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BBC Transcription & BBC Rock Hour Radio Show Main Page

 

(Updated 09/14/15)

 

Quick Links:

KBFH/BBC RH Radio Show Reference Main Page

BBC Transcription Service & Rock Hour Radio Show Index

BBC Quadraphonic & Matrix H/HJ Format Radio Broadcast Main Page

BBC Quadraphonic & Matrix H/HJ Format Radio Broadcast Index

Radio Show Reference Images Page

 

 

[Note: To Minimize Reader Confusion, Please Be Aware That All Referenced Dates Are In MM/DD/YY Format.]

 

As stated on my site main page, this effort has evolved from my initial intentions to now cover both the U.S. London Wavelength Inc. radio show releases, and the BBC Transcription Services radio show releases.

 

Being from the U.S. I was at an acknowledged disadvantage when I started getting into the BBC Transcription Services radio show releases, since I had no firsthand knowledge and had not grown up listening to and being influenced directly by its broadcasts.

 

After doing a lot of reading and research I have become somewhat aware that the radio show listening experience for Britain's and others in the UK was unique in many ways. I began to understand the historical perspective of radio in the UK during the earliest years of these shows, and how they differed from the U.S.

 

The core of these differences lie in the fact that in the UK radio developed as a wholly owned and regulated governmental network, and being a public service, was non-commercial. Whereas in the U.S. the radio network model was that of a system of commercial corporations being issued radio station licenses by the federal government, to operate independently under the rules of the FCC.

 

The basic nature of these distinct models clearly impacted the resulting radio output on many levels, as detailed in the respective sections below.

 

Acknowledging its historical precedence to the other, I am presenting information for each in successive sections, beginning with the BBC Broadcasting Corporation And Transcription Services.

 

British Broadcasting Corporation

Overview/History

 

For perspective, it might be helpful to give a little history of the development of radio broadcasting in the UK.

 

With the introduction of the wireless radio in Britain in 1920, the Marconi Company initiated talks with early radio manufacturers and established commercial broadcasting stations around the country under a business structure which was called the British Broadcasting Company. They were reluctantly issued limited duration licenses by the General Post Office (GPO) to the company, that expired at the end 1926.

 

While these early broadcasts garnered some public appeal, during these years it was identified that these largely unregulated broadcast signals were causing interference with military and civil communications. Following political pressure from these affected entities, it was decided to ban further broadcasts from these stations. Additionally it was recommended that the British Broadcasting? Company be replaced by a single centralized public authority. Under this new authority it nationalized the British Broadcasting Company and evolved it to become the British Broadcasting Corporation with an initial 10 year charter.

Additionally, the often vacillating support for the licensing of commercial radio station in the UK became immersed in political battles between the controlling factions of the Conservative and Labour Parties over the subsequent decades.

 

Over the next 50 years the BBC developed regulations to establish radio networks, broadcast frequencies and tried various schemes of consumer licensing fees and taxing radio manufacturers to help fund the operation of these new networks. Subsequently, it established stations in Ireland, Scotland and Wales, often initially with part-time air schedules.

 

It subsequently has expanded to have multiple stations with varied programming focus. These currently are:

- BBC Radio 1, offering new music and popular styles and being notable for its chart show

- BBC Radio 2, playing Adult contemporary, country and soul music among many other genres

- BBC Radio 3, presenting classical and jazz music together with some spoken-word programming of a cultural nature in the evenings

- BBC Radio 4, focusing on current affairs, factual and other speech-based programming, including drama and comedy

- BBC Radio 5 Live, broadcasting 24-hour news, sports and talk programs

 

In addition, there are five stations that the BBC runs that broadcast some as digital audio stations and some online only. These stations supplement and expand on the initial five stations and were launched in 2002.

 

Today the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is the UK-based public-service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London and is the world's oldest national broadcasting organization.

 

The BBC operates under the auspices of the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport. Its work is funded principally by an annual television license fee which is charged to all British households, companies, and organizations using any type of equipment to receive or record live radio and television broadcasts. The fee is set by the British Government, agreed by Parliament, and used to fund the BBC's extensive radio, TV, and online services covering the nations and regions of the UK. It also funds the BBC World Service, launched in 1932, which provides comprehensive TV, radio, and online services in 28 languages.

