Down Your Local - BBC Radio Leeds

When BBC Radio Leeds burst onto the scene fifty years ago this month the small team of broadcasters were determined to make an impact: from talking budgerigars, the Only BBC Programme That Money Can Buy, the World Tune-gargling Contest and Bring a Disc. But amongst the funny and the frivolous was a commitment to collect and broadcast their own news, at the time a decision that went against the grain of the existing BBC experimental local radios.  The man who successfully got the backing from the BBC bigwigs in London was the first station manager Phil Sidey.

Sidey had first broadcast with the British Forces Network (BFN) in Klagenfurt, Germany before working in a number of journalistic posts including a spell with AP. He joined the BBC in 1956 as a sub-editor for External Services news and moved to television news in 1964 where his roles included news producer on Twenty-Four Hours. At the time of his appointment as manager at Radio Leeds the local radio system, which had just started to roll-out the previous November, was that local news was to be sourced from newspapers and news agencies in the area. Sidey convinced Frank Gillard, then Director of Sound Broadcasting, and others that he "wanted to collect my own news in Leeds and construct my own bulletins, mixing the local with national and international news," a scenario which is now, of course, the norm.

His news team included the Yorkshire Evening Post's Allan Shaw as news editor (who went on to manage Radio Teesside in 1970 and then Radio Manchester from 1975), Jim Brady as sports editor, Derek Woodcock (later station manager at BBC Radio Newcastle and then BBC Radio Bristol), Geoff Hemingway and Stephen Phillips.

A camera crew from BBC1's Twenty-Four Hours was on hand to capture the opening of the new station.

As this page from the Radio Times week commencing 26 April 1969 shows the station pinned its news credentials to the mast. "Leeds and the World. New-style bulletins of international, national and local news, and interviews; with direct lines to Leeds City Police and the West Yorkshire Police Headquarters  and live reports from the Radio Car."

Amongst the names in the 1969 schedules are Liz Oyston who opened the station and worked at Radio Leeds for nearly 20 years, mainly under her married name Liz Ambler.  Experienced broadcaster Rory O'Dowd was also on air at the launch, he'd worked in New Zealand radio and TV for years and Diana Stenson moved on to Radio Manchester in 1970 and later network radio in the city as a producer for Woman's Hour and Gardeners' Question Time.     

Joan Elliott, with her programme "for women to interest the men", was a former local news journalist with the Leicester Mercury and Portsmouth Evening News. Married for a time to Gerald Nethercot - who went on to be the BBC's man in the Midlands and the first station manager at BBC Radio Nottingham - she started to freelance for the BBC and contributed to Sunday Out, for the Midlands Home Service, Woman's Hour and Today.  Moving to the north east she was the woman's editor on the Newcastle Evening Chronicle and began to appear on Tyne-Tees  and the BBC. When her then husband Jeffrey Slack moved to Leeds, Joan eventually joined the new local station. Her show Joan Elliott Calls came complete with a Delia Derbyshire composed theme tune. A further move to London meant that Joan would work for BBC Radio London becoming a senior news editor. On retirement the family moved up to Durham. She died in 1999 aged 81.   

One of Radio Leeds' regular broadcasters in the twenty years or so was organist Arnold Loxam. Bradford-born Loxam had been playing the theatre organ since the 1930s and made many post-war broadcasts on the Home Service and Light Programme. Here he's listed presenting Sit Down and Sing recorded at Leeds City Varieties.

Geoff Leonard's radio experience was all behind the scenes. He'd joined the BBC as a junior engineer in 1941 in the Birmingham control room, later at 200 Oxford Street, a Studio Manager for the Features department and attachments to TV presentation, TV news and the BFN as a producer before the move to Radio Leeds as a production assistant and then engineer. Geoff moved south again to BBC Radio Medway until his retirement in 1980. He died in 2004.

Listed under Leeds on a Sunday is a young Phil Hayton who'd cut his broadcasting teeth on pirate Radio 270 and in the early 70s went off to Look North and then BBC News in London as a reporter and newsreader. His co-presenter Dave Williams was also an ex-pirate as a newsreader on Radio Caroline North.

Angus Turner, presenter of Sounds Interesting, had worked for the BBC in the Leeds regional office on Woodhouse Lane. Journalist Michael McGowan was, from 1984 to 1999, the MEP for Leeds. Second engineer Bill Holt was also a  folk artist and is here listed as producer of Country and Folk. His engineering colleague John Orson also appeared on air presenting Sweet and Low, he went on to be chief engineer at Pennine Radio. Robin Worman later joined Radio Solent and was the first voice on air when it launched in 1970. 

Not listed here but working at the station in 1969 was Gerald Jackson who moved over the Pennines in 1971 to help launch BBC Radio Blackburn (now BBC Radio Lancashire) where he remains to this day.

The prize for the best title must surely go to Hoof Beat the Friday evening programme on horses and show jumping.

As for Phil Sidey he went back to television in 1970 first as an assistant editor on Nationwide and then as Head of Network Production for the BBC in Birmingham. In 1994 he wrote a superb insight into the early days of BBC local radio called Hello, Mrs Butterfield..., grab a copy if you can. He died the following year.  

