Derek Taylor's Americana Backpack

Derek Taylor

Friday evenings,9-11pm on Radio Caroline Flashback

County Down born Derek Taylor had his first taste of broadcasting on BFBS in Aden in 1966, where his father was serving in the British Army, hosting the weekly Get With It Club! Back in England he worked as a night club DJ before entering drama college and then university. Graduating in 1979, he joined the BBC World Service, working on The Weekly Echo. From there his broadcasting career took him to BBC Radio Suffolk, where he presented a weekly arts show. But he fell out badly with the programme organiser over the anti-war song "Gallipoli". Apparently the song was too long and therefore too costly for the BBC to play. He was told he would never work for the BBC again, and hasn't. Derek next joined a group applying for a local radio license in Folkestone/Dover Kent, producing and presenting the news and the drive-time show. From there he moved to Thanet Radio and presented a country music show. In 1992 Derek discovered the British Archive of Country Music where he has worked ever since as an Archivist. The Archive has nearly a million country music recordings scanning the whole history of country music and its roots. It's this collection that forms the basis for his Archive Roots Americana Show on Radio Caroline. Derek Taylor has also written ten western novels, all still in print. He can't think why, other than the fact that he loves cowboy music!