UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Powered By Google Custom Search Vintage Radio and TV Service Data

Go Back   UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum > General Vintage Technology > Websites

Notices

Websites Found an interesting website? Post the details here and share it with the rest of us. Please stick to websites that are in some way related to our hobby/interest.

Closed Thread
 
Thread Tools
Old 9th Dec 2011, 12:04 am   #21
RobinCarmody
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 6
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Hi setsappeal,

Have you had any luck in tracking down (and/or digitising) the 31.12.1979 POTP of the 70s?
RobinCarmody is offline  
Old 9th Dec 2011, 11:42 am   #22
yestertech
Nonode
 
yestertech's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Coulsdon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,109
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Not yet, I'm afraid
It has slipped further down my rountuit pile !
New Year promises to move life down a gear or two, so I will get cracking on several
transfer/remaster/edit jobs then.


Andy

PS should anyone have the facilities to do this, and would be willing to send me a copy ( expenses covered ) then I can send them the cassette. I know not whether it has survived the 30 odd years of storage though !
yestertech is offline  
Old 10th Dec 2011, 3:30 am   #23
RobinCarmody
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 6
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Ah, thanks for the update.
RobinCarmody is offline  
Old 10th Dec 2011, 11:09 pm   #24
yestertech
Nonode
 
yestertech's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Coulsdon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,109
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

The good news is I've retrieved the 2 cassettes
The bad news is they're on "BBC" cassette media which as I recall was not of great quality
I'll dust off the cassette deck later and see how they sound.
Considering how many years have elapased since I recorded these, I have never replayed them until now !!


Andy
yestertech is offline  
Old 17th Jan 2012, 12:38 am   #25
RobinCarmody
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 6
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Hi again, Andy.

Have you played the tapes, and if so how did they sound?
RobinCarmody is offline  
Old 18th Jan 2012, 7:05 pm   #26
yestertech
Nonode
 
yestertech's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Coulsdon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,109
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Oops Sorry Robin - still sitting here awaiting playback - my cassette deck appears to have no phono lead connection to the rest of the system any longer. ( nicked for the tuner )
I will have to go delving among the spaghetti ( and dust ) and reconnect it.

Andy
yestertech is offline  
Old 19th Jan 2012, 11:35 pm   #27
yestertech
Nonode
 
yestertech's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Coulsdon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,109
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Finally got to hear these today - Quite spooky really hearing Fluff saying he hoped that 1980 and the rest of the 80s brought you good luck and whatever it was you wished for !!
The cassettes are on "normal" bias and play better without the Dolby B in..
There is quite a bit of tape weave - this is noticeable as good HF response immediately after PLAY, is pressed , which then tails off as the tape settles down
I can't recall if my old SONY deck had Dolby or not - it was one of those top loaders with a couple of sliders for record level and a slightly raised rear with the meters etc on.
Anyway, glad to report that the introduction and close are intact, ( as are the period ads ) but sadly there seems to be a problem with the first side of cass. 2. Possibly the tape was not loaded correctly originally and something seems to have been dragging, creating an exaggerated wow which lessens as the tape moves from left spool to right. The second side is fine.
Being NY eve, I was out partying and left my dear ol' Dad in charge of recording, with a timer to tell him when it was time to flip the cassettes over !
The disks of course could be replaced, and on the speech it is less noticeable
A few things struck me listening to this , which encapsulate the era :
1. Disk quality is quite poor in places, with noticeable clicks and pops. Unheard today of course which makes it all the more obvious.
2. Capital jingles and idents still give the wavelength as "194" mainly, with 95.8 as a bit of an afterthought. This after 6 years of broadcasting which suggests the majority of the listeners were still on AM ?
3. The news announcers and contributors sound quite old-fashioned, almost "Home Service" - and one news report is given via a telephone link
4. There are several hard hitting ads about drink-driving which was obviously the latest "menace" from the time.

There are also a number of excellent ads done by Kenny Everett, and a tongue in cheek John Peel sale ad for a chain , offering "Hundreds of LPs and tapes "
I think to get the best from these will need someone with a cassette deck with adjustable height/azimuth. My DENON replays most of my old cassettes recorded on it perfectly , but I suspect it is not giving of its best on these tapes.( bad media isn't helping )
Any volunteers ?
I have to add, listening to these and spooling them, I am really rather glad the tape cassette is obsolete !!

Andy

Last edited by yestertech; 19th Jan 2012 at 11:48 pm.
yestertech is offline  
Old 5th Feb 2012, 6:34 pm   #28
RobinCarmody
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 6
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Hi again, Andy.

Have you managed to get any better audio off these tapes, in the hope of eventual digitisation?
RobinCarmody is offline  
Old 7th Mar 2012, 8:24 pm   #29
RobinCarmody
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 6
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

... bumping this thread again.

