As well as the biopic we get the first ever repeat of a Top of the Pops show from 11 October 1973 which, I think I’m right in saying, is the only Kenny Everett fronted edition that hasn’t been wiped.
Meanwhile how about this programme from the Radio 1 series Radio Radio first broadcast in 1986. Here Kenny talks about his early influences and his career.
Still can’t get enough Ken? Then try this website which includes his shows on Radio London, Capital and Radio Victory.
Radio 1 is 45 today. Rarely does the BBC miss the opportunity to celebrate its own history so on the occasion of the station’s 20th anniversary comes this edition of the BBC1 chat show Wogan.
With Terry in the studio are Tony Blackburn, John Peel, Ed Stewart, Dave Cash, Pete Murray and David Symonds. Behind the scenes at Radio 1 we see Mike Smith, Janice Long and Bruno Brookes with those new-fangled CDs. Music is provided by Carl Wayne and Johnny Hates Jazz, well it is 1987.
Eighteen months after launch Viking Radio had a schedule shake-up with some new names on the roster and was now broadcasting round the clock. Here’s how an advertising feature in one of the local papers sold the changes.
More star names, more music, more local personalities and am even faster and brighter news service are all part of the exciting 24 hours a day schedule for the winter months on the area’s number one station, Viking.
Goole Times 24 January 1985
Carl Kingston, who’d joined the station that January (see above), now hosted an afternoon show offering “a combination of star interviews, new quizzes and music from both the charts and his extensive selection of Golden Oldies.”
Tim Jibson
Local lad Carl had moved from rival BBC station Radio Humberside; he was not the only one as Tim Jibsonhad also “crossed over” that year to present two shows each Saturday. Tim has the honour, along with Dave Fewster, of having worked Hull’s three main stations (Humberside, Viking and KCFM).
Steve Tong, who’d been with Viking from the off was given a permanent slot on the weekday teatime show at 6 p.m.
Carl Gresham
Carl Gresham (‘The Gresh’) had a new Sunday night show that brought “his nostalgic concoction of musical memories with the accent on melody”.
But it was three other features of this winter schedule that presaged the way that commercial radio would develop in the late 80s. Firstly the AM/FM split. Between 3 and 6 p.m. on Sundays listeners on 258 metres could hear Sunday Sport whilst over on 102.7 the music continued with Paul Massey.
Secondly we see the start of “gold” programming with former pirate DJ Jay Jackson (aka Crispian St Peters, real name Howard Rose) presenting the Sunday lunchtime Pirate Gold show complete with those classic PAMS jingles.
The third aspect was the sharing or networking of programmes across more than one station, in this case Viking and Pennine. Kicking off proceedings between 8 p.m. and midnight from 28 October was Andy Hollins.Apparently on one show he did a great link saying that if you could get Pennine on 102.5 and Viking on 102.7 you’d get a wonderful phasing effect to blow your ears off!
Andy Hollins
I recall a teenage Andy Hollins from his time at Kingston Radio (Hull’s hospital radio service). He’d come into the studio on a Saturday, around midday I think, do a quick bit of prep and then go on air with a chart show, complete with a Pick of the Pops type countdown, extremely slick and professional. Then it was out of studio with ne’er a word to anyone.
Hollins would make a tearful exit from Viking in the summer of 1986 (see newspaper cutting below) after, according to MD Roger Brooks, "repeatedly hinting on the air that he was leaving the station." Indeed he was going to join Radio Tees and would later work for BRMB.
This is a clip of Andy on that first joint show. If only he could remember the name of the “other” station!
Hull Daily Mail 18 June 1986
Providing the programmes overnight between midnight and 6 a.m. were Pennine’s Dave Nixon and Graham King.Here’s Dave in the early hours of 30 October, note the use of a Mezzoforte track, a particular DJ favourite at the time, for his weather bed.
In 1986 the pre-midnight show would revert back to being on Viking only, with Tony Fisher over on Pennine at the same time, and shared programming from midnight to 6 a.m.
This is the third in an occasional series of posts on the history of commercial radio in East Yorkshire and North Lincolnshire.
