The Lively Lounge

The much respected Scottish broadcaster Tony Currie died at the weekend at his home in Port Ramsey on the Inner Hebridean island of Lismore. His was the first voice on Radio Clyde when it went on-air on Hogmanay 1973. He was the voice of STV as their chief announcer and later a network controller at BBC Scotland. But what kept Tony occupied for most of his life was his not-for-profit radio station that he ran from his various homes for over sixty years, Radio Six International.

Since 2007 one of the main music programmes he devoted himself to was The Lively Lounge, an hour –long weekly show that was heard not just on Radio Six International but on 54 affiliate stations around the world. It’s hard to describe exactly what The Lively Lounge was about. It was certainly on the easy listening end of the musical spectrum. Think radio, tv and film themes, library music and test cards. It was Music for Pleasure, orchestral versions of popular hits from the 60s and 70s and familiar classical tunes. If you remember the days of the Light Programme or the early years of Radio 2 then this was for you.

Here are a three examples of The Lively Lounge. This is a typical show from 12 December 2012.

In this second programme Tony is really in his element talking to the pianist and song-writer Les Reed in this edition from 25 October 2013. Les died in 2019.

From 14 March 2014 it's a delightful hour in the company of singer, composer and arranger Barbara Moore. Barbara died in 2021.

Tony was also a collector of the Radio Times and wrote the history of the magazine in The Radio Times Story (Kelly Publications 2001). He kindly dipped into his archive to help me with some radio enquiries in the days before BBC Genome came online. He also had a deep interest in broadcasting history, especially from a Scottish perspective, and willingly shared this in publications, podcasts and on the Digital Spy and other forums.

In August this year Tony announced that, due to his cancer diagnosis, The Lively Lounge had ended its run. Some other stations have continued to broadcast archive editions and it is possible that Radio Six International will repeat some shows in the future.

Tony Currie 1951-2026   

Radio Six International - 48 Years on Air

On Monday 6 June Radio Six International will have been broadcasting, in one guise or another, for 48 years and they will be celebrating this with a special day of programmes. I’m not sure why 48 years is significant, but any excuse for dipping into the archives I suppose.

Worth picking out the schedules are the following:

00:00 Station Theme Tunes – a medley of about 20 tunes used over the years.

11:30 This is Abba – featuring an interview with Benny & Bjorn.

12:30 Classical Sequence – a 1981 programme hosted by former Radio 2&3 and BBC Scotland announcer Alma Cadzow.

13:20 Meet Carol Hersee – an interview with the famous Test Card girl

20:00 John Lennon-The Final Interview – an interview made originally for RKO Radio  just a couple of days after the BBC one by Andy Peebles. This has already played out on stations worldwide last December and is available on iTunes.

22:40 Glasgow Tonight – a 1979 news magazine presented by Bill Turnbull.

All times are in GMT so if you’re in the UK add an hour, I’ll need to remember to add two hours.

Music Off the Shelf

Tucked away in the Radio 4 schedule this Tuesday afternoon (April 12th) is what should prove to be a fascinating listen, Into the Music Library presented by Jonny Trunk.

Much beloved by tv and radio producers alike library music has been used to provide background music and theme tunes for decades. Increasingly the older pieces of library music can instantly create a particular mood or era. Truly music 'off the shelf'.

Here are some examples (short clips only) you may recognise:

From the KPM Library a composition by Alan Moorhouse, played under the pseudonym of Oscar Brandenburg, called Music to Drive By familiar to Radio 2 listeners as the theme used by Charlie Chester.

Also from KPM another Alan Moorhouse piece called Peter Piper used as the theme to the Radio 4 comedy panel game You've Got to be Joking.

From the De Wolfe Library an Ivor Slaney composition called Top Dog as used in the long-running comedy seriesThe Men from the Ministry.

A TV theme first used by ITN in 1967 this was written by Johnny Pearson and called The Awakening taken from his 20^th Century Portrait. Another KPM Library recording.

Johnny Pearson died just last month. Over on Radio Six International Tony Currie paid tribute to Johnny in a special edition of The Lively Lounge and also broadcast in interview he conducted with Johnny back in 1974. Here’s a small part of that interview.