 

Around a quarter of BBC revenues come from its commercial arm, BBC Worldwide Ltd. which sells BBC programs and services internationally, and also distributes the BBC's international 24-hour English language news services, BBC World News and BBC.com, provided by BBC Global News Ltd.

These British radio services being a non-commercial network being solely funded and regulated by the government, are a substantially different model than for the radio network of "commercial", for-profit radio stations, along with some not-for-profit educational licensed stations (PBS, etc.) that exist in the U.S. which are licensed and regulated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

 

Another uniquely British historical facet was the concept known in radio as "needle time". Needle time was created in the United Kingdom by the Musicians' Union and Phonographic Performance Limited to restrict the amount of recorded music that could be transmitted by the BBC during the course of any 24-hour period. At the time, unlike American records, British records carried a warning message around the edge of the record label in the center of the record itself that stated: "Unauthorized public performance or broadcasting of this record is strictly prohibited."

 

Until 1967 the BBC was allowed to play only five hours per day of commercial records on the air. It continued to affect BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and the Independent Local Radio stations until 1988.

 

The intention of this agreement was to mandate the hiring of union musicians to play live music for broadcast on these stations. This created various radio shows by genre and employed many artists and groups to play 'live', or eventually be recorded for subsequent broadcast. This meant that most records in the sixties were only played once or twice a day, which is why artists lined up to perform on what are now historic live sessions, when you would get four or five tracks played on one show. Radio 1 became a full time pop record station during the day, where live sessions continued on the rock/"underground" shows like John Peel's show, breaking new bands as well as featuring established bands, who would get exposure for possibly a new album.

 

From a historical vantage point, one might view this as having a wonderful impact on the emergence of much of British popular music of the 1970's and beyond.

 

Additionally, one regulation that encouraged the playing of UK artists in the early years was that UK radio stations were prohibited from playing music by artists from a country that did not have a co-operative agreement with the BBC to play its broadcasts. As a result, no American music was aired on the BBC until sometime in the late 1960's.

 

 

BBC Radio Programs & Distributed Series

 

The BBC had made and distributed programming on LPs since the 1930's. But for purposes of this site, I have basically only concentrated on series issued from 1970 on.

 

The BBC Pop Spectacular series (later to evolve to be the "In Concert" series) appears to have started sometime in mid/late 1971 with the first 5 shows being kicked off with Led Zeppelin, The Faces, Pink Floyd, Jack Bruce and Friends and Tom Paxton. These shows were broadcast in England on Saturday at 6:30 pm.

 

When this series was started at the BBC, these initial shows were simply selected from recordings done for John Peel and other radio shows. Subsequently, in 1972, they began arranging for the recording of 'new' performances to be specifically used for the BBC Pop Spectacular series. These earlier performances were also used on the BBC Transcription discs that were distributed to BBC networked stations in the Commonwealth countries. These 5 shows may not have had any actual subsequent broadcasts in 1971, like the shows later listed in Radio Times starting in 1972.

 

Starting in 1972, the series began producing 26 new shows a year, with 8 of the 1972 shows presenting performances by two groups or artists per program. The series broadcast all new shows through July of 1972. By then, their library of shows had accumulated to the point where they could then start to fill in their schedule with repeats of previously broadcast shows. The BBC then simply repeated broadcasted shows from the series during the month of August for the program. The first repeat was that of the 1971 Pink Floyd show, that was hosted by John Peel.

 

From then on the shows seem to have alternated between a new show and a repeat of a previously broadcast show to fill out a year's schedule.

 

From 1972 through 1978, the BBC did not broadcast new shows in August, but would simply re-broadcast previous ones. I presume this allowed the series production staff time to go on holiday.

 

As the library of shows increased, the frequency of repeating a particular show diminished over time.          ?

