peters’ slot on 5Live is truly a sad moment in the history of radio. I know this sounds OTT but i don’t care.
I’ve listened to it on and off since it started. The same year i got my first radio was the year Radio 5 was re-launched as 5Live, i distinctly remember the front of the Telegraph’s TV and Radio, which had all the names of 5Live dressed up as Formula 1 racing drivers and technicians.
The first time i stumbled on Cash’s show was a real treat! A mad, bundle of energy at bleary-eyed 2.30am, why is he not talking about Tv?! He’s a rebel, he took radio to the limits of where you could feasibly go on 5Live! Compare Cash’s show to something AWFUL like Man’s Hour, or the Richard Bacon show.
The summer holidays was the best time to listen to radio, mainly for the 10-1am and 1-4am slots. Usually i would pass out after the news report from ABC *cue amusing ABC music YOU KNOW IT IF YOU STAY UP AND LISTEN {from ABC news. doop duh de-duh i’m carl lafarge and wisconsin today the bear that never came home finally came home we go live now to Julia at the scene Julia thanks John for many in Wisconsin} and so it goes on gloriously, without punctuation.
On a Wednesday night (think it was a Wednesday but sure it used to move to Thursday sometimes too), after the ABC news Cash Peters would pop up! A ray of Californian sunshine at 2.30am. Cash Peters used to be a bit of a hero of mine: 400 words a minute, very gossipy, very exciting insights into Holywood. The slot was ostensibly about American TV (which is a great idea for a slot), i only realised today that the reason Cash never covered the Big TV news (ER, Sopranos etc. etc.) is cos he didn’t watch much TV, and never used to own one! Which is excellent.
Cash would start like he’d already been having a conversation 5 minutes before radio legend Rhod Sharp would go to him. Like a spinning top, Rhod would push him down and wheee off he goes for ~20 minutes, sometimes mentioning a sliver of news about really really trashy telly like Love Boat.
A lot of late-night radio develops cult followings. Me and two of my brothers used to listen individually to Cash, and then get massive kicks talking about the slot, how mad it was, how enjoyable it was, how AWKWARD it could be when Dotun ‘charisma’ Adebayo was hosting instead of Rhod. Rhod Sharp had a resignationary quality to the slot which was brilliant, like a tired father. Dotun just didn’t know what to make of Cash, or how to control him, or get him talking about TV! Very funny.
When i was at uni, and not able to listen to Cash so much (was obviously out clubbing at 2.30 EVERYNIGHT), i wrote an email to the BBC, asking them to segment out the Cash Peters slot from the Up All Night housed on the BBC’s old online radio player (powered by Real Player), so i didn’t have to scour the 3 hour long shows just to listen to Cash. They agreed! Which was a great moment, and for a brief few weeks you could get the Cash Peters section from Up All Night as a separate programme on the online BBC Radio Player.
So, farewell then, Cash Peters Up All Night slot. The last time i listened was about 6 months ago and it’s still wonderful. My love of television, holywood, gossip is directly linked to Cash Peters. It so obviously should have been on during the 10-1 slot, if Richard Bacon was as good as everyone thinks he is, he would have stopped being so sycophantic to Rhod Sharp, and wrangled and hustled to get the Cash Peters slot on his 10-1 show.
Please let me know if you too used to listen to Cash’s slot, and your memories.
link to the final show, Rhod meets Cash for the first time
http://vimeo.com/33817781
