Pause buttons at the ready...

This site is dedicated to the Mike Allen Capital Radio Show, it will give details about the show and list the shows broadcast, I am hoping that this can become a definitive archive of any recordings that still exist and a place where fans of the show can share their recordings.

In the 1980's Mike Allen hosted a Hip Hop show on London's Capital Radio 95.8FM, the show was responsible for introducing many of us in the UK to the world of Hip Hop.

The show ran from late 1984 to the summer of 1987, in retrospect this short period of 2-3 years seems like a drop in the ocean but the reality was that Mike's show was massively influential in the growth of this new music form in the UK.

What was so great about Mike's show was his enthusiasm for the music and his unbiased attitude towards his playlists. If you ever listen to a WBLS Mr Magic show from the same era you will notice that the records played were almost all NYC releases or at least east coast in origin. Mike would play every type of Hip Hop no matter where it came from so you got to hear east coast, west coast, Miami and even the odd UK release, so complete coverage of what was happening at the time.

Every Friday night Mike would countdown the Groove Hip Hop Sales Chart. The 20 best selling cuts from the previous seven days in Groove Records which was a small independant record store in Soho, London that specialised in Hip Hop.

On a Saturday night Mike would countdown the Allen's Army Frontline Chart which was a chart voted for by the listeners. The listeners would ring in and leave a message on an answering machine quoting their favourite cut of the week, the votes would be counted and the top 10 rundown on the Saturday.

Mike also played a big part in organising the UK Fresh 86 concerts at Wembley Arena. The two concerts (an afternoon and evening show) took place on Saturday 19th July 1986 and were part of the Capital Radio Music Festival.

You're locked in to the Boss...