After 70 years the BBC’s External Services moved out of Bush House this summer. Equipment and furniture was auctioned off and the building will eventually be refurbished and let as office accommodation.
But for many that worked beyond that Aldwych portico – although not purpose built for the BBC the building’s dedication “to the Friendship of English Speaking Peoples” was apt – the warren of corridors, offices and studios will be sadly missed.
Well now you can revisit the old studios of Bush House courtesy of a new website Normal Stop. The site is written by Barry Warr and Jeremy Lowe who both worked at “Bush” for many years. It provides a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes at the technology that put the multitude of programme and languages on the air.
And why Normal Stop? As Barry told me it’s because “on BBC mixing desks there is an point on a fader scale at which the signal travelling through the desk is at its optimum – that’s called the normal stop (usually 20 or 23 on the fader scale)”.
On occasional forays back to the UK (when we “allez to Calais”) taking the autoroute north roadside signs encourage us tune in to Autoroute Info 107.7, a bilingual traffic news service. I was recently reminded that a similar service existed on the other side of la Manche when I came across this audio clip of Channel Travel Radio (an Audioboo posted by user 'belfastchild', now longer active):
Channel Travel Radio first aired on 107.6 FM in August 1995. But how did it work? I am indebted to broadcaster Ian McGregor, who helped set up the station, for this lowdown.
Channel Travel Radio was licensed as a long running RSL paid for by Eurotunnel and located in their control room. The broadcasters sat in a glass booth behind the controllers so we could see everything that was going on.
Eurotunnel sub-contracted the first licence to Capital Radio to run the station. It was live for eight hours a day (7-11 a.m. and 1-5 p.m.) and a loop tape (no real time information) the rest of the time.The shows were double-headed with a French speaking co-host.
The late Gavin Lawrence set it up, Capital sub-contracted the day-to-day running of the station to him.I helped him devise the format and we practised it together one Easter Sunday afternoon, making tweaks as we went along, but it was his gig, he was our boss and answerable directly to Capital.
Capital's format was very upbeat, everything had a music bed and I recall we had drop ins from Dr Fox and Alan Freeman.I remember one sunny day playing Mungo Jerry's In the Summertime (for we had free reign on the playlist) and the big boss from Capital, who happened to heading down the M20 for a meeting with us at the time, said to me afterwards he was fine about the song but would prefer I played the Shaggy version, so they wanted very contemporary.Eurotunnel wanted a toned down format and eventually gave the contract to Radio Services Limited, who made it “more Radio 4” with music, and very toned down music at that including a lot of classical.Eurotunnel managed to run it live 24/7.The presenters worked longer shifts and pre-recorded carts were used for the French announcements rather than a second presenter.
I recall there were two sets of 'partner' voices.Male presenters would get a female jingle voice and French announcer and female colleagues would have a male voice.
Although the Radio Services station had announcers on duty round the clock a lot of the output, i.e. weather forecasts, currency checks etc, was pre-recorded.The live links were mostly reserved for real time running information.
Unfortunately Ian’s whole audio archive was wiped last year but with the help of former colleague Michaela Segol here are a couple of clips of the Capital format station featuring both Michaela and Ian:
Courtesy of Simon Trevallion is this recording of the Radio Services incarnation:
Channel Travel Radio’s broadcast licence was revoked in September 2000 following Eurotunnel’s decision to pull the plug on further funding for the station. Ian continues:
The stumbling block was that the Radio Authority licence required the station to be impartial, so we had to give out ferry news as well - and of course the ferry operators weren't contributing to the station's running costs, which always stuck in Eurotunnel's craw.Having said that, the Eurotunnel exit from the M20 came before the ferry turn offs, so Eurotunnel was always gleeful when there was weather disruption as many ferry customers would make a quick decision to bail off the motorway early and take the shuttle exit.Eurotunnel eventually closed the station and handed the licence back to the Radio Authority.