Page from the 1978 booklet Serving Neighbourhood and Nation

When Radio Leeds launched on Monday 24 June 1968 its studios were in that testament to sixties concrete brutalist architecture the Merrion Centre; later they moved to Woodhouse Lane and then in 2004 to St Peter's Square. This wasn't the first time that the city had been the home of a local radio service. From 1924 until the early 1930s BBC operated the Leeds-Bradford relay station (initially called 2LS) which carried the programmes of 2ZY in Manchester, and later the Regional Programme,  but with occasional local input. The studios were on Basinghall Street before a move to Woodhouse Lane in 1933 on the site of an old Quaker Meeting House. This would remain the main Yorkshire outpost of the BBC for the next seventy years and for a while in the 50s and 60s had a strong drama production base for the radio network under the direction of producer Alfred Bradley.

1968 was a good year for broadcasting in Leeds. In March the BBC TV regional news magazine from Manchester, Look North, split and a Leeds-based alternative east of the Pennines was launched with Barry Chambers, David Seymour, James Hogg, John Burns and David Haigh. Meanwhile a month after BBC Radio Leeds came on air down at Kirkstall Road Yorkshire Television opened.    

A couple of years after launch (for the week commencing 21 August 1971) the Radio Leeds schedule looked like this.

On Saturday John Helm is listed as the sports editor. John, of course, went on to work for Sport on 2 and then ITV as a football commentator. Co-presenting Sweet and Low is Nigel Fell. Nigel had made his radio debut sending in taped shows under the name John Martin to the pirate station Radio City. He joined Radio Leeds in 1969, staying with the station for 30 years.

For the week commencing 29 March 1980 Radio Leeds had this line-up.

On Radio Leeds AM is former teacher John Hendry, later a freelance actor and now a spiritual healer.  Alongside Liz Ambler on West Riding is Dave Hodgson, most recently associated with Kirklees Local Television, as is Barrie Davenport, listed here as a producer on Concert Pitch and Just Jazz (later he presented Great Northern Brass). Simon Says presenter was Simon Peters who was also a matchday announcer at Elland Road in the 70s and 80s. Simon's co-presenter was Claire Hansbro, later on BBC Radio Sheffield as Claire Kavanagh.

Note that Sports of Good Friday lists Yorkshire broadcasting legend Harry Graton (sic) as one of its presenters.  

Finally this schedule dates from week commencing 16 December 1989, and there are some very familiar names here amongst them Alvin Blossom, Peter Levy who now woos viewers to Look North from Hull and Miles Harrison who moved onto BBC sport, ITV and is now Sky's rugby union commentator.  

Ex-Pennine jock Tony Fisher was on breakfast show duty. He's had an extensive radio career, moving on from Radio Leeds to Radios Cleveland, Newcastle, Minster FM, Century, Kiss 105, Galaxy 105, Invicta, Wyvern, Southern Counties, Hereford and Worcester and currently appearing on BBC Essex. On mid-mornings was ex-Radio Aire's Jon Hammond. The lunchtime DJ is Ian Timms who then went to BBC Radio Devon and is currently on BBC Radio Cumbria.

Two presenters are still on air at Leeds: Gary Copley playing big band and swing music and Tim Crowther who's looked after the Sunday morning gardening slot for over two decades, first with the late  Joe Maiden and now with Graham Porter.     

BBC Radio Leeds is celebrating its 50th birthday this weekend with a Sunday afternoon special narrated by Tim Daley followed throughout the week by a number of special shows from a pop-up studio in the Merrion Centre.

Radio Lives - Paddy Feeny

Listeners in far-flung corners of the globe tuning in their short-wave radio sets to the World Service 30 or 40 years ago would, no doubt, if asked to name a voice who represented the BBC, who was the authoritative voice of Britain, have suggested Paddy Feeny. For 36 years on Saturday afternoons he guided overseas listeners through the myriad of sporting events and fixtures on Saturday Special. “It’s a combination of timing, co-ordination, understanding the subject and a pinch of telepathy" he explained in 1993 just two years before he stood down.

1978 heat of Young Scientist of the Year. The full programme can be found on YouTube

To listeners and viewers at home, however, Paddy's talents as a presenter were aimed at a younger audience; from question master on the inter-school quiz Top of the Form, narrating programmes for schools, presenter of  Young Scientist of the Year, and in the process making a unlikely TV star out of boffin Professor Heinz Wolff, to spinning the discs on Junior Choice.

Paddy was born in Liverpool in 1931 and educated at Ampleforth College in North Yorkshire. "From the age of five onwards I knew I wanted to do some kind of job in the entertainment business." His first job was as a film projectionist and he progressed to stage electrician, stage manager and "an extremely bad actor"   Having passed a BBC audition his first broadcast was in the  radio play Duel of Honour for the BBC in Birmingham in 1952 where, he later recalled, his first line was one that years later he still did not understand: "You mean that  you admit that Dujarier was one of your seconds."

A typically jokey biog for Paddy from
London Calling April 1981

After a spell in repertory he joined the BBC's European Services as a studio manager. By a stroke of good luck the sports producer was looking for someone to present the summer sports coverage, step forward an enthusiastic Paddy Feeny. On 9 May 1959 from studio C21 in Bush House he first presented what turned out to be a regular gig for the next 36 years. Eventually Saturday Special extended its hours and became a year round fixture in the schedules  rather than just a summer event. The World Service employed its own sports team but also shared coverage with the domestic sports programmes on the Sports Service (later Sport on 2 and Sport on 5) with commentators regularly welcoming "listeners to the BBC World Service."  Here's Paddy in action on 9 April 1988.

As early as 1963 Paddy began his association with Top of the Form, initially alongside Geoffrey Wheeler for three years on the BBC TV version (1963-66) and then a longer run on the radio version between 1978 and 1985, sharing duties with Tim Gudgin. This edition of Top of the Form dates from 28 October 1980 and features a contest between Hessle High School and Hornsea School and Institute of Further Education.   
    

