I remember in about 1997 when I used to listen to Atlantic 252 on a Philips transistor radio my Grandma had and she could only stand it for an hour. What really used to do my Granddads head in though was that echoing sound on 1215khz which was Virgin then. That still is a problem with Absolute when it's trying to get it from multiple transmitters in weak areas. What was the station that drove your parents or grandparents mad?

"Germany calling " Lord Haw-Haw .

Next -----

Radio 1 when it took over Radio 2's FM network on a Sunday at 5pm for the top 40.

My Dad hated it. I however was delighted.....Radio 1 on FM instead of MW

That was back before they processed and compressed the sound to within an inch of its life!

I think RNI was the proverbial straw that broke the parental camel's back.

My Dad referred to Real Radio, as "the station that plays that Boom boom boom music"

As a 35 year old at the time, Radio One after it was Bannistered drove me mad

That used to startle my grandad!

My dad went through a phase of hating Radio Leicester's opening sequence in the morning in the early 90's, probably because it meant it was time for him to get up for work!

And he often used to complain I had my music too loud (which was Leicester Sound more often than not!).

He's retired now but does complain about the music in my car, if it's any station other than Smooth!

That's a subtle answer.... Atlantic 252 was that Johnathan mentions in his original post to this thread was brought to us by the same organisation that brought us Lord Haw Haw...

OK that's a bit of poetic licence but the details are in the Wikipedia page for Radio Luxembourg. The Luxembourg transmitter was commandeered by the occupying Germans in WWII and used by Lord Haw Haw to broadcast propaganda to the UK, until the Americans arrived and liberated it.

Later on, after the English services on 208 ceased, RTL were involved in Atlantic 252.

Another interesting thing gleaned from Wikipedia is that the "establishment" were so annoyed that Luxembourg were broadcasting commercials to the UK mainland, that the UK authorities never allowed a landline to be used from the UK studios, to the transmitter. Paris was a different story, where a landline always existed.

Why did I read all of this ? A couple of weeks ago, I came across a photo of Sandy Shaw standing beside a car belonging to Radio Luxembourg at Orly airport, Paris, in 1966. Further reading revealed that she was 19 at the time, and had just embarked upon a European tour. That must have been a great experience for such a young lady - good for her !

Johnathan, as to your original question, it is very rare in my experience to find intolerance as to musical tastes. My parents were born in 1910 and 1911, and when I grew up to be a teenager in the 1960s, they let me listen to whatever I wanted. It was the same for all of my friends and their parents. It must therefore have started with present middle-aged people. I'm 65, and the only thing that I try to avoid is political stuff such as "Any Questions" because it is so boring - and the Today Programme. I put my fingers in my ears and go "MMMMMMM" . But many people love Radio 4 - and good luck to them ! Radio 5 is more my style - it's got plenty of "get up and go" ! But stopping young people that I'm associated with from listening to screaming American girl singers who sound as though they have their chest caught in a mangle - no, that's fine by me...

Have a great weekend ! Now where's that stream of Caroline ?

Brilliant post Phil Dodd, interesting historical context for 252!

I remember obsessively listening to Ceaser the Geezer when talk radio first launched. My Dad hated every word he said... Which made the teenage me want to listen more!

For my parents too, when RNI was being jammed during 1970.
My parents couldn't understand why I persevered listening to "That horrid noise" as they put it, when there was Radio One and Luxembourg playing pop music.

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall that when Atlantic 252 first started they were daytime only and gave an instruction to return to sister station Luxembourg on 208m mw (English service nightime only) when they closed down .

Events get out of order but I seem to remember Caroline at the other end of the MW dial around the same time

Atlantic 252 was 6am - 7pm when it first launched and on the close down announcement it said don't forget our friends at Radio Luxembourg on 1440 medium wave.

Later in 1991 Atlantic extended hours to 2am, then eventually went 24 hours.

Sunday afternoon returning from a day out having had to endure Sam Costa, Charlie Chester, and sing something simple it was Fluff on POTP my dad would shout at the radio but for me it was heaven I was so engrossed I didn't even hear him. (in his Austin Westminster)

Bizarrely my nan hated the Line era of Radio 2 even though it was aimed at her age group. She loved The Beatles, Stones, ABBA etc as well as Wogan & Davd Hamilton. When they went, she said the station became "cold" and she didn't want to be reminded of the hardships of the 1920s & 30s