Jo Bowyer (she/her)

First album? 461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton. I had no idea who he was, but my Dad was getting impatient with me because I was taking so long in this little record shop after I’d been given a record token for my 12^th birthday. The second album was Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. I scrawled my name on the front of the sleeve, thus ruining it.

Teenage taste? I bought everything 10cc ever made. Massively into Queen. And Bowie, obviously, from Ziggy Stardust through to the Berlin albums. I spent many hours at uni in Leeds in the union bar feeding money into the jukebox to hear Joy Division, Stiff Little Fingers, Wreckless Eric, Talking Heads, Television, Teardrop Explodes and bands like that.

Best Bowie Album? Slightly controversially, Station to Station, though I’m beginning to read others agreeing now, all these years later.

Great bands you didn’t see, and you regret it? The Clash were booked in Leeds, but it was just after the end of term, and I couldn’t be bothered to stay around. Radiohead (though my wife did see them, and before they were big too, which beats any story I can ever come up with!).

Best ever gig? Gigs, plural. Pink Floyd touring The Wall in 1981. David Gilmour picked out on top of the wall with a spotlight, playing Comfortably Numb was the Peak Experience’s Peak Experience. Manic Street Preachers in Swansea doing their Everything Must Go 20^th anniversary set. Goldfrapp playing Tales of Us. Peter Gabriel. Garbage. Haim. Depeche Mode. The Pretenders, just after they’d released their first album. Nile Rogers. So many.

Most recent gig (as of Feb 2025)? Fontaines DC at Alexandra Palace in London. Epic, even though I had just got off a plane from Australia so felt pretty out of it!

Listening to these days? All sorts. A lot of melodic house like Ben Böhmer and Luttrell. Or Liz Lawrence, Zero 7, Public Service Broadcasting, Wolf Alice, new stuff by Chappell Roan or Tessa Rose Jackson. Also, bands that really date me like The Four Seasons (especially after drummer and singer Gerry Polci joined) and The Doobie Brothers!

Fun fact? In about 2005 I had dinner with someone who claimed relentlessly to be Joe Strummer’s Dad. It was only recently I discovered that Joe Strummer’s dad died in 1984.

What’s your show and when’s it on? Across the Dial is on Wednesday nights from 10pm-12pm (UK). I’ll be playing all sorts of stuff, from songs that go way back to the latest thing I’ve found. I’m a bit of a music geek (no kidding?!) and the show is for people who love music as much as I do.

[email protected]
@jojotruk.bsky.social

 Jo joined Trans Radio UK in February 2025