Records Round the World was a long-running BBC World Service show.
In 1966 and 1967 Paddy co-presented with Judith Chalmers and Maggie Clews
with the show also heard on Wednesday lunchtimes on the BBC
Light Programme

On domestic radio Paddy occasionally presented Children's Favourites and looked after its successor Junior Choice between Leslie Crowther and Ed Stewart (1967-68). He teamed up with Judith Chalmers for Records Round the World (1966-67) a weekly World Service/Light Programme simulcast.  Together with Tim Gudgin and Bob Holness he introduced the Home Service regional opt-out news bulletin South-East (1967). Further radio appearances for the junior end of the listenership included various schools programmes, the Saturday afternoon compendium 4th Dimension  and the Radio 2 natural history quiz Give Us a Conch (1984-85).

Recording the Radio 4 schools programme Springboard (1969-73)

On BBC TV Paddy was best known for Young Scientist of the Year (1966-78 initially billed as Science Fair), a series that must have spurred many a budding scientist to experiment in the school science lab.   

When all this other work fell away Paddy maintained his position at the helm of Saturday Special until his final show on 24 June 1995. He also appeared on the World Service series At Home with... (1984) and the station's Feedback equivalent Write On (1987-96).  Here's an edition of Write On from January 1996.

“In over 40 years of broadcasting, I have kept to one maxim,” Feeny explained, “that I am involved in a relationship with one person, not millions. I want the listeners to relate to me as a friend.”

Paddy died earlier this week after a short illness. Mike Costello paid tribute to him on the BBC World Service.

Paddy Feeny 1931-2018

Radio Lives - Teddy Johnson

Who presented the first British chart show on the radio? Before you all shout out Alan Freeman or David Jacobs, I'm talking about the late 1940s and a certain DJ on Radio Luxembourg.

Teddy Johnson is perhaps best remembered - for those with long enough memories - as the one half of the husband and wife singing duo ' Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson'. At the height of their fame in the 1950s they made regular appearances on TV and radio and, in 1959, represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with that annoyingly catchy little ditty, Sing Little Birdie.

By the time Teddy made his first UK broadcast in 1944, singing with Jack Payne and his Orchestra, he'd already been performing for ten years as a drummer and vocalist with assorted dance bands. After the war he decided to go freelance and chance his arm as a singer/comedian. On the recommendation of a friend it was suggested he contact Frank Lee, at the time Head of the English Service of Radio Luxembourg at their London offices in Davis Street. Teddy was told to report to the IBC studios for a voice test and that same afternoon received a phone call asking if he'd like to take a trip over to the Grand Duchy and have a try-out. He was on-air the following weekend, playing mostly Geraldo records alongside station boss Geoffrey Everitt. He was immediately given a full-time job - starting on 20 May 1948 - broadcasting each night of the week, apart from Friday, and on Sunday afternoons with Everitt.

The scarcity of announcers at the post-war station (aside from the pre-recorded programmes shipped over from London) meant that Teddy was forced to appear under more than one name; an approach also adopted by Pete Murray (one wonders if listeners were really fooled by this) at a time when the station's schedule was packed with 15 or 30 minute shows. So his first programmes might be something like Topical Half Hour introduced by Teddy Johnson followed by the famous Luxembourg gong and then back on Music for Everyone with E. Victor Johnson and later Irish Half Hour with Edward V Johnson.   

Around late 1948 or early 1949, no-one is exactly sure when, Geoffrey Everitt came up with the idea of a weekly Sunday night programme playing music based on the sales of sheet music. The rundown was in reverse order, from twenty to one. As it was likely that the same song could've been recorded by more than one artist they had alternative versions to play. These early shows established a format that exists to this day, one picked up by the BBC, as Pick of the Pops in 1955.

Teddy's stay at Luxembourg was brief, he left the station in 1950 as he was itching to get back to singing, releasing records such as Beloved Be Faithful and Tennessee Waltz. As a performer he regularly appeared on BBC radio in the early 50s on shows such as Stanley Black's Black Magic singing alongside Pearl Carr - they met for the first time whilst recording this show and married in 1955 - and Diana Coupland (long before her Bless This House days).   

He was back DJ-ing in 1951 on Housewives' Choice. The whole show had to be scripted and Teddy worked on it to ensure that it maintained the conversational style he'd adopted in the Grand Duchy. However, part-way through the  week was out he was summoned into a meeting in which his script was excised of "everything in them which was me." After his Saturday show he was told that they hadn't liked what he'd done. It was eleven years before he was back in Broadcasting House.

Despite the lack of faith from Anna Instone, the head of the Gramophone Department, Teddy continued to broadcast as a band singer for both the Home Service and Light Programme on Sweet Music, Melody from the Stars, Variety Bandbox, Showtime, Variety Matinee and Worker's Playtime. 

Teddy & Pearl billed as guest stars on Winifred Atwell's
ITV show on 19 May 1956 

The diary was also filling up with TV appearances; Teddy's first programme for the BBC was in 1953 - again singing with Pearl - and they were both regulars on Crackerjack (1957-60), The Ted Ray Show (1958-59). Over on the new commercial channel Teddy and Pearl appeared with the ivory-tinkling Winifred Atwell (1956) and later on The Arthur Haynes Show (1960) whilst Teddy was the host of ATV's  Music Shop (1958-60).

