Virgin: The Ray Cokes Show/London Calling
Starting from February 8th 1998, Ray concurred the airwaves again with a new
radio show. After much international rumour and industry wide speculation Virgin Radio was proud to have secured the
talents of this former MTV and Channel Four presenter. At first Ray only presented
"The Ray Cokes Show", but after a couple of weeks he also started hosting
"London Calling"
"The Ray Cokes Show" was a live interactive show with a Most Wanted
kind of atmosphere It went on air every Sunday to Thursday between 20:30 and 23:00 CET.
Interactivity has been high on Ray's agenda during every show that he did and this time
he pushed the meaning of 'interactivity' to the limit: There were of course the normal
mails, faxes and emails, but as an extra bonus Virgin offered an own chat channel about
Ray's show (#RayCokesLIVE) and a live webcam showing you the studio. During the show Ray
joined the chat room so listeners were able to talk to him as he went live across the
nation.
Although Ray was hosting his show on the British station Virgin Radio, fans from
anywhere in the world were able to listen thanks to the Real Audio live stream, that
Virgin offered on their website.
The Ray Cokes Show brought back Pathetic Pat. At first, he was sent all across the UK
as part of "Post Pat" with some crazy missions from the listeners like "Ask
my girlfriend if she wants to forgive me for the things that I've done (?!?)". At the
end, he was the man in control of the phones: he answered all the calls and some of them
were brought live on the air.
My favourite item on the show was 'the dating roulette', in which a girl had to choose
between two male callers. The next day, she went on a dinner date with the chosen one. Of
course everyone was wondering how it would work out between this week's great couple.
That's why Ray called them back a week later to hear their accounts about what went on
during the dinner and afterwards...
And who would forget 'Phone Sex', a very popular item that Ray had previously used on
Most Wanted: Ray phoned up a couple that was having sex at that exact time (the girl was
in on the joke) and he tried to push the boy into confessing that he was having sex. Of
course the item led to some strange (and very hilarious) situations, but it proved to be
funny every time.
"London Calling" was Ray's second show on Virgin Radio: it was a mix
of the latest gossip, guests, live music and a chance to hear "The London
Lottery" ... Every evening between 19:45 and 20:30 CET.
In July '98 Ray left Virgin Radio. This is the official statement, that he released:
July 20th, 1998 -- As you are probably aware by now, Virgin Radio and I have parted
company. I was not happy there; indeed some of my colleagues where the nastiest people I
have ever met.
I have been advised to say nothing further at present,......
In the meantime thank you so much for all your emails and support, whenever I'm down
you bring me up again.
Love and respect,
Ray
It seems a shame that he left under such circumstances, especially as the shows
improved a lot as time went on. Lets hope he will be back on our TV soon.
