1 "I'll tell you my history; I went down to Spain the year before last, worked on Spectrum for a while, trying to set up various things, that was fun, and that all collapsed because my personal life collapsed, I had to come back to the UK and then I followed that up to a degree, and got back to Spain to see if I could organise something of a similar nature, save working on the radio in Spain Currently, I record what I do in London and then send it over to them and they transmit it

Are you going to live in Spain I m not going to be living there immediately but there s a possibility of finding accommodation, finding an apartment somewhere in Spain because I like Spain a lot. I don t think I could afford to live there all the time, simply due to the fact that most of my work is based in London.

What do you like about Spain I like the culture of Spain, and I m not talking about Marbella. I m talking about Madrid, Bilbao, Valdepenas places that I would call real Spain. What do I like about it, I like the culture. I like the tempo and I like the climate. I kind of like the beer too, and the women, and all that stuff as well. Would you want to live in the South or a big city I would like to live in Barcelona and Madrid. If I was going to live anywhere, it would be there. I think Madrid is a fantastic city. A brilliant place to be. The skyscrapers are a bit dodgy at the moment.

What will your Spectrum show feature My show broadcast in Spain is going to be the same format as the show I did on the BBC for 15 years which was the Friday Rock Show - a two hour blast of rock old and new Is that your music of choice It s not so much my music of choice but it what I m definitely known for. I ve done it for so long that people almost associate me with rock.

2  Tommy Vance is not your real name What s the story Tommy Vance is a name that I adopted in the United States of America around about the time that they had their civil war, a long time ago. I was living in Washington state, on the pacific side and I was driving from where I was living every weekend up to Vancouver to see my girlfriend. Each time I d go through Seattle so I started to drop off audition tapes to all the radio stations in Seattle. Eventually one radio station phoned me up and said, yeah we kind of like what you do. They said would you mind taking on the name Tommy Vance because it was the name of another DJ based in Texas. They had already made a jingle package for him he couldn t come because his daughter had an ear infection. So they said - would I mind calling myself Tommy Vance and the rest is history I said, for this money you can call me what you like, mate Before that, my air name was Rick West

3 What was your reaction to the demise of John Peel People who don t die before their time in the music industry tend to go straight to the House of Lords. Unfortunate for him, but when you die you die, don t you Unfortunate for his missus who had to go through the rigmarole of getting his body back to the UK. That was a hassle but to be fair, he s dead and once you re dead, you re dead.

Did you have much contact with John at Radio 1 I knew John Peel when he was on the pirates. The first show I did for Radio 1 was a dual hosting thing with him called Top Gear; Sunday at 3 o clock in the afternoon

Is there anyone who s got the chutzpah to take over from John Peel s mantle A lot of people have got the chutzpah to take over John Peel s mantle but I don t think the radio stations, either the BBC or elsewhere will allow them to do that. There s a lot more regimentation in radio now than there was in those days. I don t know who would have the breadth of knowledge that John developed. He would play anything. Eclectic is good eclectic educates. It increases people s appreciation of any art form. It gives people the ability to choose and to learn but it doesn t sit very well with the accountants.

What do you see as the Future of Commercial Radio ; If I knew anything on that level about the future, I d be a very rich man There are too many restrictions and pigeon holes, too many people on the national radio are just bland talking heads without passion or fervour; that s all that s demanded of them.. that and turning up for their air shift

4 Would you be interested in Digital Radio I am doing that now; I have been working for six months or so for Virgin Radio Classic Rock which is a very small aspect of their operation it s on the net, it just goes out on digital radio in London, on Fridays. I am in talks with another Radio network who sent me an email yesterday who said they will phone my agent on Monday to make me an offer. It s digital in London and has total coverage in the UK as well as part of the Sky package, frankly a much better operation.

Do you have more freedom on Digital Platform I won t work unless they give me complete freedom It s not so much that I insist on it it s just that I don t play that game, you know Unless I believe in what I m doing, I might as well go home. Frequently people have said alright then f**k off - and I have - and then I ve not worked for a while, but that s life

Situation with Spectrum.. I worked here two years ago for this station and it was so much fun we decided to extend the relationship and so I decided to return here a year later to organise something more permanent. Spectrum is the one that stands the chance of growing completely national in Spain Spain is a very good rock country Spanish people like Rock so it s good to be on the air doing it. And I ll shut up now

5 If I play it right, the station has a good signal, they should do well. You re in Madrid. You Lucky sod; I m looking at f**king Wigmore Street in central London!