That Eurovision hit Sing Little Birdie came in March 1959 after an exuberant performance at the contest in Cannes secured them a second place. They were also in the running the following year when they took part in the heats but in the event it was Teddy's brother Bryan who represented the UK with Looking High, High, High - it also came second.

Let's Face the Music - a Light Programme series
promoted by this Radio Times article 28 October 1965

Even though Teddy was no longer on the staff at Radio Luxembourg he continued to record programmes for the station: Tune Into Teddy, The Winifred Atwell Show and Meet Mr and Mrs Music in the mid-50s and appearing with Pearl in the 60s on The Postal Bingo Show. Meanwhile by 1962 he was back in favour with the BBC with another stint on Housewives' Choice, regular guest appearances (with Pearl) on Benny Hill Time and Harry Worth as well as their own star vehicle Let's Face the Music.  Teddy also had acting roles in a number of  series penned by the Scottish thriller writer Edward Boyd. Steve Gardner Investigates, the story of a singer turned private eye was heard only by listeners to the Scottish Home Service in the 1950s but later series were broadcast  nationwide on the Home Service and then Radio 4: The Candle of Darkness (1967), Enough Fingers to Make a Hand (1968) and The Wolf Far Hence (1971). The Candle of Darkness is being repeated on BBC Radio 4 Extra this week.

By the early 1970s Teddy was a regular in The Ken Dodd Show and, for eighteen months from October 1972, became the afternoon DJ on BBC Radio 2. Even when that stint finished in March 1974 he presented plenty of other programmes for the station: The Song Stylists (1973-4) and The Vocal Touch (1974), both written by former record producer Ken Barnes, The All-Time Hit Parade (1975-6) with singers Rosemary Squires and Nick Curtis and introducing the big bad sounds of Syd Lawrence and his Orchestra (1976). He was back spinning the discs and reading the dedications on a Saturday mid-morning show between October and December 1977.

Pictured in the Radio Times for Teddy Johnson's 78 Show
15 April 1988

During the 1980s and early 1990s Teddy's radio appearances were mainly deputising for holidaying DJs: David Jacobs, Ken Bruce, Desmond Carrington and Alan Dell, though there were two music nostalgia series, The Music Goes Round and Round at 78rpm (1987) and Teddy Johnson's 78 Show (1988). Teddy's broadcasting voice was warm and relaxed as evidenced by this clip from Radio 2's Sunday afternoon show Sounds Easy from 1992.

Even when Teddy's recording career dried up in the early 1960s, his light crooning style was out of fashion, both he and Pearl continued performing in variety, panto and musicals until well into the 1980s. Teddy was last heard on the radio in 2011 as a guest of Desmond Carrington in his series Icons of the 50s. Here are extracts of those interviews.

In 2016 David Lloyd spoke to Teddy (and Pearl) - audio posted here on Audioboom.

Teddy and Pearl lived out their latter years at Brinsworth House, the retirement home run by the Royal Variety Charity. Teddy's death was announced this week.

Teddy Johnson 1920-2018

Superman on Trial

June 1938 and Action Comics publishes the first ever Superman cartoon strip. June 1988 and Superman stands on trail accused of crimes against humanity. Prosecuting is his arch nemesis Lex Luthor. Defending the super hero is one Lois Lane. Witnesses from the comic world and the real world are called into court including the late Adam West.

This was the premise of the Radio 4 drama documentary Superman on Trial that aired thirty years ago to mark the golden anniversary of the man of steel. Written and directed by Dirk Maggs it was first broadcast in a 45 minute slot but was eventually extended and remixed for a 2010 CD release.

Superman garnered a Radio Times cover, though there was a BBC1 documentary that week too, together with some specially commissioned artwork, shown below.

Superman on Trial hasn't been repeated since its 1988 broadcasts. First heard on long wave only on 5 June my recording is of the Tuesday 7 June FM evening transmission. It was given another repeat on Christmas Day 1988. The success of the programme spurred the BBC to commission Dirk Maggs to write a full-blown adventure series in 1990 (5 episodes) and in 1991 (10 episodes).      

Over to station WGBS from Galaxy Communications in Metropolis.

Listen to the Band

The sound of brass band is quintessentially British, from the working class traditions of works and colliery bands to the bandstand concert in the park and the seaside where, as we all know, they play "Tiddely-om-pom-pom!" Think too of the military bands playing at parades, Remembrance Day or Trooping the Colour.

One of  the victims of this month's Radio 2 schedule reshuffle is Listen to the Band (presenter Frank Renton pictured above).. Even though there is still a strong brass band tradition in the UK with good grass roots support from young players the decision has an air of inevitability about it with the programme offering little in the way of new material and having been pushed further and further to the margins of the schedule.

Listen to the Band has been running weekly on BBC Radio 2 since 1976 but the title is of a much older vintage tracing back to 1941. That show along with Bandstand (in its various incarnations), Music While You Work and Marching and Waltzing have showcased brass and military bands for decades.

The 1928 BBC Handbook features the BBC's in-house Military Band

The first broadcast of a military band concert, the Band of HM Irish Guards, was as far back as 23 January 1923. Some of the regional stations had their own military bands, the one at station 2ZY in Manchester was conducted by Harry Mortimer, more of whom later. In 1924 2LO's musical director Dan Godfrey formed the 2LO Military Band, later known as the Wireless Military Band and then the BBC Military Band. The band's regular conductor was Bertram Walton O'Donnell, nicknamed 'Bandy' and then, following his untimely death from pneumonia in 1938, by his brother Percy O'Donnell. It became the main broadcasting military band, heard most weeks and playing both established pieces and music specially commissioned for it. It was disbanded, as a cost-saving measure, in 1943.   