 

Each show was introduced by a BBC DJ announcer. During the first decade of the show these included Andy Dunkley, Bob Harris, Alan Black, John Peel, Mike Harding, Pete Drummond, Alexis Korner, Anne Nightingale and Bob Kilbey.

 

My index unfortunately only goes up to late January 2010, as beyond known BBC radio program CDs, my reference source for programs has been the BBC Worldwide Audio & Music Catalog. For some reason, they have not updated their catalog for the last 5 years. If any visitor to this site knows of or has access to show listings beyond this date, please let me know via the address on the site main page.

 

The "In Concert" series continues to air on BBC Radio 2 today and shows are still listed in RadioTimes online.

 

 

BBC Transcription Services

 

The Transcription Service was set up as part of the World Service in the 1930's, funded by the Foreign Office and not the UK user license fee, to package and sell BBC Radio programs to overseas broadcasters who subscribed to the Service, and to export BBC programs to foreign broadcasters, in the cause of cultural diplomacy. Many national state broadcasters do this, but uniquely, Transcription charges for BBC programs. Renamed BBC Radio International in 1995, it's now part of the BBC's commercial arm, BBC Worldwide. It's a measure of BBC quality that stations are still happy to pay for the programs, making it one of the world's oldest broadcast syndication operations. Transcription always made its own programs solely for export, and this is where pop music came in.

 

When The Beatles and the British sound exploded onto the American pop scene in 1964, Transcription realized there was money to be made. Using BBC session tapes made for Saturday Club and, from the original Top Gear show, a special weekly 45-minute show, strictly for export only, was released to America and the world's eager radio stations. Top of the Pops, not to be confused with its television namesake, was put together at Kensington House, Shepherd's Bush, Transcription's HQ. The host was Brian Matthew, who would attend the sessions and record introduction exclusively for Transcription.

 

Apart from unreleased demos and withdrawn items, the rarest records ever made are Transcription discs. Being made for Commonwealth countries connected to the BBC, they were pressed in very small quantities with an expiry date printed on the label. After that date, the discs were to be returned or destroyed. Unfortunately, in most cases these instructions were carried out to the letter.

 

The first three hundred or so “Top of the Pops?series are virtually extinct, as are the early “Pick of the Pops?which morphed into the ?/span>BBC Pop Spectacular/In Concert? series. There was a Jazz output, and a series of comedy live shows such as the Goons and Tony Hancock. All of these LPs are considered gold now by collectors.

 

The packaging was very basic to say the least. It usually came as a brown plastic lined sleeve complete with cue sheets, and the cover had a BBC logo on the front. Down the line there would be variations on the sleeves such as the gatefold style.

 

The format of the Top Of The Pops series had an announcer who would introduce the acts and occasionally conduct interviews between tracks. The interviews alone are priceless statements of historical narrative lost in the mists of time.

 

The groups and artists all sang live, and many of the songs are only to be found on Transcription discs. The line ups of the artists are simply amazing, and in the modern world the finances involved in putting shows of this kind together now would be simply astronomical.

 

The show was pressed on 12-inch LPs, and sent off to subscribing stations by airmail. The show was still going in the 1990s. By then it was released on CD, and had not been using BBC radio sessions as its primary raw material for years. But the original Transcription Top of the Pops was hosted for over 20 years by Brian Matthew until he left in spring 1992.

 

All genre's of programs were represented in its output: Light Music, Serious Music, Rock and Pop, Drama, Religious, Children’s Programs, Talks, etc, each having a producer to select from the domestic output or (particularly in the various music spheres) to record specifically, usually from British prestigious musical events and festivals.

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Because the subscribers had demanded material in stereo, TS was the first to go stereo, and this laid the foundation for it “doing its own thing?as a separate effort. TS rights to performances were “permanent? allowing it to develop an impressive catalog. Many domestic broadcasts which had been scrapped are still in the TS catalog, and this has allowed, for instance, the finding of many of the old Goon Shows.

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Programs were cut on disc by one of the two disc channels at TS, the lacquers cut at TS, plus their printed labels going to Nimbus for a short (100) press run - originally 78s, then 33rpm LPs, as record players were the common equipment found in all subscribers?studios, be they a small radios stations or a high tech American station. The discs all had the same appearance and were accompanied by the appropriate catalog pages which acted as “sleeve notes?and verbatim script if it was “presented?

