The news this week that Skinner’s Brewery had been rescued by another local brewery caused a stir within the memory of some of NCB Radio’s long serving presenters.

Aside from the prospect of once again drinking their ales, which we never need a second invitation to participate in, it reminded us of the time we met Betty Stogs.

No, really. In the early days of NCB Radio, we used to do live broadcasts from events quite a bit. Royal Cornwall Show, Rock Oyster Festival, Looe Music Festival to name three – anywhere which would let us in, we’d try to go to. We even resorted to organising our own in the form of the excellent St Kew Gig in the Gardens.

Looe Music Festival 2012 was where we met the aforementioned Ms Stoggs. We always used to enjoy doing those festivals – even if trying to broadcast live in the more primitive days of wi-fi and 3G was bad for the blood pressure. At Looe Music Festival 2012 we also met the now-famous actor Kernow King, who back then was a Youtuber and stand-up comic and the following year, we met the Darkness among others.

Not all live events were as fun or glamorous though. At Royal Cornwall Show 2012, we found ourselves trying to broadcast in the middle of a storm. The internet signal was so bad we sorted to sending recordings back to the studio via email, and we ended up taking shelter in the stand of a local car dealership.

Obviously, in the post-pandemic era, we’ve not yet sunk our teeth into live events again, but maybe it’s time we found some new events. Especially as we might get a reunion with our old friend Betty…

While we’ve told you a bit about some of the newer shows on NCB Radio, such as Rob Moore’s Moore Music Show, given we’re looking back at times gone past, we thought that we’d tell you a bit about the shows which have been on NCB since day dot.

Thursday Sessions with Dan Sproull (Thursday, 9pm to 11pm): Dan has been with NCB since early 2012, and the only time there’s an interruption is when he’s on a skiing holiday. The Thursday Sessions is our late-night slot for all things indie, alternative and unsigned. We love to feature the talent of tomorrow with a presenter whose Dad jokes are very much yesterday.

Sprigg’s Radio Show (Tuesdays 8pm until 10pm): Like Dan, Sprigg was one of our class of 2012 and his show hasn’t changed much since. Each week Sprigg picks a theme and invites listeners to pick songs for a theme. For example, one week recently, he picked a theme of songs which have whistling in them.

Perfect Pitch with Vincent Vega (Saturdays 7pm-12am): The man, the myth, the legend. Vince has been bringing fresh house, drum and bass and live mixes since 2011, when NCB came to be.