Something Light & Bright with Barry Gomm

Barry is heard Thursdays from 6:00pm until 10:00pm. His musical tastes are wide, but he focuses in this program on a range of popular big bands music from 1930 to 1970, with a feature at 8:30pm of the children’s records that were popular in the 40s and 50s.

We often wonder what happened to some catchy tunes that were heard all too briefly on the radio. They were probably ‘B’ sides of records, the ‘A’ sides of which were popular at the time. In tune, this most likely meant the ‘B’ side numbers were overlooked when music from the era was transferred to CD, with the danger of them being lost forever. In Barry’s program you may hear these numbers again when he plays both sides of a 78 or 45 record. Also be prepared to expect the unexpected!

How did you first connect with GDR?

At some point in 1993 ‘barbed wire’ music caused him to change stations constantly. After much twiddling of the dial he heard a number by Flanagan and Allen, a welcome discovery that introduced him to the fledgling Golden Days Radio. He is a retired Mechanical Design Engineer; prior to retirement his radio experience was participating in a comedy program on another station and as an occasional guest on a current affairs program. His hobbies are veteran and vintage motoring, maintaining a record library broadly based on popular and big band music from the mid-1930s to the late 1970s, and constantly adding to an Australian comic collection.

Why did you want to be a presenter?

Barry joined Golden Days Radio in July 2011 as a receptionist. After 12 months of listening to and discussing the thoughts of listeners, he felt he would like to share his love of popular music of the 1930s to 1970s, dust off his record collection and get it to air. With much trepidation he took the presenters course, found a whole new interest and became a presenter. 

What experience do you want to give your listeners?

Music is one of the greatest reminders of wonderful times – Barry’s programming is dedicated to that thought.