Alongside the in-house bands were the usual suspects such as Grenadier Guards, Royal Marines, the central Band of the RAF, various police bands and, post-war, the National Military Band.      

On pre-war radio broadcasts the stations would often cover the brass band competitions, including the national one from Crystal Palace (later at Alexandra Palace) and the Belle Vue contests in Manchester. Some of the famous colliery and works brass bands were also heard and continued to be featured in dozens of post-war programmes and these still perform to this day (albeit with slightly changed names): Foden's Motor Works, Black Dyke Mills, the Brighouse and Rastrick, Fairey Aviation Works and Grimethorpe Colliery.

When Music While You Work started in 1940 it regularly included military and brass bands, through it tended to favour the former. In later years one of the Wednesday editions was given over to one of the military or brass bands.

Such was the importance given to this music genre that in July 1936 the BBC appointed Denis Wright to the post of Supervisor of Brass and Military Bands within the music department. A former teacher and then music editor at Chappell & Co he introduced some innovations in the broadcasting of this type of music. Realising that much of the music was written to be performed outdoors he re-arranged pieces for studio performances.  He also changed the band formation to provide a better sound balance. Wright moved on to the Corporation's Overseas Services music division in 1942 and post-war continued to write and arrange for brass bands.  

One of the biggest names in banding is, of course, Harry Mortimer. From a very musical family - his father Fred conducted the Luton Band and then the Foden's Motor Works Band and made dozens of broadcasts until his death in 1953 - he played cornet and trumpet for Fodens and a number of orchestras including the BBC Northern Orchestra (now the BBC Philharmonic). He was also encouraged to conduct and to compose and by 1942 was asked to take over the post of Supervisor of Brass and Military Bands following the departure of Denis Wright.

Under Mortimer's purview he introduced a number of programmes featuring brass and military bands the most significant of which was Listen to the Band. (The title Oh, Listen to the Band had previously been used during the war for a programmes with bands played out on record).  Starting in February 1943 it featured a different band on each show and ran weekly on the Home Service, at first on Sunday mornings but then settling into a Saturday afternoon slot through to March 1963.

Harry Mortimer introduces the 1964 series
of Listen to the Band

Listen to the Band returned in September 1964 for a 3-month series, this time over on the Light Programme. By now Harry Mortimer had retired from his BBC post but was still heavily involved in brass band music and he presented the new series. It was back again in October 1965 but this time using one of the other preferred BBC titles for brass and military band music, Bandstand (later billed as Saturday Bandstand), with Harry and then Paul Martin "inviting you to Listen to the Band."

With Mortimer leaving the BBC responsibility for overseeing this music fell initially to each of the regions and then in 1965 to Geoffrey Brand and later William Relton until he moved on to manage the BBC Symphony Orchestra in 1970.  

When the Light became Radio 2 in late September 1967 the original title was back in use but now announcer John Dunn was presenting followed by Jimmy Kingsbury between 1970 and 1972 when the programme was dropped. In the summer of 1972 brass and military bands were now only included in the show Brass and Strings and Other Things (later just billed as Brass and Strings) performing alongside the likes of the BBC Radio Orchestra or the BBC Midland Radio Orchestra, all linked by one of the staff announcers.   

In October 1976 Listen to the Band returned to Radio 2 and has remained on air ever since. By now Charlie Chester was presenting, though I'm not aware that he had any particular interest in the music and, in a nod to its history, the first band was the Morris Concert Band conducted by good old Harry Mortimer.

Here's a clip of Charlie with Listen to the Band from 26 January 1982 featuring the Western Band of the RAF.

There's a complete edition of the programme with Charlie Chester presenting  over on the Masters of Melody website. Dating from 27 July 1977 it features the Band of the Women's Royal Army Corps.

This edition dates from 11 May 1977 and features the Hammonds Sauce Works Band. 

In 1987 composer and brass band conductor Roy Newsome took over presenting duties followed in 1995 by Frank Renton who had considerable experience of both brass and military bands.

In this edition of Listen to the Band from 4 February 2016 Frank talks to trombonist and arranger Bill Geldard.

In the 1970s brass band music received something of a fillip when it featured in the UK singles charts. In the 1972 hit You're a Lady Peter Skellern was accompanied by the Hanwell Band and six years later the Grimethorpe Colliery Band appeared on his single Love is the Sweetest Thing. Meanwhile in 1977 the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band reached number two with The Floral Dance with Terry Wogan championing the record on his breakfast show. Later that year Terry recorded his own version, this time with the Hanwell Band, and made a couple of unlikely appearance on Top of the Pops in January 1978.  

The history of brass and military band broadcasting can't ignore another couple of programmes: Bandstand and Marching and Waltzing. Brass Bandstand was a series that ran for a few weeks each year on the Home Service between 1945 and 1954, with regional variations such as Scottish Bandstand, Midland Bandstand and so on. Meanwhile on the Light Programme we had the daily show Bandstand from 1945 to 1950 and then appearing weekly from 1953 to 1964. The title was resurrected again in March 1965 when the daytime Music Programme of the Third Programme extended its hours and included a weekly show alternating brass and military bands. Not surprisingly Harry Mortimer was back again on the first edition conducting the combined BMC (Morris Motors), Fairey and Fodens band. Bandstand continued on Radio 3 until as late as 1988. There are excerpts from the programme on YouTube.    

