S1 Ep424: Plymouth Sound - Launch
Plymouth Sound, the UK’s 11th local commercial (ILR) station, launched on May 19th 1975. Andrew Knight, sounding already capable at the age of 9, uttered the opening words. He’d won a competition on the local TV station, back in the days of local TV stations; and you can hear why. After a little wrestling with the levels; a puzzling jingle; and a news bulletin hosted by the Programme Head Davi...
8m Apr 22, 2012
8m
S1 Ep423: Final Waggoners' Walk
I remember arriving home from school to find Mum perched on her favourite stool reading My Weekly, eating a Kit Kat and shusshing me as she caught up on the latest happenings on Waggoners' Walk. I can hum the theme tune still. Hum hum, hmm hum hum, hum hummmm, twidly plonk. Look. That's about all I remember of it. A black and white Val Singleton was of more interest in the front room. The Rad...
1m Apr 22, 2012
1m
S1 Ep422: Chris Evans - First Breakfast Show on Radio 1
The life of Chris Evans is well documented, not least by him. Rightly so too. There s no doubt, he is one of the UK radio contemporary greats; and has already secured his place in the medium’s history. Piccadilly in Manchester saw his radio birth, working with his idol Timmy Mallett; whose influence left its mark. Off then to GLR in London, whilst the BBC explored just what it should do with i...
1m Apr 22, 2012
1m
S1 Ep421: David Lloyd - First show on Trent
In assembling these Boos, it's tempting to include the embarrassment of others; and neglect oneself. That would be wrong. After three years of hospital radio in Nottingham, at a stunning station which spawned so many including: the BBC's Paul Robey; Mark Shardlow; Sue Aherne; Martin Bedford; Richard Townsend; Denis Henry; and commercial radio's Pete and Rob Wagstaff; Andy Miller; Tim Disney; S...
16s Apr 21, 2012
16s
S1 Ep420: Alan Fawkes - Tribute
Alan Fawkes was known by sight and sound by so many in British radio. His initials helped to form the company name Alfasound, which he and Steve England took to the heights of success in the UK jingle field through the eighties and beyond. Alan heard the jazz melodies which had underpinned the best in American jingles and understood close harmony singing. Many of us worked with Alan and Steve...
3m Apr 21, 2012
3m
S1 Ep419: WABC, format change - 1982
4m Apr 21, 2012
4m
S1 Ep418: Radio Derby - Launch
1m Apr 14, 2012
1m
S1 Ep417: BBC Radiophonic Workshop
The BBC Radiophonic Workshop was created in the pre-synthesiser days of 1958. It was based in the BBC's Maida Vale Studios, creating sound, often from unlikely sources, particularly for BBC drama. As might be expected, a committee was established: the Radiophonic Effects Committee; armed with a £2,000 budget and access to the 'cast offs' cupboard. It assembled rooms full of tape recorders and ...
1m Apr 14, 2012
1m
S1 Ep416: Johnny Beerling
Just as you can tell someone’s age by the Blue Peter presenters they recall best (Singleton, Noakes, Purves, by the way), the age of a disc jockey can be easily be determined by asking if they ever sent an audition tape to Johnny Beerling. After a decade at the Light Programme, Johnny was involved with Radio One from the outset, and was on production duty for the inaugural, smiling show in 196...
2m Apr 09, 2012
2m
S1 Ep415: I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue
What a beautifully written series. I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue, the ‘antidote to panel games’, began on 11 April 1972 in the familiar Radio 4 Monday slot. Its most familiar host came to be Humphrey Lyttelton. The series, spawned from ‘I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again’ on the BBC Home and Light, was a now familiar idea of a panel game with little point apart from allowing celebrities to show off ...
1m Apr 09, 2012
1m
S1 Ep414: Somerset Sound - Launch
2m Apr 09, 2012
2m
S1 Ep413: Home Truths - First edition - John Peel
Who would cast John Peel to host a Radio 4 programme? Who would consider a programme on Radio 4 which focussed fairly regularly on trivial domestic nonsense? Someone very, very clever. Home Truths cheered up the nation every Saturday morning from April 1998. On occasions, the show made us cry too. The casting was clever. John never took centre stage in what he did: he’d always played second fid...
