About Me! – Peter "PA" Antony

ABOUT ME!

Peter Antony, real name Peter Anthony Ward (born 29th October 1955) is an English radio disc jockey, broadcaster, Author, lyricist, and screenwriter. Peter grew up during the 1950’s in Suffolk during the height of the Beatles and Stones frenzy. He was strongly influenced by the music from this era. At the age of 8 years old his elder sister took him to see the Beatles in 1963 at the Gaumont, Regent Theatre, Ipswich, he recalls the experience vividly. At the tender age of 6 he had already decided that he wanted to be a DJ, realising that he would only have to work 2-3 hours a day. Peter disliked school, spending most of his time fooling around at Prep-School. He was transferred to a secondary modern where he was expelled and then went back to private school until leaving without taking any exams. Peter then went to Art School in Essex where he met a young unknown singer Sade who made the charts during the 1980’s.

In his early 20’s Peter moved to London. He managed to secure a job, through an agency, playing records whilst introducing strippers in pubs in London. He then moved on to being the DJ at Stringfellows Nightclub, where he met and became very good friends with the late Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy.

Broadcasting Career

Peter has been described as “a giant music radio personality”. He has worked in radio for over thirty years. He currently works for Heritage Chart Radio and Radio Caroline. He may also be heard on several FM and digital radio stations who broadcast his syndicated show “Q-BURN” which may be heard both nationally and internationally.

Peter is probably best known for his years at Radio Luxembourg 208 where he worked for 6 years (1985-1991) with the likes of legendary broadcasters such as Tony Prince, Bob Stewart, Stuart Henry, Neil Fox and Mike Hollis to name but a few. Luxembourg 208 was the most powerful commercial radio station in the world, broadcasting to audiences across Britain and Europe on 1.3 million watts of power.

Peter left Luxembourg in 1991 when he moved to Los Angeles, California, where he worked as a DJ in Stringfellows, Beverley Hills. Whilst in the USA Peter also worked for a cable radio station in Hollywood called KZLA. Whilst in the States Peter concentrated on his writing which resulted in him completing a screenplay “Kicks” which is yet to be screened.

Peter returned to London in 1993 and worked for commercial stations WISH FM in Wigan and Mercury FM, West Sussex. Peter joined Radio Caroline in April 2008 and continues to present a very popular live 3-hour album format show on a Saturday afternoon 1pm-4pm.

Since March 2024 Peter hosts a live Drive show on Heritage Chart Radio, which can be found on Alexa, the App “Heritage Chart Radio” and online www.heritagechart.co.uk, weekdays Monday to Friday 4pm – 6pm. Heritage Chart Radio was founded by former Radio One DJ Mike Read in early 2023 following the success of “the Heritage Chart”.

As previously mentioned, in addition to his live shows, Peter has a syndicated show Q-BURN which is broadcast by many FM, DAB and online stations many times a day, seven days a week. Weekly the show features two artists under “the Spotlight” whereby Peter plays four tracks from each featured artist which has proved to be positive exposure for both established, as well as new bands and solo artists. In addition to playing the music Peter promotes the band’s social media pages which has proved to be positive for the artists who have gained additional fans following a week of exposure of the Q-burn show.

Publications

Peter is a published lyricist and author to Highway Stars & Crosstown Traffic, a 20th century automotive pop-culture e-book, published by Digital Publishing Soho London. He also has a published e-book about the Rolling Stones called “Before and Beyond Exile on Main Street” it even has its own page on Facebook. These e-books are available on Amazon, Kindle and everywhere books are sold.

He has written for motoring magazines including Classic American.

Other writing credits include the lyrics for songs. He has worked collaboratively with artists such as The Lawyer and the Draper, True Lies and John Simpson. Songs are available on Bandcamp.