MA
It was. The AC and specialist elements got pushed into the evenings and weekends after a year or so, but Roger Scott's drivetime show in particular was music programming 'for grown ups'.
The killer move was in 1974 employing Michael Aspel 9am-12. My (at the time 43 year old) mother dropped Radio 2 like a stone (and never returned) like thousands of other housewives.
Wasn't the original incarnation of Capital Radio more adult contemporary than pop based initially?
It was. The AC and specialist elements got pushed into the evenings and weekends after a year or so, but Roger Scott's drivetime show in particular was music programming 'for grown ups'.
The killer move was in 1974 employing Michael Aspel 9am-12. My (at the time 43 year old) mother dropped Radio 2 like a stone (and never returned) like thousands of other housewives.
MA
This 8 minute montage is excellent (You'll particularly enjoy the bit from 02:55)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24427961
Fantastic - Kenny Everett can still make me laugh all these years after that was broadcast.
This 8 minute montage is excellent (You'll particularly enjoy the bit from 02:55)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-24427961
LL
London Lite
Founding member
Talking of Aspel, here's him doing some PSB with the 'Swap Shop' from 1976. I can imagine needletime was one of the reasons why that feature was padded out? Bar the ads and a brief weather check, it appears to be the only local feature during this aircheck.
MA
40 years on it does all sound painfully pedestrian and worthy. It's hard to explain how at the time, this was all fresh and vibrant broadcasting, compared with what the Beeb were doing. Capital did it well.
ILR Plymouth Sound (whose daytime output at the time was 90% speech) had the same feature for an hour (or was it two) called 'Teradio'. Even by 70s standards, it was dire listening !
Talking of Aspel, here's him doing some PSB with the 'Swap Shop' from 1976. I can imagine needletime was one of the reasons why that feature was padded out? Bar the ads and a brief weather check, it appears to be the only local feature during this aircheck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGa_mqr7aIM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGa_mqr7aIM
40 years on it does all sound painfully pedestrian and worthy. It's hard to explain how at the time, this was all fresh and vibrant broadcasting, compared with what the Beeb were doing. Capital did it well.
ILR Plymouth Sound (whose daytime output at the time was 90% speech) had the same feature for an hour (or was it two) called 'Teradio'. Even by 70s standards, it was dire listening !
FB
I remember listening to those early days an it was a true alternative to the Beebs national offering.
They broadcast from Euston Tower in north London.
Originally they wanted to do american style 'FM' radio but it never really took off with the listeners.
They changed the format to a more regular music type during the day followed by an early evening news programme and phone-in. From 9pm there was a rock show and music changed mood again a couple of hours later then through the night.
The idea behind the early evening speech shows was that Londoners had plenty of other things to occupy themselves - theatre / cinema etc so wanted to offer something distinctive.
I still think it was one of the best stations (sadly not what it is now in name only) and one I genuinely identified with.
Some jingles below - SIGH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKL-ea4dQUk
Wasn't the original incarnation of Capital Radio more adult contemporary than pop based initially?
I remember listening to those early days an it was a true alternative to the Beebs national offering.
They broadcast from Euston Tower in north London.
Originally they wanted to do american style 'FM' radio but it never really took off with the listeners.
They changed the format to a more regular music type during the day followed by an early evening news programme and phone-in. From 9pm there was a rock show and music changed mood again a couple of hours later then through the night.
The idea behind the early evening speech shows was that Londoners had plenty of other things to occupy themselves - theatre / cinema etc so wanted to offer something distinctive.
I still think it was one of the best stations (sadly not what it is now in name only) and one I genuinely identified with.
Some jingles below - SIGH
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKL-ea4dQUk
CI
40 years on it does all sound painfully pedestrian and worthy. It's hard to explain how at the time, this was all fresh and vibrant broadcasting, compared with what the Beeb were doing. Capital did it well.
ILR Plymouth Sound (whose daytime output at the time was 90% speech) had the same feature for an hour (or was it two) called 'Teradio'. Even by 70s standards, it was dire listening !
Tradio. A mix of Trade and Radio. I think DevonAir had something similar as well.
Talking of Aspel, here's him doing some PSB with the 'Swap Shop' from 1976. I can imagine needletime was one of the reasons why that feature was padded out? Bar the ads and a brief weather check, it appears to be the only local feature during this aircheck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGa_mqr7aIM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGa_mqr7aIM
40 years on it does all sound painfully pedestrian and worthy. It's hard to explain how at the time, this was all fresh and vibrant broadcasting, compared with what the Beeb were doing. Capital did it well.
ILR Plymouth Sound (whose daytime output at the time was 90% speech) had the same feature for an hour (or was it two) called 'Teradio'. Even by 70s standards, it was dire listening !
Tradio. A mix of Trade and Radio. I think DevonAir had something similar as well.
SW
Well, that is certainly true - but as you say, something like London Live is not the answer. In cases like this of course the local news matters, and investment in journalism is all important - and indeed it would have been far better had all the money wasted on local TV being invested in the journalism on existing media.
But some of the suggestions here seem to be for "Remain Indoors" style public service messages which, by and large, aren't required.
In the mid-eighties, there was a brief period when, before they split FM and AM full time, they split on Sundays and branded FM as CFM, which was aimed at a more upmarket adult audience with AOR and intelligent talk and so on, and they poached Richard Skinner to front it, while the usual mix of current pop continued on AM. Of course, when they split full time, that idea went out of the window.
Television isn't the best medium for this kind of coverage, but the papers which feed into London's news coverage are mostly giving up this kind of reporting now - many London boroughs, particularly across south and inner west London, have no investigative journalism outlets, and some haven't had for years. (Indeed, it's now the BBC that's being asked to bail out local news publishers by funding pooled local council reporters.)