 

For dating the intended broadcast dates for BBC vinyl discs, the disc labels typically state a "use expires date". This date seems to allow contracted broadcast by the subscribing radio station of a particular show from the intended initial broadcast date up to the expiry date. The contractual assumption was that after that date the station was obligated to destroy the original disc, though many did not, or simply copied them to tape.

 

Because of the permanence of the catalog, the date of recording was slightly disguised by, for instance, recordings being issued from The 46th Edinburgh Festival rather than the year. The BBC archive, originally housed in a retired convent, St. Hilda's, at the back of the Maida Vale studio complex, it relocated to Kensington House on the south side of Shepherd’s Bush Green in 1962?, and then in the 90s to part of the SE Wing of Bush House.

 

With the multiple series of radio shows released by the BBC, it was common for the sequence of show numbers to be repeated across different series, i.e. they are not always unique numbers.

 

As with all genuine UK BBC transcription discs, the labels would be printed in both green and black print. But, in later years pirate copies with first white and then green labels have been produced by non-BBC entities.

 

From a reference standpoint for the UK, besides the usual newspaper listing for shows scheduled to be aired, the primary source for show listings was in a UK publication called Radio Times. For Americans this was the equivalent of TV Guide weekly magazine.

 

Shows as listed by Radio Times were the anticipated schedules and therefore not necessarily accurate, due to cancellations or when last minute schedule changes occurred. From January 1972 to at least 1979 the shows were broadcast at 6:30 pm on Saturday evenings. This seems to have become 6:31 pm during 1979, presumably to incorporate a news bulletin. By 1985, it was back to 6:30 pm again.

 

During this period, all shows were recorded and released in stereo, but due to the transition from mono to stereo broadcasting on subscribing stations, in the early years of the series, they were only heard in mono over the air in some locations. By the Spring of 1973, most of the broadcast listings were stated as being in stereo, including repeat shows not listed as such before. Presumably they were originally broadcast on FM in mono and repeated in stereo as stereo coverage became more widespread.

 

Also, in 1977 there were a few experimental 'Stereo & Quad' transmissions as listed in the issues. There were varied issues of Radio Times covering a number of different receiving regions throughout the UK, so it is likely that some regions got stereo and/or quad coverage before others. This was reflected in the respective regional issues of Radio Times as being only listed stereo and/or quad broadcasts, where they were likely to be received.

 

 

Noted BBC Radio Show Recording Venues

 

Hippodrome, Golders Green: The replacement for the Camden theatre from July 1972, first equipped with a 36 channel Neve desk, later augmented with an additional Soundcraft mixer (the faders of each went different ways) and then by a 48 channel SSL. It had been a Mecca theater which, when it became redundant, had a lease (99 years) negotiated by the BBC when it was converted (pit destroyed, rake taken off stage and extended etc) and became a stop-gap television audience show studio for a while (Rolf Harris Show etc) until TV Centre had sufficient studio space.

 

The Paris Theatre: Always known as The Paris, this studio was originally a small cinema, situated on the eastern side of Lower Regent Street just north of Charles II Street. The entrance, with a commissionaire’s desk, led to a broad carpeted staircase down to the Lower Ground Level corridor which gave access to the studio and a suite of rooms, including a Narrator’s Studio. The stage was on the same level, a few inches above the lowest level from where the auditorium sloped up towards the rear where the Control Cubicle (on the left) and Recording Channel (on the right) were situated. The stage had sets of curtains, including two pairs at each side, enclosing small areas. The one at stage right was used to hide the Spot Effects SM during Variety (Light Ent.) shows, and was also used to some effect to screen Ringo Starr and his drum kit during a Beatles session in 1963, with a C12 hanging from the wheeled tripod microphone stand poking through the gap to pick up Ringo’s questionably adequate singing.

