Worldwide Requests

In May 2012 I wrote about the BBC World Service request show hosted by Sandi Jones and ended the post by writing “I've no recordings of Sandi on the World Service - if you have please contact me”. Well nearly 13 years later I have a recording! More on that, in a moment.

The World Service request show had started in late 1975 and ran until October 1988. Initially there were four shows a week with a different presenter for each edition, at first Don Moss and Brian Matthew then a year or so later by Don, Sandi Jones, Sarah Ward and Bob Holness. By 1979 there were two editions per week presented by Sandi and Tony Myatt who would both continue to share presenting duties for the rest of its run. [Sarah Ward continued on the World Service with Sarah and Company, Bob Holness with Anything Goes]. From January 1981 just one edition per week was recorded going out on what would be its fixed day and time of Sundays at 1345 GMT (initially with a midweek repeat). 

We get a chance to find out what a whole edition of the show sounds like, in this case from Sunday 26 December 1982, thanks to a cassette that has turned up. Unearthing the recording was Dennis Biggs. The tape had been kept by his wife Doina who was producing the show at the time. This particular edition was the final request show she produced and Sandi acknowledges this at the end, as well as mentioning her daughter Nadina.

For many years Doina Biggs was a producer for the BBC’s Romanian section at the BBC in Bush House. The Romanian Service had started broadcasting on 15 September 1939 – it would close in 2008 – and when Doina joined as a secretary in 1968 it was a time of change in the service which at that point mainly consisted of pre-war emigrees such as Ion Podea and Liviu Cristea. Doina and Dennis had married in Bucharest in September 1967 and after being virtually expelled from Romania the following February she joined her husband in London. By the early 1970s she’d undertaken training courses with a view to becoming a programme producer. She would specialise in youth features and pop music shows and was seconded to the English service for about a year during which she produced the request show with Sandi Jones. Eventually, after having to work many night shifts and as a result of internal politics, Doina left the BBC in 1995. She continued to have an interest in Romanian issues and took in a number of Romanian dissidents who she assisted in their citizenship applications. She had frequently travelled to Romania until she was warned that her safety couldn’t be guaranteed as her activities were being monitored by the secret police. Doina passed away in September 2023.    

London Calling magazine listings for
26 December 1982

In this edition of The Sandi Jones Request Show it’s apparent that the programme enjoys wide listenership in Ghana as Accra is mentioned many times and there are also messages from St Louis, Bahrain, Sri Lanka, Cork, Singapore, India, Monrovia, Southampton, Paris, Bhutan, St Helena, Saudi Arabia, Ascension Island and Malawi.    

Although it’s a request show in most cases no particular record is chosen or it’s a case of a “record of your choice please”. There are, however, requests for specific records by Simon and Garfunkel, Carpenters, Boney M as well as any Judy Garland track and also something by Chicago which the team “just cannot trace”. The playlist is:

When I Need You – Leo Sayer, O Holy Night – Nat King Cole, Coat of Many Colours – Dolly Parton (“a much loved record that’s been much played and is, I’m afraid, sounding a bit ancient now”),  Just You ‘n’ Me – Chicago, Where Do I Begin – Andy Williams, Ave Maria – Elaine Paige, The Wanderer – Donna Summer, The Sound of Silence – Simon and Garfunkel, Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas – Judy Garland, Every Beat of My Heart – Gladys Knight, Top of the World – Carpenters, Mary’s Boy Child – Boney M and We Wish You a Merry Christmas – Ray Conniff.     

So its back 42 years to 1345 GMT on Boxing Day, Sunday 26 December 1982 for this edition of The Sandi Jones Request Show.

With thanks to Dennis Biggs and in memory of Doina Biggs.