1m Apr 09, 2012
1m
S1 Ep412: Beat 106 end - Xfm Scotland Launch
2m Apr 08, 2012
2m
S1 Ep411: Ocean Sound - Launch
5m Apr 08, 2012
5m
S1 Ep410: Rock becomes Real XS
#radio
2m Apr 08, 2012
2m
S1 Ep409: GNR - Ad and ident
1m Apr 08, 2012
1m
S1 Ep408: Virgin 105.8 - Launch promos
1m Apr 07, 2012
1m
S1 Ep407: Churchill VE Day - 1945
'This is London'. Three words which mean so much around the World. Without question, this was one of the most important times they were ever spoken. Big Ben struck 3.00 p.m. on the eighth of May 1945. Winston Churchill began his address from the cabinet room at Number Ten Downing Street - the very room where Chamberlain had announced the start of War six years previously. It fell to Churchill t...
2m Apr 06, 2012
2m
S1 Ep406: First gardening programme - The Week in the Garden
9 May 1931 saw not only the first 'BBC 'gardening programme', it saw the start of expert conversation on the radio with the listener, as distinct from a scripted talk. C.H. Middleton, the son of a Northamptonshire gardener spoke for fifteen minutes from notes alone on 'In Your Garden'. The conversational vision was held by Mr. Fielden, BBC General Talks, as this typed memo suggests: 'There r...
1m Apr 06, 2012
1m
S1 Ep405: KCBC - PAMS
26s Apr 05, 2012
26s
S1 Ep404: BCR launch - 1990
The launch of BCR - Belfast Community Radio on 6th April 1970. It became City Beat and is now Q Radio.
4m Apr 05, 2012
4m
S1 Ep403: Radio 4 PM programme intro - 1970
PM began on BBC Radio 4 in 1970, following the 'Broadcasting in the 70s' report, published the previous July, which paved the way for the BBC radio services to carve out their own sovereign states- and Radio 4 became more a news network.  As you can hear here: William (Bill) Hardcastle (pictured) and Derek Cooper heralded a programme which "sums up the day and your evening starts here".  It did...
18s Apr 05, 2012
18s
S1 Ep402: Century becomes Real Radio
3m Apr 04, 2012
3m
S1 Ep401: County Sound launch - 1983
3m Apr 02, 2012
3m
S1 Ep400: Xtra AM - Launch
3m Apr 02, 2012
3m
S1 Ep399: Pirate FM song
1m Apr 01, 2012
1m
S1 Ep398: Rob Brydon - Ken Bruce
11s Mar 31, 2012
11s
S1 Ep397: The Boat That Rocked
17s Mar 31, 2012
17s
S1 Ep396: Nicky Campbell - Hunting
11s Mar 31, 2012
11s
S1 Ep395: Johnnie Walker - Medley
2m Mar 29, 2012
2m
S1 Ep394: Margaret Howard
1m Mar 28, 2012
1m
S1 Ep393: Charlotte Green - Corpse
Says it all. Charlotte Green delivering the latest news on The Today Programme on BBC Radio 4. After an old recording, hailed as a historic find, rather tickled her, Charlotte felt the need to laugh. When that happens, as every broadcaster knows, the more you try to be serious, the worse it is. Then you think about why you are laughing, and round and round it goes. Those around you silently (al...
1m Mar 27, 2012
1m
S1 Ep392: Free - Launch
1m Mar 26, 2012
1m
S1 Ep391: Real Radio Yorkshire - Launch
2m Mar 24, 2012
2m
S1 Ep390: John Snagge
He began at the BBC after University, thanks to a good bit of friendly nepotism. He drifted into the BBC, after a mild dose of fascination about this new thing called radio, as he tells on this clip. His voice on news bulletins came to be one which announced some of the 20th Century's most historic moments, not to mention his Boat Race commentaries.