BBC radio ran a number of brass band knockout competitions between 1961 and 1974. The Northern Brass contest heard only in the North, Midlands and Northern Ireland regions became the national Challenging Brass in 1964 flipping between the Home Service, the Music Programme, Radio 4, Radio 2 and then Radio 3.

The sound of various Salvation Army bands were  heard on Sunday mornings between 1975 and 1979 when Ray Moore presented Banners and Bonnets.

Marching and Waltzing provided, as the title suggests, a mix of waltzes played by a light orchestra and marches played by a military or brass band. It started on the Home Service in 1940 and for the first decade was a record programme. By 1950 it started to regularly feature the Raeburn Orchestra on the waltz side under the direction of Wynford Reynolds who had, during the war, being the organiser of Music While You Work.   

By the early 60s Marching and Waltzing was back to being a record only show but got a new lease of life on the Light Programme with a couple of series in October 1965 and October 1966 in a joint production with the World Service - with World Service announcer Peter Reynolds providing the introductions. Geoffrey Brand, the brass band conductor and BBC producer who had taken over Harry Mortimer's old role as Supervisor of Brass and Military Bands, writing in the Radio Times was quite effusive about the programme and the pictures it conjured up: "Parade grounds filled with soldiers in red tunics moving in perfect formation; armies marching into battle to the sound of the band; or perhaps a Carnival procession with its gaiety and excitement, all being headed by a band playing a march. In contrast the waltz - and the soft lights and smooth sounds of the orchestra in the ballroom. Lovely evening gowns colourfully float across the floor as dancing couples glide rhythmically to the lilt and charm of the music."    

Marching and Waltzing made a return in September 1967 on the newly launched Radio 2 with Jimmy Kingsbury announcing the various brass and military bands plus the BBC Midland Light Orchestra under Gilbert Vinter - himself a composer who'd written a number of pieces for brass bands during the sixties.  Later the BBC Northern Ireland Orchestra was the main outfit providing the waltzes. It was again dropped in 1970 but made one last gasp between 1980 and 1984 with various staff announcers looking after the programme and one of the main orchestras being the London Studio Players led by Reginald Leopold and conducted by Iain Sutherland.    

In this edition of Listen to the Band from 25 April 2017 Frank Renton recalls the Marching and Waltzing era.  

And here is an edition of Marching and Waltzing kindly provided to me by Paul Langford. Paddy O'Byrne introduces the Band of the Coldstream Guards conducted by Lt Col Richard Ridings and the Orchestra led by Reginald Leopold and conducted by Marcus Dodds. It was broadcast on 4 August 1981.

Local radio didn't ignore brass band music and a number of BBC stations used to have programmes devoted to it. Up in Yorkshire I know that Radio Leeds had Brass Tacks with Mike Meadmore and Great Northern Brass with Barrie Davenport whilst Radio Sheffield had a regular competition called Bold as Brass. BBC Radio Durham had Brasstime and Radio Birmingham ran a competition titled Birmingham Brass. Commercial radio was less interested though in the 1970s Radio Clyde had The Sound of Brass with Bob Mason, Radio Forth used the same title for programmes presented by Bill Torrance, at Radio Hallam Roger Moffat looked after Best of the Brass and even Viking Radio when it started in 1984 had Viking Bandstand.  

Although Listen to the Band has long since dropped brass and military band sessions, relying instead, for the most part, on commercial recordings, the axing of the programme has rightly been seen as a blow to the banding world. Although Radio 2 has promised to support the annual Young Brass Awards as part of Friday Night is Music Night this leaves the only radio programmes dedicated to playing this kind of music as David Hoyle's Yorkshire Brass on Radio Leeds and Paul Hunt with The Sound of Brass on BBC local radio in the south west. Listeners on the Isle of Man can hear Manx Radio's Time for Brass with Ian Cottier and both Angel Radio and Serenade Radio occasionally play music of this genre. As for Frank Renton he'll continue to feature brass band music in a  fortnightly online show from brasspass.tv called Frank Renton: Still Listening to the Band. 

The final edition of Listen to the Band airs on Tuesday 8 May. Phillip Hunt will be marking the end of the programme on the 13 May 2018 edition of Sounds of Brass.   

For an informed opinion on the demise of the programme see Iwan Fox's article for 4barsrest

Reference material:
BBC Genome
The Modern Brass Band from the 1930s to the New Millennium by Roy Newsome (Ashgate Publishing 2006)
Music While You Work by Brian Reynolds (Book Guild Publishing 2006)

The Organist Entertains

With the axe falling on The Organist Entertains this month radio loses a programme that's just a year shy of celebrating its golden anniversary and, at a stroke, breaks a tradition of broadcasting organ music that goes back to the earliest days of the BBC.

When radio broadcasts started in the early 1920s organ music was regularly head on 2LO with recitals from Steinway Hall in Marylebone Lane.  Many early broadcasts were church or symphonic organ recitals but increasingly there were transmissions from theatres and cinemas offering listeners the opportunity to hear the full orchestral range of the new theatre organs up and down the country.  

The BBC's first organ was installed in the Concert Hall (now Radio Theatre) in the newly-constructed Broadcasting House. Built by the renowned organ-maker John Compton the concert organ was "the first organ in this country to be designed especially with a view for microphone transmission." Its inaugural broadcast was on 16 June 1933 in a concert of classical pieces played by the BBC Orchestra under conductor Adrian Boult. However, the acoustics of the new building meant it was played infrequently as the organ could be heard in other studios four floors up. Added to which concerts were in turn affected by dance bands rehearsing in the sub-basement, prompting this memo in February 1933. "I understand that on Monday last the second half of the chamber concert in the Concert Hall was badly interfered with by Jack Payne's band in studio BA."    