Hammersmith Odeon: English major entertainment venue in Hammersmith, London, that has been named HMV Hammersmith Apollo, since 2009. It has a capacity of 5,039 (standing) and 3,632 (sitting). It opened in 1932 as Gaumont Palace and was designed by Robert Cromie. This venue has hosted many major musical acts of the 1970's including Elton John, Queen, Be Bop Deluxe, The Byrds, Wishbone Ash, B.B. King, AC/DC, Cliff Richard, Duran Duran, Jethro Tull and many others. The original Compton pipe organ is from 1932 and was restored in 2007.

Maida Vale: Located in Delaware Road off Sutherland Avenue, this 1914 built roller skating rink fell into disuse when skating became less fashionable, and it had a brief career as a WD surplus store. The BBC bought the lease of the vast hanger-like building in 1934 and within its structure built 5 studios. The biggest, MV1, is 108 x 40 x 60 (feet) and became the home of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Behind this was MV2 and 3, both as long as MV1 was wide and behind these again were studios 4 & 5, two small studios. MV4 was a dryish studio, MV5 was a wood-paneled one intended for recitals. The whole complex was heated by coke and, behind 4 & 5, was a vast boiler room piled high with coke. When the Beeb went to high speed gas heating, this area became redundant and in it was built MV6 - a medium studio intended for the BBC Radio Orchestra ?and, later MV7, a Drama Suite with the fabric of the studio complex mounted on springs to prevent the transmission of underground trains and traffic rumble.

 

 

Corporate Ownerships, Managements And Distributors

 

Corporate Ownership, Management

 

BBC Radio International:

BBC Radio International (formerly BBC Transcription Services) is fully owned by BBC Worldwide, which is a subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). BBC Radio International offers the best of BBC Radio and Music to broadcasters and other audio services throughout the world.

BBC Radio International clears the rights, edits for international use, and distributes to radio stations in more than 100 countries internationally.

 

Parent Label: BBC

 

Offices at:

BBC Worldwide
Room A2046
Woodlands
80 Wood Lane
London, W12 OTT
United Kingdom

 

 

Radio Show Distribution Media Details

 

All radio shows have been self-produced (with minor contracting to Nimbus for LP pressings) and distributed from BBC facilities.

 

BBC Series LP/Reel/CD Sequences

 

- Pop Spectacular (LP)      ?- late 1971 - early 1977

- In Concert (LP)                   - early 1977 - late 1990

- In Concert (CD)                ?- early 1991 - present

- Classic In Concert (CD)   - early 1993 - present

 

 

BBC Transcription Services Bullet Point Facts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercially Licensed Releases Of BBC Music

 

With a similar awareness and acknowledgement of the commercial release output of music from the King Biscuit Flower Hour radio program, I know that various commercial CD releases of many of the BBC radio shows originally broadcast and included in my BBC radio index, have been issued, mostly in the UK. But being an American on the other side of the pond and not having easy access to them, I have thus far chosen not to collect, nor compile an index of them. It might become a future initiative for me or another adventurous person.

 

My understanding is that the rights to commercial exploitation, as opposed to broadcast of any BBC session, in principle resides with the artist. But if at the time of the recording they had a record deal, then that company has the right to block any such release, or have the right to exploit the sessions themselves.

 

With that, I am aware of the following companies and series of releases having been made in the UK:

 

Strange Fruit issued the official first series of Peel Session releases on 12-inch vinyl between 1986 and 1989, then more on CD, and then in doubles, then whole album collections through the 1990s.

Pinnacle (Strange Fruit's original distributor) purchased it in 1990, and then Pinnacle in turn was bought by the Zomba family of independent labels. They in turn then sold 20% of the company to BMG.

 

In 2002 Zomba obligated BMG to exercise its option to buy the rest of Zomba. Subsequently, BMG found that they had paid too much for it, so they closed all of its labels down, including Strange Fruit, which had always been profitable. The Strange Fruit catalog went in-house for all intents and purposes and became a dormant label. As the license period for each title in the catalog expired, the CDs were deleted one by one. By the end of 2004 the entire catalog had been trashed.

