The Diamonds, The Modified and The Ceiling Light Machine were just three of the combos he fronted at popular venues like the Gala Palais (Volunteer Hall), Melrose Hydro, Selkirk’s Victoria Hall, Kelso’s Tait Hall and Hawick Town Hall at gigs promoted by the late great impresario Duncan McKinnon.

Half a century on, Loudon’s love of music – and his desire to share that passion with others - remains undiminished.

He has just completed the painstaking task of selecting and uploading now fewer than 6,600 of his favourite tracks to go online with his own non-stop internet radio operation – The Listening Station.

“It’s a bit like a 24-hour Desert Island Discs – but without any chat,” said Loudon.

Since hanging up his mic, the 66-year-old has become an obsessive collector of popular music, reflecting his own eclectic tastes, and has hosted and attended record fairs across the world.

For the past decade, he has run one of the UK’s most successful music agencies – Brookfield-Knights – seeking out and importing the great performers of the USA and Canada.

From his base in Renfrewshire, he now represents around transatlantic 40 acts, including The Wilders, Furnace Mountain and Hillfolk Noir, many of whom are well known to local audiences through appearances at the Eastgate Theatre in Peebles and the Heart of Hawick.

“I get as much of a buzz from bringing these fantastic musicians to the Borders as I do when I see them at major events like the Cambridge Folk Festival and Celtic Connections,” admitted Loudon.

Tracks from the Brookfield-Knights stable are, not surprisingly, included in the playlist of The Listening Station, which launched last month, along with a host of other favourites from the Temple collection, including JJ Cale, Jackson Browne, Big Bill Broonzy, Sharon Shannon, Dan Hicks and Galashiels indie legends Dawn of the Replicants.

“The idea came after an exasperating long drive from London to Glasgow in which hours were spent searching in vain for music on the radio which was fresh and attention-grabbing,” he told the Border Telegraph.

“It was my wife Brenda [nee Smith from Newcastleton] who encouraged me to stop moaning and do something about it: to think about the fact technology is coming which will allow us to have in-car access to the internet while travelling. It’s a potentially huge market to add to the many other online platforms.

“Picking the tracks and working out the playlist from a library assembled over many years was a long but pleasurable process.

“I’ve gone for tracks which have provided goose-pimple experiences for me during a lifetime of record collecting and band watching, along with hundreds of exciting new discoveries from lesser-known acts which deserve more widespread exposure.

“Since the launch of The Listening Station, some pubs in Ireland like it so much that, first thing in the morning on opening up, they switch it on and leave it playing in the background all day until the ‘live’ music begins.

“There are 6,600 tracks so far and we shuffle the rotations each week to ensure no-one tuning in at the same time on the same day the following week will hear the same material.

“This old rocker will be particularly happy to consider hearing tracks from Borders artists looking for a wider audience for their material.” To tune in – and to find out how to submit tracks for consideration on the playlist – go to http://www.thelisteningstation.co.uk/index.php/about-us