Where are they now? Record-breaking Edinburgh radio DJ Bob Malcolm ferries NHS and key personnel to and from work during lockdown

The Radio Forth basketball team: From left to right looking at the picture, presenters Jay Crawford, Graham Jackson, Bob Malcolm, the late Colin Somerville, Mark Hagan. Bottom row, Mike Scot, Karen Campbell (receptionist), Dick Barrie.

His cheery banter and good-humoured bonhomie made him one of the best-loved DJs in the Capital. Whether Breakfast, Mid-morning, Lunchtime or Drivetime, Bob presented all the prime-time shows before moving on from Radio Forth after a 36 year stint with the station. To this day he holds the record for being Scotland’s longest-running daytime radio host.

The DJ first took to the airwaves on July 2, 1977, his 25th birthday, and during his time at Forth presented 10,563 shows, won two awards and saw off 16 station programmers and six managing directors. Back in the Eighties, as a generation of Capital teenagers (all now in their 50s) will attest, the Night School programme on Monday and Wednesday nights, made him king of the evening slot too... but where is he now?

Approaching 69, the DJ can now be found ferrying NHS frontline staff to and from work, in one of a fleet taxis he owns with his wife Carolann.

Scotland's longest-running daytime radio host, Bob Malcolm

“Like every other business, we found trade down about 80 percent so we decided we wanted to find a way to help,” he explains. “So we now only transport key workers, carers, and NHS workers, as well picking up messages for our elderly customers. It’s not about making money, but helping people who find the current situation a challenge. We’re lucky because all the cars are paid for so, apart from the diesel, we have no expense really and can keep running as long as it’s safe for the drivers.”

One of the last trips Bob did before lockdown was to take a carer, who was returning home to South Africa, to London to ensure she caught her last flight home. The fare was £850.

“That’s the biggest fare I’ve had,” says Bob, who could be heard on the airwaves as recently as 2019. After calling a day on his broadcasting career, the former Royal High pupil set up A1 Taxis in Peebles with Carolann, where the couple now live.

“I just fell out of love with radio, it was no longer about personalities on the radio or local news or whatever, it was all to do with making money - every link was a sponsored link,” he says. “I had a friend who ran a taxi firm, we got chatting one day and he said, ‘You should try it’. Which was a great idea because you meet so many great people and, as everyone knows, I love talking to people.”

In his time on the radio, Bob talked to everyone from Kojak star Telly Savalas to pop singer Lulu and it seems nothing much has changed. One of the first personalities he picked up in his taxi was a celebrity he had previously interviewed on Forth.

“Robson Green from Soldier, Soldier and Extreme Fishing got into my car one day and went, ‘God! How are you?’ I said, ‘Fine. Do you know who I am?’ and he said, ‘Of course I do’. He remembered, so that was wonderful.”

Other stars to get a friendly on-air grilling from Bob include Cliff Richard, Neil Sedaka, Bette Midler, Barry Manilow, Tina Turner, Olivia Newton-John, Adam Faith and Ronan Keating. Another memory of those days was sparked recently when the presenter stumbled across an old photo of the Radio Forth basketball team.

With a laugh, he recalls the picture was taken to mark a challenge match against the world famous Harlem Globetrotters - there’s no need to ask who won. “My only failure in life was not winning against the Globetrotters,” he laughs, recalling, “I’m only 5ft 8in and most of the Globetrotters were around 6ft 6in, so it was grossly unfair. The funny thing was, we never saw the ball, it was always above our heads but they did let us score. One of them lifted me up so I could dunk the ball through the net, still, they beat us 100 points to six."

Laughing again, he adds, “We asked for a rematch but they declined.”

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