11m Mar 24, 2012
11m
S1 Ep389: Johnnie Walker - Free
24s Mar 22, 2012
24s
S1 Ep388: Graham Dene - Capital
3m Mar 22, 2012
3m
S1 Ep387: Mercia Sound - Launch & Test
Mercia Sound was the first English station to arrive in the second burst of commercial radio, just as the government thought commercial radio was working, but was not awfully sure. It came on air on May 23rd 1980, with Ian Rufus giving the opening announcement before a Sue Manning jingle. I have a theory that one can tell a great deal about the destiny of a station from the style in which its ...
4m Mar 20, 2012
4m
S1 Ep386: BBC 5live launch - 1994
It attracts over 5m listeners, but it nearly didn’t exist at all. On March 29th 1994, BBC 5live sprung from the ashes of BBC Radio 5 which had closed down quietly the night before. That predecessor, with its strange mix of education, sport and children’s programmes displaced from other services, was not seen as having been a huge success. Unlike the other BBC networks, Radio 5 boasted no ‘stati...
5m Mar 19, 2012
5m
S1 Ep385: Radio 4 - Spiegl 'Skipping Theme'
There's something magical about opening up a radio station in the morning. A fresh start. A new day. Remember the days of unlocking the doors, un-setting the alarm, and turning on the lights, back in the days when stations went to bed for the night? Then we’d switch off the 1k tone, route the studio to air, and press the first button to kick off the first audio. A drum beat cuts through the de...
1m Mar 18, 2012
1m
S1 Ep384: 3D Sound on Tomorrow's World/Radio 1
21st March 1991. Mark Goodier on Radio One and BBC TV linked up to explain 3D sound.
4m Mar 18, 2012
4m
S1 Ep383: Great Yorkshire Gold - Close/Magic AM launch
1m Mar 18, 2012
1m
S1 Ep382: Tower FM - Launch
3m Mar 18, 2012
3m
S1 Ep381: NHR Birthday greetings
Happy Birthday to Nottingham Hospitals Radio. April 1st, 1974. Four years on, some contemporary radio luminaries bothered to record some greetings at 7 1/2 i.p.s. Len, Dale (aged 22). And Ray.
2m Mar 17, 2012
2m
S1 Ep380: Yorkshire Radio Network - Launch
Ah, networking. So commonplace now, but it was quite a feat in the analogue eighties. Not just a few extra hard drives, but mountains of ‘cart’ machines to be loaded manually for each transmitter. For younger readers, imagine every single bit of split audio is in a different plastic box. Every ad. Every jingle Every sound effect. Every bit of V/O music. That’s a lot of boxes to get out, put in ...
3m Mar 15, 2012
3m
S1 Ep379: BBC Radio Guernsey - Launch
11m Mar 15, 2012
11m
S1 Ep378: Free Radio - Cut One
My Boo channel (click on my silly little pic above) features some great audio from the last hundred years of radio. Some, I have more involvement in personally than others, given I was not around in 1922. This one is a little to do with me though. It’s the first jingle, steaming from the mixers at the Wise Buddah production house, for the new Free Radio, which launches in the next few weeks, r...
17s Mar 15, 2012
17s
S1 Ep377: Henry Hall
My Dad used to talk about Henry Hall; and a great old bloke on Radio Nottingham used to play his 78s on ‘The Golden Years’ on a Sunday lunchtime. So, it’s only right we should know why he means so much to so many. Henry was one of the leading figures in the Dance Band era, starting out in the Salvation Army, through a spell in the Forces, moving though some respectable gigs in cinemas and hotel...
18s Mar 13, 2012
18s
S1 Ep376: Xfm Manchester - Launch
2m Mar 13, 2012
2m
S1 Ep375: Tony Blackburn - Duran Duran
So, the BBC Top 40 on Radio 1 (and 2, actually, owing to FM simulcast) with Tony Blackburn. He'll never forget the day in 1981 he did not double-check the pronunciation of Duran Duran as the group sailed into his rundown for the first week. He was quickly corrected; and, without doubt, it is his most recalled moment on the show. Now. 'tis folklore; but back then he probably cringed.
1m Mar 11, 2012
1m