Cambridge Carl became famous in Hamilton when he was a teenager in the late nineties. His notoriety began innocently enough, when he would call UFM and request songs or try to win prizes. Soon he was calling several times a day and the audience got to know him. Carl would usually ring during a voicebreak, so his calls would often go to air.
Carl's infamy with both the UFM staff and audience further grew when he began calling the station in the morning to request a lift from Cambridge in the evening, so that he could attend whatever gig was happening that night. UFM staff were so taken by Carl's earnest desire to patronise bars and live music venues (in spite of the fact that he was several years short of the legal drinking age at the time) that they would go and collect him from Cambridge and then vouch for his age when it came time to get Carl into the pub.
When UFM began running its advertising off a reasonably old-fashioned cartridge system, it became something of a tradition for announcers to dedicate each ad break to Cambridge Carl or tell listeners that the ads were a request from Cambridge Carl. Cambridge Carl expressed some annoyance at this rite, but the announcers continued. Soon after, Cambridge Carl stopped calling the station.
Andrew Dean considers Cambridge Carl responsible for the destruction of Cambridge Road's washing line at the 1999 Guy Fawkes party, though Carl disputes this claim. Dr. Ezy's photographs of the evening do suggest that he was responsible for knocking Jane Pierard over with overzealous 'dancing' to the bands.
In 1999 Cambridge Carl also showed interest in starting a band with Dan Duran and Jed (who'd later go on to form SophieXEnola). A 'jam' session at Jed's was organised, to which Cambridge Carl brought along a casiotone keyboard - with all the keys taped down. This was too much for even Jed, a man known for having paid $60 for a vinyl copy of Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.
Cambridge Carl was identified at a Mobile Stud Unit gig at Diggers in early 2000. He seemed particularly taken with the song 'Wheel of Clitoris' and began throwing himself against a wall. This self-flagellation continued for the entire evening, with many marvelling at the fact that he did not sustain a major brain injury that night.
Cambridge Carl is also Petra Jane's brother and it is claimed that he "seriously loves" Hi-Fi gear.