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Xposure: John Kennedy

John Kennedy is on air on X-Posure every Monday to Thursday from 22:00 til 01:00

To put it simply, there is hardly anyone working in the music industry that knows more about new music than John Kennedy. And as if that's not enough, he's one of the nicest people you could ever have the pleasure to meet. 

 

"I first started DJing when I was a student. Me and a friend were bored with things that were on offer so we thought we'd start our own club night. It was called the Plastic Factory and it was a mish-mash between a lot of different music, a real cross section.

"Then I got involved in a little station a guy called Sammy Jacobs was running over the Reading Festival weekend in 1991. So I went and did that and at the end of it he asked me if I wanted to get involved in this station he was doing in London. So then it all happened, Xfm came into being."

What was the first record you bought?

"The soundtrack to Walt Disney's 'Robin Hood'. I think Robin Hood was played by a fox. I was given a Woolworths voucher by my aunt and I went and bought it. When I was a bit older, I sold it. I'd really like to have it now. I can still whistle the tunes. It was great. It had this little narration bit and few little folky tunes."

What was the first gig you went to?

"It was a band called the Merton Parkas. They were this local mod band that were playing the Wimbledon Theatre. It made the front of the local paper 'cause the first twenty rows of seats were smashed up by these young mods.

"It was in the days when everything seemed so tribal - you had to be a mod or a skinhead or a punk or a jazz funkateer or a heavy metal kid. And I was a very part-time, occasional, too-young-for-it mod for a few weeks."

What advice do you have for someone who wants to do what you do?

"I stumbled into DJing; started a club, started playing records because I had loads of records. I was the kind of bloke who would annoy people at parties going 'Oh listen to this, we should listen to this!' so it seemed like a constructive outlet for that. You've got to be able to sit in a studio for a few hours, on your own and play music.

"Perseverance is the real key to this line of work. Just keep at it and keep enjoying it. If you keep doing it then something will happen with it. Is that advice?"

X-posure

To find out all about X-posure, read the latest playlist, see which guests are on upcoming shows, to listen to recent live studio sessions and track-by-tracks or to check out John's weekly Top 5 tracks, just click here.