There are approximately 5 and a half weeks to go until I celebrate my 30th Anniversary as DJ Martin Jay. It is a name I started using when I presented my first ever radio show on CHOICE FM. Today I present to you my new look website.
Sunday 30th September 1990 at 8pm is when I started my journey as Martin Jay – The UK Prince of Soca. Choice FM was situated at 16-18 Trinity Gardens, Brixton, South London. I was 19 years old at the time, 5 weeks away from turning 20. My 23 year journey on Choice FM was simply amazing full of highs and very few lows.
From Choice FM I moved to Bakahnal Radio which is a radio station that was created by my brother Vinny “Vinchenzo” Ranks. I am still there to this day and I now help my brother run the station and you can find us at www.bakahnalradio.co.uk
I am sitting here with so many thoughts in my head that I want to share with you that it is difficult to know where to start.
Looking back on the last 30 years I have experienced my fair share of lows and disappointments, and in fact my biggest low was actually in July 1984 when I lost my father. I have never stayed low for long and I have always found a way to bounce back and experience some amazing highs. That is why the line “There is Sunrise after each Cloud” from Devon Matthews and Ella Andall’s song THE JOURNEY is my chosen tag line. Devon is someone that I spoke to on social media frequently but we never actually met before he tragically passed away in July of 2017 so I am happy that a small part of his legacy is able to live on via this website.
One of the most amazing highs in the last 30 years was the arrival of my son Duane in 1994. He is a very talented photographer and cinematographer and singer and he is doing some amazing things at the moment that I am very proud of. This is his debut single which he also wrote.
No matter how many times you get knocked down in life, dust yourself down and get back up. The last 5 years of my almost 50 year life have been some of the happiest and ironically the period where I have earnt the least amount of money. I have achieved some really great things and the horizon looks very positive.
If you have been part of my journey in any shape or form in the last 30 years I would just like to say a very sincere thank you and hope that your support continues because as VOICE says I am far from finished.
You are an integral part of Black British History Martin and you have helped to keep a generation of people connected to soca. Respect to you!
Fabulous great 100% kool
Amazing.