After numerous conversations in our office about why you don’t hear Mark Lamarr these days (see the weekend’s news, sadly), I got to thinking about all the music shows that have shaped my tastes. So here they are in broadly chronological order, and I’d be interested to read yours.
John Peel, BBC Radio 1
The Friday Rock Show, Thomas “The” Vance, BBC Radio 1
On the Wire, Steve Barker, BBC Radio Lancashire
The Stereo Sequence, Johnnie Walker/Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1
Persons unknown, late nights, Radio Caroline*
Out on Blue Six, Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 1
Mark Radcliffe late weeknights, BBC Radio 1
Solid Steel, Coldcut, BBC Radio London
Ross Allen, BBC Radio London
Sean Rowley, BBC Radio London
James Addyman, BBC Radio Leeds
Downtown Soulville, Mr Fine Wine, WFMU
Mark Lamarr’s Alternative 60s, BBC Radio 2
Sounds of the 60s, Brian Matthews BBC Radio 2
Rob Da Bank, BBC Radio 1
Pete Paphides, Soho Radio
If There’s Hell Below, Rob Morgan and Callum Eckersley, podcast
* Re Radio Caroline, in among the wayward MW reception and Loving Awareness stuff, this was briefly the place to hear hip US bands of the mid 80s (REM, Lone Justice, Del Fuegos, Del Lords, etc), and to my ears an influence on the early days of GLR.
Also, I’m aware that this list is something of a sausage party. Much as I like Annie Nightingale, Lauren, Cerys and Cosmo Murphy too, they’ve just never been appointment listening for me.
I was saddened to read that yesterday.
The demise of Radio 2 can be dated precisely to the day Mark left and 6 Music would have been immeasurably improved by his presence if only to provide relief from its NME/Peel sessions/dire 1980s stance.
The letters “D” and “J” strike the fear of God into me, I avoid them like the plague, he was the exception to the rule.
Thumbs up for Radio 1’s Stereo Sequence and the likes of Roger Scott, Johnnie Walker and Richard Skinner. Great music with some excellent lengthy artist interviews and features. Happy radio days.
First up it was Pick of The Pops with Alan Freeman and Saturday Club with Brian Matthew – these are my earliest radio memories for the charts and new music respectively, along with Children’s Favourites and Family Favourites where you got to hear a broad spectrum of stuff. A little later came Easybeat on Sundays. Radio Luxembourg under the bedcovers, then Radio London and other pirates in the mid 60s were so influential – I still remember hearing I Can’t Explain at teatime in 1965 and being thrilled.
I don’t recall hearing Perfumed Garden much, but John Peel on Top Gear on Radio 1 was superb.
As I mentioned on The Other Place, Gary Crowley’s Demo Clash on Sunday afternoons on GLR (or was it still Radio London?) in the early 90s.
He played demos amongst the indie new releases and listeners voted for the best. Suede’s demo of The Drowners won so often that it had to be excluded from the competition.
I waited months for the single to be properly recorded and released, and it sounded just like the demo.
You’re tyking me ayvahhh!
Although when I started listening to pop music I had just Radio 1 & Radio Luxembourg to inform me, I don’t think there was a particular DJ that stood out. I think in those days they pretty much toed the playlist line and all the shows blended into one another. I started listening to Capital when it started (I even had – still have in the loft – a Capital 539 T-Shirt!) it was a different matter with the following playing a large part in my tastes: Kenny Everett (Capital – he only really came into his own when he moved to the weekends from the breakfast show), Roger Scott (Capital – there are loads of recordings of his shows on the RogerScott.net site curated by his son), Gary Crowley (Radio London), Robbie Vincent (Radio London) Mary Costello (GLR), John Peel (Radio 1), Kid Jenson (Radio 1) Mark & Lard (Radio 1 & 6 Music).
That’s interesting: I’ve never heard of Mary Costello. I could Google it of course, but does anyone know what happened to her or have memories of her shows?
Googling her will tell you who she was (Declan’s first wife) and you may find some snippets of her brilliant Saturday evening show – it was pretty much americana but it was a bit broader than that really. What you will struggle to find is anything about her since GLR stopped. Her show typically had a live band in the studio (basement?) and lots of music from cajun to country and most points in between. She certainly had her favourites and BJ Cole seemed to have been in the studio every other week with one band or another! She was (is?) very keen on live music and I saw her quite often leaning against the bar in the Weavers Arms or the Mean Fiddler. She ‘curated’ an album ‘Vinyl Junkie Country’ which give a little flavour of what here show was like.
The Great Easton Express, Phil Easton’s show on Radio City got me through many an evening of school homework in the late 1970s
Annie Nightingale’s R1 Sunday evening shows for me. The sound of last-minute homework.
‘Echo Beach’ and Soft Cell’s ‘Martin’ seemingly every week, although I’m sure they weren’t really.
I’d forgotten about that Annie Nightingale show. You’ve taken me right back to my dad’s old Blaupunkt radio and, as you say, last minute homework.
It was on FM… a big deal in them days. During the week Janice and The Kid used to drift in and out of audibility in that slot.
I remember her playing Banana Republic as the new single by the Boomtown Rats and just going “Eh?”