Have you had any luck, Andy? (I appreciate entirely that you have probably had higher priorities!)
RobinCarmody is offline  
Old 8th Mar 2012, 12:55 pm   #30
yestertech
Nonode
 
yestertech's Avatar
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Coulsdon, Surrey, UK.
Posts: 2,109
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Hi Robin,

I have sent you a PM.

Andy.
yestertech is offline  
Old 12th Apr 2013, 2:04 am   #31
carlhansen
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Cardiff, UK.
Posts: 2
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Hello to this forum which I have only just found. I have almost every recording of Alan Freeman presenting Pick of the Pops from 1966 onward & maybe before. These were recorded in their entirety on open reel tapes at 3.75 ips on Ferrograph tape recorders. Off the top of my head, I am guessing I have 350 or more recorded shows. What should I do next? These tapes are packaged properly and almost airtight and the quality is really rather good considering the year & recording speed. All made through line input NOT microphone!
carlhansen is offline  
Old 12th Apr 2013, 12:38 pm   #32
Nicklyons2
Octode
 
Nicklyons2's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2013
Location: Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK.
Posts: 1,517
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Well you could try contacting the BBC, although if you get the same response as I did when I offered them a missing 'Letter From America" of Alistair Cooke's, you'll wait a very long time for a reply! I'm sure some of these BBC 'quests' are just a publicity stunt for an upcoming programme and they've already got all the material they intend to use.
Nicklyons2 is offline  
Old 12th Apr 2013, 11:13 pm   #33
Tazman1966
Nonode
 
Tazman1966's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: St Albans, Herts, UK.
Posts: 2,193
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Wow! That's some archive Carl. For longevity have you thought about starting to convert them to MP3's?
__________________
All the very best,
Tas
Tazman1966 is offline  
Old 13th Apr 2013, 3:28 am   #34
Refugee
Dekatron
 
Refugee's Avatar
 
Join Date: Apr 2012
Location: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, UK.
Posts: 5,549
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

I would go for one of the uncompressed formats and put them onto a spare hard drive.
It is a good collection and it is worth saving and also worth keeping the old tapes.
Refugee is offline  
Old 14th Apr 2013, 3:35 pm   #35
carlhansen
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2013
Location: Cardiff, UK.
Posts: 2
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Hello To all respondants, I am currently transferring these recordings to WAV format to maintain integrity. I am using the very same Ferrograph they were recorded on as to not encounter possible azimuth problems etc. I have recorded the UK top 40 ever since, even to this day. It translates to many thousnands of complete shows. Alan Freemans last show in 1972 included, every Tom Browne, Bruno Brookes etc etc. But, as I am getting on now, its time to decide their fate rather than have them just rot. I will contact the BBC to see if they may be interested. If not I may look to a prominent auction house. Many thanks for your thoughts.
carlhansen is offline  
Old 12th Jun 2013, 9:05 pm   #36
RobinCarmody
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2011
Location: Portland, Dorset, UK.
Posts: 6
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

Carl - that is an amazing collection, and proof of how much there still is out there waiting to be digitised.

Ideally it would be available in some form (I know about WAV being uncompressed but mp3 is the format of choice for most) - shared in some sort of public forum, because it represents a big part of our modern history. I'm most interested in the Fluff shows because unlike the later chart shows, the first part of each show featured a lot of music that didn't make the charts, so you never know quite what you're going to get (alas, a lot of available recordings feature the chart section only) - I would love to hear, first hand and in its original context, the time when he played a 10-minute Man track and was subject to the wrath of Douglas Muggeridge.

Do please keep up the digitising and possibly make them public in some form - this is a huge record of post-imperial British life.
RobinCarmody is offline  
Old 11th Dec 2014, 2:19 am   #37
Richard.M.White
Retired Dormant Member
 
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Harlow, Essex, UK.
Posts: 1
Default Re: BBC Radio 2 searching for Pick of the Pops recordings.

I have over 500+ part/full recordings of original POTP/Top 20/40 Radio 1 shows (mainly late 60s to early 90s) and another couple of hundred part/full shows of retro Pick of the Pops, Paul Gambaccini US charts etc. and am always looking for more recordings, especially full Radio 1 Top 40 shows from 1979 which only a handful seem to exist. I'm also writing a book on the 2 hour era of the Top 40 (1978-90) including stats, interviews with producers/hosts etc. and these recordings are also invaluable with my research.
Richard.M.White is offline  
Closed Thread

Thread Tools



All times are GMT +1. The time now is 2:12 am.


All information and advice on this forum is subject to the WARNING AND DISCLAIMER located at https://www.vintage-radio.net/rules.html.
Failure to heed this warning may result in death or serious injury to yourself and/or others.


Powered by vBulletin®
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Copyright ©2002 - 2023, Paul Stenning.