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Page 1 of 2  Barbadian born BBC presenter Alex Jordan has been doing her thing in the UK on the soca radio show International Sounds of Soca. How’d a Bajan end up pushing Caribbean music in the country known for fish ‘n chips, and tea ‘n crumpets? CiRCUIT has a chat with her and finds out.
What influenced your decision to get involved in music? >> It wasn’t a conscious decision – music has always been a big part of my social life, and then I got an interview to work for a Universal Record Label in London. The rest is history. At what age did you leave Barbados? >>I like to say that I never “left” Barbados – but I left at 16 on a scholarship to represent Barbados, but came home for a year after those two years… and then was home for a year in between University and heading off again. Did you work as a DJ in Barbados? >> Yes! I worked as a DJ/Presenter on 104.1 Yess FM, but was never a “DJ” DJ like Peter Coppin – I was more a radio personality. I’m way more into music now. How did you get the opportunity to DJ in the UK? >>Now this was funny…basically at Notting Hill Carnival last year, I was pulled from the Poison UK band to be interviewed by Synergy TV from Trinidad, who were over in the UK making a DVD of the Poison UK experience. I had consumed a few rums by that time, so he made a real error in asking me! I grabbed the mic from him and started to set the scene!! You couldn’t stop me! A lot of people got back to me about that DVD. Luckily, an executive producer from 1Xtra BBC saw it and liked what he saw! International Sounds of Soca airs Sunday night 2-4 am. How long has the show been on air? >>3 years I believe. 1Xtra has been going for 3 years. In fact, a few of us DJs from the station did a cover for RWD magazine up here in the UK this summer – and it was a take on the De La Soul “3 Feet And Rising” cover. 1Xtra is 3 years and rising! Cricket fan or soccer? >> First of all– soccer?!?! Who says that? Cricket or football? Both! I’ve followed cricket all my life, but grew up watching Road To Wembley Sunday afternoons on CBC too! Now that I live in the UK, football has become an increasingly big part of my life. Just yesterday I paid good money to go and watch Australia destroy Jamaica 5-0 in a World Cup Qualifier. Oh well. How can some enthusiasts outside of the UK tune into your show? >>Easily! Every Sunday night at 9:30pm Barbados time (until the end of October– then it will be 8:30pm Barbados time) either tune in to your Digital Radio to BBC 1Xtra or log on to www.bbc.co.uk/1xtra and you can listen live with Real Player. What has the response to the show been like? >>The response has been great. I think I was lucky to get the show and launch around the time of Notting Hill Carnival, which gave me some momentum [magazine features etc], and also gave me the opportunity to report live from the road/float on the actual day. I think that a lot of daytime listeners to the station may have been intrigued to listen to the show after that…(she said, simultaneously patting herself on the back!) Give us an idea of how many people tune in live to your show, and how many use the web to hear your show. >>I have no idea – “kazzilions” I would imagine! Just kidding…well it’s a global audience, so whereas I thought at first who on earth would be listening at 2am – tons of people and not just from the UK! I get emails from Australia and across the US. DAB Digital Radio is the future, so more and more people are getting them – but I would imagine a fair amount who don’t have them yet, listen on-line. I try to focus on making the show good, and less on how many people may be listening. Skittles or m&m’s? >>M&Ms any day of the week. Especially peanut ones. How has the transition from working in Barbados to having your own show in the UK been? >>Well it’s been years you know….I left Barbados the last time at the end of 2000. So the transition has been the most testing years of my life – working many awful jobs, missing my family and getting from generally quite depressed to finally feeling like its all been for something. I am really chuffed and excited about it, because I hung in there big style. It has been nothing short of gruelling – Barbados is paradise after all. A paradise left. Your show is predominantly soca, how does it stand out compared to other radio shows within the UK? >>Well my show International Sounds Of Soca is the UK’s only national soca show. There are other soca shows, but none with the scope or the vision of ours. There is a real focus on the part of my team to include music from all the islands, not just the big dogs [i.e. Barbados and Trinidad] and I’m excited about what that will mean for the growth and development of soca music outside of the Caribbean.
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