Sounds of the Sixties - Brian Matthew

[Welsh Anorak]

You can tell Radio Three by the quality of the pauses...

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

And that is why I like listening to it. There is usually a pause after a piece of music to allow you to draw breath and ,metaphorically, come back to earth. Other stations seem to think that if there is a silence ,if only for a fraction of a second, then the audience will go away.

[llama]

I used to enjoy Alex Lester's pause after a record with a long fade ("squeezing the last drop of goodness from that one") - so I stole it. Effective technique I thought.

Regarding the start of DJs in the UK, they were here before Caroline. "Britain's favourite DJ: - DJ" (David Jacobs). I also have very early recordings of Fluff and Saturday Club with both Alan and Brian respectively talking up to the vocals - the latter just as likely to be on a tape.
Graham

['LIVEWIRE?']

Other DJs who were around before R. Caroline include Jack Jackson, who had programmes on both the BBC Light and Luxembourg, Pete Murray (ditto), and Ray Orchard, who presented the Capitol Show on 208, besides a certain J. Saville, who maybe shouldn't be mentioned!

Classic FMs presenters are also very good and know their music, though they are hardly DJs

[MurphyNut]

Originally Posted by Malcolm G6ANZ

And that is why I like listening to it. There is usually a pause after a piece of music to allow you to draw breath and ,metaphorically, come back to earth. Other stations seem to think that if there is a silence ,if only for a fraction of a second, then the audience will go away.

Radio 3 and most of Radio 4 are the only places left on the radio were I feel totally at home with the presenting style, going anywhere else sounds like it's geared up for people with no concentration span whatsoever!

[Malcolm G6ANZ]

I totally agree Clive

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by 'LIVEWIRE?'

There were a few famous American DJs, some of whom broadcast from High poweredstations like XERB in Mexico. Having said that, at he moment few noames come to mind, other that Jack Spector (any relation to Phil S.?) whose shows we in theUK heard via Radio Caroline, and 'Emperor' Rosko Pasternak, who lived over here and broadcast at various times from Radio London ('Wonderful Big 'L'), Radio1, and, in French, from either Luxembourg or Europe#1, I don't remeber which. Rosko's style of delivery prompted one BBC announcer to say, after the programme finished, - 'and now here is the news-in English!'

I remember a certain Kenny Everett finishing his Saturday morning Radio One show with a little ditty that went (something like): 'There's a little yellow idol to the East of one o'clock who'll be splurging on your radio a bit. He'll be HOTCH-A-BOOB-A-LATING with a RAZZA-ZAZZA-ZOOM, but don't take any notice, he's a twit!'
I don't think I've got all the words quite right, but I have it on tape somewhere.

[dave walsh]

Going back all the way to my post at 30 and the Beeb attitude, the defence for the way in which things had been handled then was that BM was not a well man anyway and this was clearly true but how much events hastened the process may be open to speculation. There have been a number of references to John Peel in this long thread which has been quite a tribute to BM and his scholarly approach to music history in itself.

Some readers may recall Andy Kershaw's appearance on the national news when Peel died suddenly in 2006 [I have it recorded]. Kershaw was beside himself with grief and anger saying that undue pressure had been put on a man who had always lacked confidence and feared rejection [despite his great success]. There had been a previous attempt to "depose" JP but it failed. Not an exact comparison perhaps but close enough for me. They could have just let BM stay on and make his own decision to leave, with a much happier conclusion to the years of sevice to the Broadcaster and it's public but no... it didn't suit the plan!

[Radio Wrangler]

John Peel and Brian Matthew filled a need. Their broadcasts suited what a lot of people wanted. They kept it up for a long time too, and remained popular right to the end.

Management theories say that change is good, that all products must be refreshed periodically and changed just for the sake of change. These theories completely overlook the possibility that something was got right right from the beginning, and that it still remained right. Somethings need changing, somethings do not. We just need the quality of administration that can tell the difference.

If Brian Matthew was running into health issues at the end of last year, the graceful thing to do would be to have asked his preference. We listeners would have understood if he'd had enough, and would have appreciated every thing he did if he chose to continue. No pressure, as they say, but for real.

I have a feeling I've lived through an era of broadcasting that we won't see again. Maybe we need a huge bank of Peel and Matthew programmes to feed our pantry transmitters after the whole lot has folded (and the Navy Lark, and Old Harry's Game, and....)

David

[llama]

David, I've got at least 5 years of Brian's SOTS but no idea how I could get them to you! They are on CD and SD card - I really don't have time to MP3 them unfortunately.
Graham

[Radio Wrangler]

Thanks for the offer, Graham, but I'll survive. Good to know they're preserved.

David

[dave walsh]

Phil dares to admit [post 21] that he has good quality 60's recording re SOTS's in his possession. Perhaps something can be done?

Dave W