Radio Wigan

Does anyone remember it, or Dick Hatch?

When my friend Dick Hatch, eccentric BBC broadcaster, Anglican vicar, lover of John Smith's bitter, Wigan and the Muppet Show, went to meet his maker, his coffin was transported in the back of a VW camper van (his preferred mode of transport) stuffed with helium-filled Kermit the Frog balloons. It was a fitting send-off for Dick, who has died aged 75. He was a flamboyant character, whose religious and secular broadcasts, not to mention his extravagant sideburns, earned him a following in the north-west in the 1970s and 80s.

He became part of the experimental BBC Radio Wigan. It was only on the air for two months, but was so successful that a post of BBC Wigan reporter was created for Dick. From 1983 to 1992 he was a familiar figure in the town, clomping around in his trademark Lancashire clogs, cloth cap and red braces. An avid supporter of the rugby league team, he went with them on many trips to Wembley. In 1992 Dick became public relations officer for Wigan council, staying there until his retirement in 2001.



https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2012/may/14/dick-hatch-obituary

A bit of a character it seems, I read a slightly longer piece about his life in the Guardian newspaper on line.

I remember him

Tell us more

Lolly wrote:Tell us more

Well, were do I start

He was across the road

Start anywhere you like, but make a start

Radio Wigan was there for three months, and it was on both AM & FM at first, but halfway through the AM was turned off, so it were only on FM for the last six weeks, and the transmitter was an 'array' which straddled the roof of St Catherines Church at Scholes, the array was hung from the Steeple to the other end of the roof, so it were at an angle, so you had a lopsided steeple, with a lopsided transmission array, which made it a sight to behold

Did you have lop sided ears

Do I look like a rabbit