BBC Radio Manchester - the first two hours of broadcast
Post categories: BBC Radio Manchester
|15:10 UK time, Monday, 6 September 2010
BBC Radio Manchester is 40 years old on Friday 10 September - and I've been tracking down recordings of the early days to help us celebrate four decades on the air.
Everyone told me the first hours of the station no longer existed. Previous anniversaries had come and gone with fruitless enquiries to the North West Sound Archive. At some point in the last forty years those dusty reels had been skipped. Or so we thought. The NWSA is housed in part of a twelfth century castle at Clitheroe, where shelves of dusty 12" reels, VHS and Beta dubs live next to a charming 'studio' full of the largely obsolete, donated equipment required to dub it to CD.
So imagine the lucky surprise when my first enquiry into the database (DOS! - itself, a blast from the past) turned up two crystal clear spools. The first two hours had been thoughtfully returned to the archive by a former manager since the last time we'd asked for them.
Listening to them is a fascinating journey back in time. For a simple medium, radio sure has moved on in four decades. This feels in part like a BBC imposed on the city - local accents are few and far between. Political correctness has yet to make an appearance - there's an off colour Hitler gag in the first hour, the only people thought to be interested in the soon-to-be-built Arndale Centre are 'housewives' and in some recordings you can clearly hear cigarettes being inhaled and the popping of lips on pipes.
We were (and are) a speech led service. But then, as now, music plays a supporting role to our topical conversation. Back in 1970, so-called needletime restrictions meant a seriously low cap on the amount of commercial recordings the station could play. So our first song - an English Folk Song Medley of I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts and I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside - may not have been what was expected, when the chart of the day included Smokey Robinson, Elvis, Marmalade and Shirley Bassey.
On Friday, we'll be welcoming back some of those pioneering broadcasters to see how they get on in the 2010 version of the station they started. I'll let you know how they get on.
John Ryan is Managing Editor of Radio Manchester
Everyone told me the first hours of the station no longer existed. Previous anniversaries had come and gone with fruitless enquiries to the North West Sound Archive. At some point in the last forty years those dusty reels had been skipped. Or so we thought. The NWSA is housed in part of a twelfth century castle at Clitheroe, where shelves of dusty 12" reels, VHS and Beta dubs live next to a charming 'studio' full of the largely obsolete, donated equipment required to dub it to CD.
So imagine the lucky surprise when my first enquiry into the database (DOS! - itself, a blast from the past) turned up two crystal clear spools. The first two hours had been thoughtfully returned to the archive by a former manager since the last time we'd asked for them.
Listening to them is a fascinating journey back in time. For a simple medium, radio sure has moved on in four decades. This feels in part like a BBC imposed on the city - local accents are few and far between. Political correctness has yet to make an appearance - there's an off colour Hitler gag in the first hour, the only people thought to be interested in the soon-to-be-built Arndale Centre are 'housewives' and in some recordings you can clearly hear cigarettes being inhaled and the popping of lips on pipes.
In order to see this content you need to have both Javascript enabled and Flash installed. Visit BBCÂ Webwise for full instructions
We were (and are) a speech led service. But then, as now, music plays a supporting role to our topical conversation. Back in 1970, so-called needletime restrictions meant a seriously low cap on the amount of commercial recordings the station could play. So our first song - an English Folk Song Medley of I've Got A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts and I Do Like to Be Beside The Seaside - may not have been what was expected, when the chart of the day included Smokey Robinson, Elvis, Marmalade and Shirley Bassey.
John Ryan is Managing Editor of Radio Manchester
- John's first post, BBC Radio Manchester is about to be 40
- press release - Radio Manchester celebrates 40 years
Comment number 1.
At 05:21 7th Sep 2010, maryburkema wrote:This comment was removed because the moderators found it broke the house rules. Explain.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 1)
Comment number 2.
At 08:20 7th Sep 2010, Paul Burton wrote:I appeared on Radio Manchester in 1973 as an 11 year old - I chatted on air to a present who called himself "The Baron". Phone-ins with the public were a bit of a novelty back then and it was very exciting to speak on the radio. I still have the recording!
All the best,
Paul
Complain about this comment (Comment number 2)
Comment number 3.
At 11:11 7th Sep 2010, John Ryan wrote:Hi Paul
Thanks for your comment about the Baron!
We've been trying to find out more about this mysterious individual who was one of the stars of the early Radio Manchester.
We would love to talk to you as part of the celebrations - and maybe broadcast your recording if you could make it available?
Please contact me - john.ryan@bbc.co.uk - if you can help.
Thanks
Complain about this comment (Comment number 3)
Comment number 4.
At 17:16 8th Sep 2010, Ian Rothwell wrote:I used to listen to Radio Manchester in the early 1970's and think I may have recordings of The Baron and others and remember going to see Radio Manchester play a charity football match, against Radio 1 at Maine Road and Peter Sharratt doing the Oxford Road Show from the ground. Others were Alan Sykes, Mike Riddoch, Martin Henfield,Eric Purnell,Roy Cross, Sandra Chalmers and Alec Greenhalgh. Would we be able to listen to the first 2 hours on line? Radio Manchester was the only local station until 1974.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 4)
Comment number 5.
At 08:03 10th Sep 2010, Paul Burton wrote:I enjoyed what I heard of the 40 year old broadcast today - the music was a eclectic mix! Did any parents come forward with a baby born that day to so the station could be its godparent? I liked the message from the bloke who called in and said the station was rubbish ha ha - wonder if he still listens :D
Complain about this comment (Comment number 5)
Comment number 6.
At 21:07 10th Sep 2010, SirHaroldWilson wrote:AH, The Baron. He had strange staring eyes, he looked like a cross between Iain Anderson of Jethro Tull and Mick Fleetwood. He was on 'late at night' (in those days, it meant 10pm, wow, you can listen to someone live on the radio at 10pm), but he got up early once to do a live show at Lewis's in Town as part of some BBC festival. I was four at the time, I found him rather scary! Also there was Brian Cant from Play School, who signed a big poster of the Play School toys for me. Damn, I wish I had it now, it might be worth something in these days of Ebay.
The other main thing I remember from early Radio Manchester was the football show on Saturday had the same theme tune as the Rockford Files, and you could only have second half commentary, so if a vital goal was scored in the first half at Maine Road or OT, you heard a cheesy jingle interrupt the latest song from the Rubettes with the words 'GOAL ACTION on 206!'
Complain about this comment (Comment number 6)
Comment number 7.
At 04:44 13th Sep 2010, tony wrote:I was a regular listener to The Baron during 73/74 when he broadcast between 8-10 as I recall. He was certainly unorthodox in his style, and I got the impression that he had the sort of personality that was just as extrovert when he was away from the studio. I remember that our school invited him to be the star attraction at it's summer fair in 1974 but I subsequently discovered that he had some sort of altercation with our Deputy Head who had been upset at something he either did or said. Never found out what it was, but unsurprisingly he wasnt invited back again.
Complain about this comment (Comment number 7)