LM Radio People

David Davies was the LM Radio Station manager from 1947 when it began commercial broadcasting until he retired to England in 1969. He cut his teeth in broadcasting as a young man in the 1930's working for Radio Luxembourg whose programmes were provided by the International Broadcasting Company (IBC) of London. In the later part of the 1930's David became chief announcer on Radio Normandy which was one of a number of English language stations owned and operated in France by the IBC. When France was invaded by Germany, Radio Normandy staff were evacuated and David joined the Royal Air Force. He was deeply involved in British Forces Radio throughout the Middle East helped develop stations in cities such as Cairo and Beirut. In 1947, Colonel Richard Meyer of Davenport and Meyer Pty Ltd, the recently appointed management company for LM Radio, offered David Davies the job of chief announcer and station manager, based in Lourenco Marques.

David had the distinction of being the first commercial radio announcer in Southern Africa. He became known as Mr LM Radio for it was David who developed the distinctive and popular music style for which the station was known. David will probably be remembered most for his Sunday night "Your LM Hit Parade" and for his evening closing message to the tune of the Goodnight Waltz. He presented many of the programmes aired over the years. In the sixties, apart from the Sunday night lineup, David also presented "In the Mood" and co-hosted "Special Occasion" with Evelyn Martin. He was a hard task master and expected excellence from his staff. It was through his drive and inspiration that LM Radio flourished and became a model for music radio broadcasting. David made sure that LM kept up with the best pop stations in the world. He would visit stations in the USA and Australia to see how it was being done over there. It was at David's instigation that LM first used jingles in 1964. These were produced and recorded by Dan Hill in Johannesburg. Later on David had jingles made in the USA by Memphis based Pepper Tanner company. These were regularly updated and were heard on the station until the early 1970's. Many announcers who started out on LM Radio went on to have successful careers in South Africa and abroad... which says a lot for the standard of training they had.