By October 1936 the Corporation had a second in-house organ, a mighty Compton theatre organ sited at St George's Hall over the road from Broadcasting Hose in Langham Place. The BBC now employed a resident organist, Reginald Foort, a cinema organist who'd been making broadcasts since 1926. He stepped from the position in 1938 and there was a special concert to mark the event on the National Programme on 31 October. Announcer Stuart Hibberd was moved to pen a couple of verses to the tune of Spanish Ladies. It ended "Now let every man drink off his full bumper, And let every man now drink up his port, We'll sing and be jolly and drown melancholy, With 'Here's to the Health of Reginald Foort.'"  

Foort worked in the USA for a while but after the war he continued to make broadcasts for the BBC until the early 1970s. Taking over from him as the staff organist was Sandy MacPherson, the organist at the Empire in Leicester Square. It was Sandy that would sustain radio audiences during the early days of the Second World War when the BBC was unsure what service to provide and apart from news bulletins and official announcements was happy to fill hours of airtime with Sandy at the console. He made 23 broadcasts in the first week and 22 in the second. This prompted some listeners to write in that they would rather face the German guns than hear more MacPherson!

The BBC Theatre Organ itself was destroyed when St George's Hall was bombed in September 1941. Foort loaned the corporation his Möller organ which they then bought outright in 1946 (and subsequently sold  in 1963).

Embed from Getty Images MacPherson  (above) was heard on air in hundreds of programmes until the end of the sixties, his shows included From My Postbag (1939-59), The Twilight Hour (1939-56), Sandy Calling (1940-44/51-62), I'll Play to You (1943-48), Sandy's Club (1962-63), At Your Request (1963-64), Melody Time with Max Jaffa (1965-68) and the long-running Chapel in the Valley (1949-69) a programme of "sacred songs and old favourites from the hymn book" set in the "delightful land of Let's Pretend".  

The BBC's third organ, again built by Comptons, is the one in the Maida Vale studios and very much still in use for BBC Symphony Orchestra rehearsals.

Organ music broadcasts weren't confined to the BBC though. The pre-war Radio Normandy had interludes of cinema organ recitals and Radio Luxembourg featured Reginald Foort and the two Blackpool-based organists Horace Finch and Reginald Dixon, the latter playing listeners' requests in the Cadbury sponsored You Call the Tune.   

Reginald Dixon, dubbed Mr Blackpool, had started playing professionally in 1930 and over a period of fifty years made hundreds of broadcasts at the Tower Ballroom organ. Post-war his shows included Tuneful Tempo and Meet Me at the Tower as well as being a regular performer on the variety bill of the long-running Blackpool Nights (1948-66). His final broadcasts were working alongside Sam Costa on Sam on Sunday (1979-80) where he played the BBC's Theatre Organ from the Playhouse Theatre in Manchester. This was the third incarnation of the BBC's Theatre Organ, a Wurlitzer bought from the Empress Ballroom in Blackpool in 1970 and disposed of in 1985.

Here's Reginald Dixon playing in an edition of Blackpool Nights as heard on the Light Programme on 18 June 1963. The presenter is Jack Watson.

Reginald's retirement in 1970 was marked by a special broadcast concert on Radio 2 with guests Vince Hill and the Northern Dance Orchestra under the direction of Bernard Herrmann. A copy of Goodbye Mr Blackpool has been uploaded to Soundcloud here.

Other organists heard regularly on BBC radio included Douglas Reeve, for many years associated with the Dome in Brighton. He was discovered by Reginald Foort who dubbed him the Wonder Boy Organist and made his first broadcast in 1937 aged just 19. He broadcast regularly until 1980, like Reginald Dixon working on Sam on Sunday and made occasional appearances as late as 1998.

Charles Smart had a similarly long broadcasting career starting in 1935 and continuing through to the early 70s. Pre-war he was the regular organist on Melody Out of the Sky that featured Jay Wilbur and his Band and on the comedy show Band Waggon with Arthur Askey and Richard 'Stinker' Murdoch. Here's Charles at the BBC Theatre Organ at St George's Hall in a sketch from the show recorded in March 1939.

Charles Smart's son Harold was also a well known organist. Aged just 15 he'd been appointed cinema organist at the Odeon in Haverstock Hill and made his first radio broadcast that same year (1937). In the 1950s he would appear with the BBC Show Band under the direction of Cyril Stapleton and the song a minute show Sing It Again and on ITV was the resident organist on the Take Your Pick!  On Radio Luxembourg his quartet could be heard on Smart Work with Gumption (sponsored by Gumption Smooth Paste Cleaner)  and Smart Work. In the 1960s he played on numerous editions of Morning Music and, with various musical combos from a trio to an octet, recorded sessions for Swingalong, Strumalong, Music Through Midnight and Sunday Special. His final broadcast was in 1978 on The Organist Entertains.

Dudley Savage was a cinema organist working for the ABC in Plymouth for decades. He first broadcast in 1938 and post-war was heard playing listeners requests on the Home Service and later Radio 2  in As Prescribed (1948-1976) with the emphasis on requests from "patients in hospital or at home".

One programme that regularly featured cinema organists was Music While You Work (1940-67). Over fifty organists appeared throughout the run including Dudley Beavan (playing on the inaugural programme) , Sandy MacPherson, Robin Richmond, Florence de Jong, Reginald Foort, H. Robinson Cleaver, Donald Thorne, Charles and Harold Smart, Ena Baga and Jimmy Leach who, playing Hammond organ with his group the Organolians, was on the final regular broadcast on 29 September 1967.