More than anyone, Andy Kershaw. And I still have over 200 C90s of stuff taped off-air.
Just today I saw Ali Farka Toure’s name on the Noughties thread… heard it in my head in AK’s voice.
Remember writing down Ali Farka Toure’s name after I heard him on AK.
Think I spelled Ali correctly, but Farka and Toure were somewhat phonetical.
What, so it was “Ali enjoys the company of a Conservative?”
Mention of Sean Rowley above means I should direct you all to this. He still has a show on the BBC, sadly only 1 hour per week on BBC Radio Kent, but its worth a listen, just back from a summer break he does late Saturday night, and very good it is too…..I download to my iTunes/ipod via that wonderful get iplayer software.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06jb0kr
Sean Rowley – All back to mine
Ultimate late night listening playing chilled rock, folk, soul, Americana and soundtracks.
He is great. I worried when I listened to his last mix on Mixcloud that he might have been booted off Kent (it’ll happen some day), so I’m glad to hear he’s back. He actually messaged me today, too. We’re both Spotify addicts and he wanted some thoughts for a playlist that he has in the works. Great shows, always, even if he can’t pronounce artists’ names for toffee!
Agreed on artists name. I fell for this song he played before the summer break. He went big on saying this was a song he could’ve seen Elvis Presley covering in his late classic 1970’s era. By an artist called Paul Caw??? Took several days of googling to find the tune. Paul Cauthen – In Love With A Fool.
Finished his Saturday night show when i woke up this morning. Early 1970’s British Pop Troubadours. Played a track from the new Gilbert OSullivan album (pretty good,) and a track from Leo Sayers debut, also very good. If that same Sayer album has Show Must Go On on it then i’m heading to the charity shops/ebay for a cheap second hand vinyl copy. This man is costing me money, and i like it!
Hope it does continue but only one hour per week late night on a local BBC radio station seems very much a shame.
Reading the above comments made me think of Alexis Korner’s Sunday evening show on Radio 1 – looking it up it ran from 1977-81, and I never missed it if I could help it. Again, looking it up, it was called the Blues and Soul Show and I remember learning a heck of a lot from him.
I’ve droned on at length about that show…. despite the title Alexis would throw in anything he dug, including reggae, jazz, gospel and all manner of African music. Wonderful.
He sounded like such a hep cat to the nine to 11-year-old me. Would love to find some recordings of those shows.
Someone who knew him well says he’d light up a big one at the start of each show. Lord Reith would have been proud.
I liked the fact that Alexis Korner often used to quote the catalogue number of the record he’d just played (husky, gravelly voice) “That was a 1967 album by so-and-so on CBS, catalogue number S3976605.”
I wonder if anyone actually wrote the numbers down.
He’d tell you to go to Stearns or Rounder Records as well. Can’t remember if he gave out the street address and post code but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Korner always gave the label and catalogue number of the records too. Nerd heaven. A great loss.
On BBC R1, Steve Wright was good in his early days. Kid Jensen was all right. Peely, of course until he started specialising in the wilfully obscure. I liked Andy Kershaw in his early days, but he became a rather bumptious overly-opinionated git towards the end, I thought. Especially after he got booted from R1 and reappeared on R3. Speaking of R3, Mixing It with Robert Sandall & Mark Russell was good. Late Junction is still good but has been cut down drastically since it’s early ’00s heyday when it was a couple of hours a night Monday to Thursday with Fiona Talkington & Verity Sharp hosting alternate weeks, with the occasional guest presenter.
I didn’t take to the presenter, Lucy Duran, or the format of their World Music programme. It was a bit like an academic study session, with too much of the fun sucked out of the music.
Charlie Gillett was a great knowledgeable presenter on BBC London. Good music and great interviews with interesting interviewees. His Radio Ping-Pong idea, where he and his guest played records to each other in sequence, was brilliant. Another great loss to music broadcasting.
When I lived in West Wales from the early’70s to the early ’80s, reception of BBC radio was pretty crappy but RTE used to come in loud and clear across the Irish Sea. The legendary Dave Fanning was always well worth a listen.
Charlie Gillett – of course. I hardly listened to him, but you couldn’t miss his knowledge. We need more of these pure music guys on radio. In spite of the fact that 6Music was pretty much made for punters like me, I find much of it hard to warm to.
Agreed Re: 6Music. It doesn’t do it for me at all.
A lot of these DJs lead troubled lives, don’t they. I don’t suppose the late nights behind a microphone are conducive to good, healthy relationships.
I remember Anne Nightingale’s show on a Sunday afternoon? Had Lazy Sunday by The Small Faces as theme music. Otherwise, I loved Kid Jensen’s drive time show late 70s, followed him to what became the Evening Session slot. Dabbled in Peel from time to time, but never listened to him full time. Sometimes the Friday Rock Show with Tommy Vance (and Rock On on Sat afternoons), though I did not like Heavy Metal, he sometimes played Beatles BBC sessions! Also liked Andy Peebles and Mike Read in the 8-10 slot, and even Peter Powell for a while at drive time. So all Radio 1 I guess.
(edit) And Sound of the 60s on Radio 2 of course.