STEPHEN KEARNEY
By the Dart INTERVIEW RADIO DART CAFÉ LOUNGE
S
tephen Kearney is the man behind Radio Dart and the Café Lounge. Dartmouth’s only radio station was established 18 months ago.
Stephen explained: “It’s an Internet radio station with an eclectic mix of music covering all genres including folk, country, classical and blues. We also run interviews with musicians and other local people. It’s more about the music than a news station, apart from a monthly What the Papers Say slot with the Dartmouth Chronicle. But that may all develop in the fullness of time. “It’s a positive radio station, with a positive outlook that
promotes Dartmouth as a happy and vibrant place. I set it up because I love music and wanted to develop my interest. Internet radio is a great platform for promoting the arts in Dartmouth and beyond,and a fantastic online extension of Facebook and Twitter. “We’ve had a lot of interest from
different parts of the UK and around the world, and tens of thousands of listeners tuned in last year. Dartmouth is such a stunning place geographically, and we are told it’s nice for people working in offices in Soho to tune in and see the pictures from down here and then come to visit us.” Radio Dart links to Stephen’s other music project, the Café Lounge, on Higher Street, which opened in May 2014. It is under refurbishment and when it reopens the focus will be on wine, coffee, nibbles and music – live and recorded - and a space to relax and talk about music, the arts and politics too. Stephen said: “We want to encourage people with talent to come and play in a nice, chilled out space. It’ll be a mixture of good local musicians and some big names. It has the potential to build on the music festival all year round. There’s a lively music scene in the Dart valley, which is gradually developing. And there’s definitely an interesting country/ Americana/ blues/blue-grass link to the southwest. We could be the home for a flourishing music scene – the Nashville of the UK! “Sasha McVeigh has played at the lounge and is scheduled to play again. Alan West and Steve Black are booked,and conversations have begun with James Lascelles of the Steve Harley Cockney Rebel band. Rhino from Status Quo has promised to play too with his son’s band if
STEPHEN KEARNEY
we can organise the venue.” Stephen is a musician and singer himself, playing a little guitar and harmonica. His life-long love of music started as a young chorister in the Elgar’s church choir, in Worcester, at the age of seven. He played in rhythm and blues and pop bands in the 1970s and had a bit of a wild time as a roadie with AC/DC, Thin Lizzy and Barclay James Harvest, with whom he, “learnt a lot and had a lot of fun!” He added, “I was always interested in music and drama,
and loved all that kind of thing. But then I had to go and get a real job! “I’m a big fan of old blues legends such as John Mayall,
It’s a positive radio station, with a positive outlook that promotes Dartmouth as a happy and vibrant place
Muddy Waters and RL Burnside and rock such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors and 1970s bands including Bowie and Queen.” Stephen started down the trainee manager route with WH Smith but his passion was more for the countryside. He worked on dairy farms in school holidays and ran a pony trekking centre in Wales with friends for a couple of years. He attended Harper Adams agricultural college then, in the 1980s, became a commodity broker, but felt the “hard-
nosed cut-throat corporate life” was for not him. He has a daughter from his first marriage and is now
married to Julia, who has five grown up children including Dominic, who has Downs Syndrome, lives in town, and works at the Café Lounge. Stephen and Julia set up Action to Regenerate
Community Trust (RE:generate). He said: “It was the time of Thatcher’s Britain, when
there was “no such thing as society” and the city streets were on fire. I could see very clearly that the work I was doing in the City and the current model of capitalism, was not, in my opinion, sustainable. “We set up the Regenerate charity to start listening to communities and build businesses, enterprises and voluntary projects based on people’s interests and visions for their futures. We adopted an agenda that started with the people in communities, rather than the ones set up by governments and multi-nationals who adopt a top down approach.” In 1999 the trust was one of the founding directors of the UK Youth Parliament and helped secure £126 million
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