Of course there was more than just cinema and theatre organ music to be heard. The Hammond organ and electronic organs were featured in jazz programmes. Concert organ music was on the Third Programme/Radio 3 and later on Classic FM. Church organs were heard on Sunday services and Choral Evensong. In the 1960s you were more than likely to hear a record by Klaus Wunderlich on Housewives' Choice. Specially recorded sessions were made for a whole host programmes from Night Ride (Harry Stoneham's Trio were regulars) to Charlie Chester's Sunday Soapbox. And when local radio started some stations included organ music: local concert organist Arnold Loxam was a fixture on Radio Leeds for many years, Charles McNichol played on Radio Nottingham and Radio Manchester had Pedal, Percussion and Pipes with Alan Ashton. 

This brings us to 1969. Organ music, certainly the playing of popular tunes, was less frequently heard on air. Hundreds of cinemas and theatres had closed and any organs sold off or destroyed. But there was, according to Robin Richmond, a revival of interest in the theatre organ.

Richmond presented the pilot edition of The Organist Entertains on Radio 4 in April 1969 and on 11 June over on Radio 2, what was to be the start of a 49-year run of the programme proper. Both theatre and electronic organ recordings were featured with performances from Harold Smart, Gerald Shaw, Len Rawle and others.    

Here is that first edition of The Organist Entertains.

Writing in that week's Radio Times Robin provided some background information:

"The BBC broadcast cinema organ music almost every day. Reginald seemed to be a popular name with the organ stars! We had Reginald Foort, Reginald Dixon, Reginald New and Reginald Porter-Brown. Other great players were Quentin Maclean, Sidney Torch, Harold Ramsay, Frank Newman and, of course, Sandy Macpherson.

Somewhere around 1935, I was about to have built a mammoth travelling pipe organ to tour the music halls, when someone told me about the new electronic wonder that had no pipes and would be far easier to move around. So it came about that I myself bought the first two electronic organs to reach England, and together we blazed the trail in cabarets, dance halls, hotels and music-halls, concentrating on jazz and popular music. There was an overlap period of some fifteen years from 1935 to 1950 when both cinema and electronic organs were popular, but gradually the electronic organ jumped ahead, possibly because it was so easy to transport.

Now there is a great revival of interest in the theatre organ, not only in this country but also all over America. Hundreds of these fine instruments are being rebuilt and re-housed by the ever-increasing army of enthusiasts. Perhaps our new series The Organist Entertains will 'organ-ise' many new friends!

The new series proved popular and a few weeks later this letter appeared in the Radio Times from a T. Whitehead of Keynsham: "Having heard the first two programmes in the new series I have only one comment - magnificent! A thousand thanks to the BBC and Robin Richmond for this opportunity to hear such a range of top players and instruments. I recall with nostalgia the days when theatre organs were broadcast daily, and how thrilling it is to hear their sound again".

Robin Richmond (pictured above) was a natural choice as presenter of The Organist Entertains as he was both an organist of some 30 plus years standing and a regular broadcaster on the Light Programme. He'd started out as an organist at a local mission hall before playing more of the popular dance music of the time. Early professional engagements were in West End revues and he made his first broadcast in 1938 on what was billed as his "Modern Miracle Organ", an early example of an imported Hammond electronic organ.

Rejected for military service during the war he was the organist at the Paramount cinema on Tottenham Court Road, had a dance band at the Hammersmith Palais and was on a 24-hour standby contract to play on BBC radio. An early series was Starlight (1942-45) and he appeared on dozens of editions of Music While You Work with various musical combos. After the war he played and presented his own show Organ Grinder's Swing - he would sign off "from your old organ grinder friend" - and was regularly on the bill of Variety Bandbox. Other broadcasts included Bumblethorpe with comedian Robert Moreton, Morning Music, the BBC tv series Emney Entertains with the rotund actor and comedian Fred Emney as well as providing the musical punctuations on Associated-Rediffusion's Double Your Money.

In the late 40s Robin had also started to present other music shows including Housewives' Choice, Jazz Club, Playtime, Twelve O'Clock Spin and Midday Spin. He also moved into the producer's role on Radio 2's Album Time.

A change of presenter in 1990 as marked
by this Radio Times article

Robin retired in 1980 (he died in 1998) and was replaced on The Organist Entertains by Nigel Ogden. Nigel, like so many of the organists mentioned here, started young. He took up the organ aged 12, inspired by his father who was a church organist and by holiday visits to Blackpool where he saw Reginald Dixon perform. He made his first radio broadcast in 1971 aged 17 on Pedal, Percussion and Pipes and the following year on Radio 2. He continued to play on The Organist Entertains and appear on Radio Manchester throughout the 70s before taking over the presenting role.

On 16 March 1990 Nigel marked his tenth anniversary on the show with this special edition.   

Understandably many listeners and organ enthusiasts were dismayed to hear the news in January that The Organist Entertains  was to be "rested" although there had been some criticism of late that the programme eschewed electronic music in favour of pipe organs. UK radio provides little in the way of outlets for popular organ music though Alan Ashton has a monthly online show and Angel Radio features Hot Pipes in its schedule.  Classical organ pieces can be heard on Radio 3's Choir and Organ.  

The final edition of The Organist Entertains goes out on Tuesday 8 May at 11pm BST.