'I will cry the day I leave': Dubai DJ Mark Lloyd signs out from UAE radio

Mark Lloyd, a champion of the local music scene, is embarking on a new chapter after more than three decades on the airwaves

Mark Lloyd during his time at Dubai 92 in the early 1990s. Photo: Mark Lloyd \

The popular Dubai-based DJ at the Dubai Eye studios, preparing to broadcast his last show in the UAE. Pawan Singh / The National

The presenter with colleagues at the Dubai 92 broadcast van in the early 1990s. Photo: Mark Lloyd

The British-born DJ first came to the UAE in the 1980s as part of a duo with Michelle Brown. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Mark and Michelle, known as the 'Blitz Duo', played in hotels and even for the US military. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Mark, on keyboards, and Michelle performed a show on the USS Portland, January, 1991. Photo: Michelle Brown

Mark at mixing desk at Dubai 92 in the 1990s. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Mark with Nile Rodgers. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Mark with the late music producer Quincy Jones. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Mark with Cliff Richard. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Mark with The Supremes. Photo: Mark Lloyd

Popular Dubai-based DJ Mark Lloyd has been reflecting on his career before he leaves UAE radio. The veteran presenter, 66, will host the last “The Nightshift” show on Dubai Eye on Thursday.

It will be an emotional moment for the British-born DJ who first took to the airwaves in the early 1990s. He has also interviewed countless global superstars and championed local musicians and the scene in the UAE.

He has had a front-row seat to a city and radio landscape that has significantly changed since those early days.

“I've been on the air for 33 years and certainly not to put up that fader and talk to that microphone is going to feel a little strange at first,” he told The National before his last show. “But it's time for me to move on.”

Mark Lloyd, at the Dubai Eye studios. Pawan Singh / The National

Mr Lloyd, aka DJ Cool, is leaving for life in the Philippines later this month where he still hopes to partake in broadcasting but also reignite his love of the keyboard – an instrument that helped bring him to the UAE in the 1980s.

After playing on cruise ships, he worked for three months with his musical partner, Michelle Brown, at the former Holiday Inn in Sharjah.

“I'd not heard of the UAE before,” he said. “It was hard work. We worked seven nights a week and a lunchtime as well. It was very demanding.”

This led to a series of gigs across the country including one on the helicopter deck of a US military vessel docked in Dubai for the Gulf War. Images of the event show Mr Lloyd and Ms Brown playing for military personnel.

Making waves

By the early 1990s, Mr Lloydwas about to become a father and needed more stability. Many people told him he had a radio voice and he sent a demo tape to Dubai 92.

He was given a one-hour show called “Good Sounds” at 4pm, when the city was usually waking up. Today some traditional shops still close from 1 to 4pm but it is not as widespread as before. “I had to kind of ease people out of that siesta time into the rest of the day,” he said. “So it was kind of a gentle show. A lot of love songs.”

Technology at this time consisted of a turntable, two CD players and what were known as “eight-track” tapes where DJs could play jingles or adverts without a computer. “No internet for sure,” he said with a chuckle. “So most of the money that I made, I spent on magazines and newspapers trying to find things to talk about. Smash Hits was a big one.”

At the time, Dubai centred around the Creek. Mr Lloyd recalls social life revolving chiefly around the legendary venue, Pancho Villa’s, at the Astoria Hotel in Bur Dubai and, later the Hard Rock Café. Both are now closed. But they speak to a different time in Dubai socially when everyone listened to the same shows and knew each other.

“We'd open up the telephone lines at 6am and by 7am, the whole four-hour show was full [with] everybody's requests and songs,” he recalls. “The whole city would call in. It was a big deal to have a request played.”

By the early 2000s, Mr Lloyd was asked to help establish a new talk show radio in Dubai. The working title of Dubai Guide became Dubai Eye and it launched in 2004. “I’ll never forget the stretch limo, picking us up to take us to the Burj Al Arab where the station was launched.”

Mr Lloyd recalls a period when everything was pre-recorded, listened to and then aired before live shows were allowed. “Once we knew the direction that the station was going, then we were allowed to go live.”

The 103.8FM frequency has been broadcasting ever since.

Giving a voice to local talent

On Mr Lloyd’s current show, “The Nightshift”, Mr Lloyd, champions local artists and the local scene with frequent live performances in the studio.

“It is a big deal for a lot of local musicians,” he said. “The musicians have really … thanked me a lot for that … just to give them a platform. It's a big deal for them to get it played … [and] have it heard. Otherwise, they don't have an outlet,” he said.

“There is a massive scene out there. Hopefully, I helped shape that scene.”

Through the years he has also interviewed stars such as George Clooney, Lionel Richie and Barry Manilow.

Mark Lloyd with The Supremes. Photo: Mark Lloyd

For his final show on Thursday, he is planning on airing the 2020 interview with Manilow but how will he feel once he turns down that fader for the last time?

“When you asked that question, I felt in my stomach,” he said. “Once … I have to say goodbye, I'm going to feel very emotional.

“If somebody told me that this guy coming from a working-class family in Shaw [area in Manchester] is going to be interviewing some of the biggest stars on the planet … I’d have said you're joking. But the UAE has given me that. I'll be forever grateful to this country.”

Mr Lloyd thanked his wife Jean, children Roxanne and Luther and granddaughter Dream whose support he said he couldn’t have done it without. He also hailed Arabian Radio Network, which runs Dubai Eye, and all the listeners over the years.

“I will cry the day I leave the UAE,” he said. “It's given me everything I've dreamt of.”