The presenters on the Capital run Channel Travel Radio were:
Gavin Lawrence (BBC Radio Kent, BBC Essex, BBC London, Invicta, Arrow FM, Sovereign FM)
Ian McGregor (BBC Radio Kent, BBC Travel Centre, now running Just Talking Communications)
Julie Maddocks (also at Invicta FM, ITN News Channel, BBC Radio Kent and now BBC London)
Hosting the French side of things were:
Michaela Segol (who would become the station manager under Radio Services Ltd and then Programme Coordinator at KMFM)
Aurelie Claudel (previously in sales at Invicta)
Ann Marie Glasheen (a Belgian actress)
Pippa Sparkes (now with Metro Networks and BBC London travel)
On the station run by Radio Services Ltd (under Group MD Lisa Kerr) the station manager and presenter was Michaela Segol. The on air talent included:
Simon Trevallion (on the Spanish based Ace FM and community station Digital Hits One)
Nathan Cooper (later at Mix 96 in Aylesbury and now Bucks Radio)
Richard Adams (went on to Neptune Radio then KMfm as regional programme controller and then Adams Media Services)
Steve Phillips (later with BBC London travel, then various media strategy/communications roles at RBS, Barclays and ITV)
Andy McColl (travel reporter and presenter for BBC and commercial stations, producer (Output Manager) at Traffic Radio and then LBC and XFM Manchester, now Project manger for iSAMS Ltd)
Bobbie Pryor (now with BBC Radio 2)
Romilly Paradine (formerly of Essex Radio/Breeze AM)
Brian Sims (later at Sovereign Radio in Eastbourne)
James Day (ex Voice of Peace and Caroline 558)
Richard Harding (BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Hereward FM, Island FM in Guernsey and now reporter for South Hams Newspapers)
Jayne Constantinis (at the time a BBC TV continuity announcer)
Hayley Edmunds (former BBC Broadcast Assistant now Director of Learning for Humanities at the Marsh Academy in Kent)
Mark Carter (now on BBC Sussex and BBC Surrey)
This was the last of six summer posts on travel and transport.
My thanks go to Ian McGregor, Michaela Segol and Simon Trevallion.
Yes, his ego may be the size of Broadcasting House. Yes, some of those links were a tad overlong. And those interviews with the latest young female pop star did get a bit creepy – I’d switch over to Wogan or Hirsty’s Daily Dose at that point. But there’s absolutely no denying his creativity, his quick wit and technical proficiency.
Admittedly I’ve heard less of Radio 1 Breakfast of late since the daily commutes into York ended and those occasional mornings sitting in the car at Grimston Bar Park & Ride not wanting to miss the end of a link. For the radio anoraks Chris would gave us an insight into the workings of the radio studio or mock the latest missive from management. He also gave us those wonderful jingles – with real musicians and real singers – will we ever hear their like again?
Breakfast show producers love regular fixed-time features but Moyles soon got bored of most of these – Carpark Catchphrase, Rob DJ's Monday Night Pub Quiz, Tedious Link and the self-indulgent Golden Hour aside – they interrupted his flow. Here’s one of my favourites though, from a couple of years ago, if only to hear Westwood mangling the English language: Where Am I?
News that former national newspaper editor and broadcaster Derek Jameson has died was issued yesterday.
Wogan's television years can often be overlooked in recalling the Radio 2 Breakfast Shows of the past but its Derek Jameson who had the second longest tenure (so far) in the morning hot seat for the five years between 1986 and 1991.
In the wake of the Week Ending libel case the BBC offered work to Derek on Radio 4’s The Colour Supplement and, in late 1985, deputising for a holidaying Jimmy Young.Such was his success on that show that Radio 2 Head of Music Frances Line hired him to host the Breakfast Show, displacing Ken Bruce. His Fleet Street background forced a change of style, topical items and interviews, that stayed with the show during both Derek and then Brian Hayes’s run.
Here’s the start of that first show in April 1986. Derek would be joined on the show by “weather girl” and former station continuity announcer Vivien Stuart (pictured with Derek above):
From January 1992 Derek moved to weekday evenings to present music and chat on The Jamesons alongside his wife Ellen, perhaps the best known husband and wife radio pairing since Jean and Cliff. This show also ran for five years.
Here are Derek and Ellen kicking things off in 1992:
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