If this was 1987 or even 1997 it would be easy to imagine the fears of the Grenfell residents would haven been picked up by a local paper, then picked up by, say, The London Programme, and the relevant decision-makers held to account. That chain has broken now.
If this was 1987 or even 1997 it would be easy to imagine the fears of the Grenfell residents would haven been picked up by a local paper, then picked up by, say, The London Programme, and the relevant decision-makers held to account. That chain has broken now.
Well, that is certainly true - but as you say, something like London Live is not the answer. In cases like this of course the local news matters, and investment in journalism is all important - and indeed it would have been far better had all the money wasted on local TV being invested in the journalism on existing media.
But some of the suggestions here seem to be for "Remain Indoors" style public service messages which, by and large, aren't required.
Wasn't the original incarnation of Capital Radio more adult contemporary than pop based initially?
In the mid-eighties, there was a brief period when, before they split FM and AM full time, they split on Sundays and branded FM as CFM, which was aimed at a more upmarket adult audience with AOR and intelligent talk and so on, and they poached Richard Skinner to front it, while the usual mix of current pop continued on AM. Of course, when they split full time, that idea went out of the window.
LL
London Lite
Founding member
I remember eventually Capital had their own news team, but in those early days as will all ILR, they took IRN from LBC. In the aircheck I posted earlier, Douglas Cameron (an iconic LBC presenter and newsreader in addition to IRN) read a lead London story and then the rest of the news was national.
MA
Yes, Capital's own newsroom closed in 1974. They had always used IRN for the raw news feed ( IBA directive) but ( as with the other big city ILRs) they repackaged with their own presenters and style. A lot of the redundant Capital journos joined LBC/IRN and were instrumental in turning both those services around. Slowly from the late 70s Capital begun to build up a newsroom again, starting with the 7pm nightly, 'The Way It Is' show
I remember eventually Capital had their own news team, but in those early days as will all ILR, they took IRN from LBC. In the aircheck I posted earlier, Douglas Cameron (an iconic LBC presenter and newsreader in addition to IRN) read a lead London story and then the rest of the news was national.
Yes, Capital's own newsroom closed in 1974. They had always used IRN for the raw news feed ( IBA directive) but ( as with the other big city ILRs) they repackaged with their own presenters and style. A lot of the redundant Capital journos joined LBC/IRN and were instrumental in turning both those services around. Slowly from the late 70s Capital begun to build up a newsroom again, starting with the 7pm nightly, 'The Way It Is' show
MA
40 years on it does all sound painfully pedestrian and worthy. It's hard to explain how at the time, this was all fresh and vibrant broadcasting, compared with what the Beeb were doing. Capital did it well.
ILR Plymouth Sound (whose daytime output at the time was 90% speech) had the same feature for an hour (or was it two) called 'Teradio'. Even by 70s standards, it was dire listening !
Tradio. A mix of Trade and Radio. I think DevonAir had something similar as well.
They did yes, when I was a student in Plymouth I could just about pick up DevonAir's Torbay FM transmitter. DevonAir was far more like 'normal' ILR than Plymouth Sound. That came to an abrupt end when BBC Radio Cornwall opened, and their Caradon Hill transmitter totally swamped away my weak DevonAir signal. Back to square 1
Talking of Aspel, here's him doing some PSB with the 'Swap Shop' from 1976. I can imagine needletime was one of the reasons why that feature was padded out? Bar the ads and a brief weather check, it appears to be the only local feature during this aircheck.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGa_mqr7aIM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGa_mqr7aIM
40 years on it does all sound painfully pedestrian and worthy. It's hard to explain how at the time, this was all fresh and vibrant broadcasting, compared with what the Beeb were doing. Capital did it well.
ILR Plymouth Sound (whose daytime output at the time was 90% speech) had the same feature for an hour (or was it two) called 'Teradio'. Even by 70s standards, it was dire listening !
Tradio. A mix of Trade and Radio. I think DevonAir had something similar as well.
They did yes, when I was a student in Plymouth I could just about pick up DevonAir's Torbay FM transmitter. DevonAir was far more like 'normal' ILR than Plymouth Sound. That came to an abrupt end when BBC Radio Cornwall opened, and their Caradon Hill transmitter totally swamped away my weak DevonAir signal. Back to square 1
MA
In the mid-eighties, there was a brief period when, before they split FM and AM full time, they split on Sundays and branded FM as CFM, which was aimed at a more upmarket adult audience with AOR and intelligent talk and so on, and they poached Richard Skinner to front it, while the usual mix of current pop continued on AM. Of course, when they split full time, that idea went out of the window.
CFM had 'Sunday Brunch' a satirical look back at the weeks news, presented by Roger Scott, and aided by Angus Deaton and Jan Ravens. I can't remember Richard Skinner, he might have followed at lunchtime. This was 1986 ish, as you say when the full FM AM split came along a couple of years later, any 'upmarket' programming like this was ditched. That's the point I drifted away from Capital being my default station
In the mid-eighties, there was a brief period when, before they split FM and AM full time, they split on Sundays and branded FM as CFM, which was aimed at a more upmarket adult audience with AOR and intelligent talk and so on, and they poached Richard Skinner to front it, while the usual mix of current pop continued on AM. Of course, when they split full time, that idea went out of the window.
CFM had 'Sunday Brunch' a satirical look back at the weeks news, presented by Roger Scott, and aided by Angus Deaton and Jan Ravens. I can't remember Richard Skinner, he might have followed at lunchtime. This was 1986 ish, as you say when the full FM AM split came along a couple of years later, any 'upmarket' programming like this was ditched. That's the point I drifted away from Capital being my default station