FEATURE:
New Beginnings…
An Amazing Year for Shaun Keaveny and Community Garden Radio
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IT was epically emotional last year…
when Shaun Keaveny departed the airwaves at BBC Radio 6 Music. He was one major reason why I discovered the station and have been devoted to it for years. In fact, I got a tattoo of the station’s logo a few years back. Now, it sort of seems like a tattoo of your ex-wife when you are with your new girlfriend! Even though Keaveny was definitely not given the respect and opportunity he deserved after so many loyal years (fourteen!) at BBC Radio 6 Music, it has sort of been a mixed blessing. The final song he played as he bade an emotional farewell to his listeners was Carpenters’ We've Only Just Begun. It was a song that was devastating in its beauty and raw emotion. Reaching deep into our hearts and tear ducts at such a raw and upsetting moment. In fact, there was wisdom and truth in the song. The lines “Before the risin' sun, we fly/So many roads to choose/We'll start out walkin' and learn to run/(And yes, we've just begun)” seemed not to suggest this was something morbid or a full stop. In fact, there was this opportunity for new horizons. I must admit that it is not the same without Shaun Keaveny on BBC Radio 6 Music weekday afternoons. He was a definite and unmatched highlight! I will explore more of Keaveny’s 2022 and why he has made such a difference in the lives of so many people.
It was quite a hard transition moving from an established and high-profile afternoon show to essentially being in the wilderness for a bit. Unsure of what the next venture would be, Community Garden Radio was sparked. Beginning (I think) a radio revolution, it is a station backed by Patreon supporters (or ‘gardeners’). Rather than languishing and dwelling on a deep loss, Keaveny did begin this revolution. As we can hear from this interview from The Guardian from April, there were modest beginnings. Although the weekly show (that starts at 1 p.m. with a mix prior to that) now comes from a space in Fitzrovia, Keaveny was broadcasting from his top room in his North London home at the start:
“Once a leading light at the BBC with his much-loved 6 Music show, Shaun Keaveny is now presenting from a cramped studio to a much smaller audience. But he wouldn’t have it any other way…
Shaun Keaveny is broadcasting to a couple of thousand people from a forgotten back room in a shabby Soho office that’s all glass and no insulation. The ambience is more knackered 1970s comp than radio studio.
“If I was me 18 months ago looking at what I’m doing now, I’d be thinking, ‘Ah, that’s a shame, isn’t it? He used to have this massive platform and now look at what he’s doing,’” says Keaveny who, until September last year, was used to six-figure audiences and the BBC Radio 6 Music studios where things, you know, worked.
PHOTO CREDIT: Dean Chalkley/The Observer
“It’s taken me ages to get my head round, but when you drill down into what we’re doing here it’s phenomenal,” he says. And what he’s doing is of interest because it may possibly be the future of radio in the same way that YouTube was once the future (now the present) of video: a live, independent radio show broadcast via Patreon, the digital platform that lets supporters subscribe to projects and give creators a steady income. In this case, £4 a month to access Shaun Keaveny’s Creative Cul de Sac, a weekly Friday radio show, a podcast and daily written and recorded missives.
It adds up to quite a lot of Keaveny (“To be honest, I’m knackered, I took on a lot when I left 6 Music because I thought half of it was going to fail. But things started working straight away.”)
But before we get to the future, we have to deal with the past, and the reason why the 49-year-old has been forced into DIY radio rather than remaining a beloved 6 Music presence. In June last year, after a 14-year run, first on breakfast and then afternoons, he announced he was leaving. “Things change, places change, people change and it’s time for a change,” he said at the time”.
On 20th December, 2021, the first tests and sounds from that top room were broadcast. Almost a year later, you can get some CGR merchandise, and join the growing and loving base of gardeners. In the space of a year, the exciting-yet-tentative venture has flourished and blossomed into something wonderful. I shall wrap up talking about the recent Christmas special that came from the 100 Club in Oxford Street, London. There are so many reasons why I am featuring various broadcasters before the year is through. Radio has been such a continuing and powerful source of comfort and company that bonds people around the world. Having met many of the ‘gardeners’ on Monday, they come from all walks of lives and backgrounds. It is a community that has so much love and commitment the Community Garden radio. I may be repeating myself and may miss a few things out, but I was keen to pay thanks to Shaun Keaveny on a remarkable 2022. Not only has Community Garden Radio delivered some excellent live broadcasts from around London, but the man himself has been very busy on other networks. In addition to covering from Liza Tarbuck, he has stood in for Robert Elms on BBC Radio London, done a series of shows for Greatest Hits Radio, and he is standing in for Johnnie Walker on BBC Radio 2 from 6th January. It is clear that there is a lot of demand for someone who can transition and adapt with ease. Keaveny is such a flexible and excellent broadcaster that he can make any station his home!
I think, in years to come, there will be a genuine offer from a station like BBC Radio 2 for a permanent show. Maybe feeling freer and happier with Community Garden Radio, it would not be a shock if he was made a regular face back at the BBC. I forgot to mention the fact Keaveny has appeared on podcasts through 2022, in addition to continuing The Line-Up. As a ‘festival genie’, he grants guests the chance to chooser their own festival line-up and name it. It is a great series that will run for years. He also hosts Your Place or Mine with Shaun Keaveny on BBC Radio 4. There is a new series planned I understand. It is a wonder Keaveny has any time to rest or breathe, but I am glad that he has been offered so much and made so many opportunities for himself! It is clear how much he loves broadcasting and how much it means connecting with listeners. I think that we might see more of him on the small screen in 2023. More associated with his broadcasting, I would love to see some documentaries and T.V. shows featuring Keaveny (surely one on Dire Straits is overdue?!). On 20th December, it will be quite impressive looking back on the last year! From the nervous first tests and runs to this burgeoning and extraordinary station, it has been one hell of a year! Thanks must also go to Community Garden Radio producer, Ben Tulloh. Keaveny’s much-trusted and remarkable friend and colleague has been as instrumental in making Community Garden Radio what it is. Also props to Clive Tulloh and Kitty and everyone on the team, but there is this strong bond and chemistry between Keaveny and Tulloh. Their closeness has helped to turn Community Garden Radio into such a success.
I was at the Christmas live show from the 100 Club on Monday. It was the first time I had seen CGR live (they have held some at Spiritland before), and it was one of the highlights of my year. Not only did I laugh so hard and feel surrounded by my tribe and people who wanted to show their love to Shaun Keaveny, but it felt amazing seeing this acorn of a radio station explode into a tall and proud tree (or, as it is a garden, maybe some beautiful flowers)! Community Garden Radio will definitely inspire others to start their own station. Those who want some independence and are not sure whether they can reach a really large audience. I am not sure whether even someone as established as Shaun Keaveny thought, almost a year ago, that those test sounds and first broadcast would lead to what he has now! He has humbly said how he is in awe of legends like Johnnie Walker and Liza Tarbuck. I would place him alongside them. At the age of fifty, we are going to hear decades more from the Leigh-born legend! It has been an even more challenging year than the past couple in many ways, and there has been little in the way of light or positivity. Community Garden Radio has been a beacon for thousands of people! In addition to CGR work, Keaveny has interviewed Joe Lycett (who has been a fan of Keaveny’s for a long time), presented on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio London, BBC Radio 4 and Greatest Hits Radio, and has also shown BBC Radio 6 Music what an enormous asset he was – and what a loss to the station his departure was! At the end of a tough 2022, I think Shaun Keaveny can be very proud of all that he has achieved. He is most certainly…
ONE of the all-time great broadcasters.