 

Hux Records, which had been involved in other archive restorations since 1998, then began repackaging, re-releasing and developing many PeeI and other BBC session albums from the show's first 12 years.

 

Meanwhile, Pinnacle management pitched the idea to Universal Music, that there was still a lot untapped music in the old Strange Fruit catalog, that the BBC archive had implicitly licensed and approved and that could be released.

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Since these recordings already existed, and there were no origination costs to this catalog of music, Universal Music was interested in pursuing this. Various discussions began between the Universal and BBC lawyers and finally in mid 2005, a deal was made for anything any Universal artist did at the BBC. This agreement encompassed the agreed upon percentages of everything each party would get, including the BBC, the artist, the copyright agencies, and more importantly stipulating mutual 'approval', before the release of anything.

 

The initial series of releases was done in 2006 and included numerous classic Peel Session sets. Additional series were then released on Universal's Castle Music label.

 

Subsequently, Universal Music encountered financial difficulties, and I am not aware of additional releases by the company.

 

 

Further Reading Regarding BBC Radio And Transcription Services

 

I would suggest that any American interested in understanding this particular dynamic should read either of Ken Garner's books, In Session Tonight (BBC Books 1993) or the updated version The Peel Sessions (BBC Books 2007).

 

Additionally, for those in the U.S. who may be unaware, John Peel (real name John Ravenscroft) was a pivotal UK DJ starting from the pirate radio era, before transitioning to a becoming the top rated DJ in Britain for many years. He would have been the U.S. equivalent of Alan Freed, Murray The K or Cousin Brucie of that era. I would suggest that you might also read John Peel - Margrave Of The Marshes (2005), and John Peel - The Olivetti Chronicles (2008), both by John Peel & Sheila Ravenscroft. In them you will get his first hand perspective, and many humorous and intimate stories of his work with the major music artists of the era.

 

Another interesting and largely unique aspect of music radio history in the UK was the rise and fall of what was known as "pirate" radio from the years 1964 - 1967. These pirate stations were a direct result of the inflexibility of the government run radio to program what a growing portion of the listening audience wanted to hear at the time. The pirate stations struggle with the government resulted in the institution of the Marine Offenses Act in 1967, which drove the subsequent demise of the these stations. This portion of UK radio history was humorously portrayed in the 2009 movie Pirate Radio.

 

For an in-depth understanding of the history of pirate radio stations in the UK please visit http://www.mds975.co.uk/Content/pirateradio.html

 

 

My BBC Transcription Services Index

 

Since the original cue sheets indicating the initial intended broadcast date often is missing from these discs these days, the challenge in creating this index has been how to determine that date. There appears to be a general duration (initial broadcast date vs. final use expiry date) on the BBC series discs that might help collectors determine approximate initial broadcast dates. These are:

 

- BBC Tops Of The Pops the duration is 1 year

- BBC In Concert the duration is 4 years

- BBC Profile the duration is 4 years

 

What my index lists as the 'disc code' is a number shown in the mid section of a disc label usually followed with an "-S" or "-Q" to indicate sound format, or if no suffix then it was in mono. This disc code was actually the core number of the disc matrix number stamped into the vinyl. Therefore an LP disc typically had sequentially sided pairs of numbers, ex. 160433/160434.

 

When the BBC began its 'experiment' with quadraphonic radio broadcasting, it chose to release their show LPs in SQ matrix format. With the 1st known BBC quad release, BBC TS Pop Special LP #66, with Procol Harum, the accompanying cue sheet stated "This recording is in CBS/Sony SQ matrixed quad and is compatible in stereo and mono when played with a stereo pick-up. A Sansui QS matrixed version or discrete quad version can be made available. Cost on request."

 

In the early days of radio station broadcasting, (in the U.S. and UK) the major quadraphonic format utilized for distributed radio show media was SQ. [It should be noted that at the end of their use of the SQ format, the BBC UK did some quad broadcasts utilizing a Matrix-H format. Matrix H was the first "public" matrix system and was solely a BBC creation, which then became HJ when they started to work with Nikon/Denon (UD4/UMX etc). This then morphed into 45J, then Ambisonics, which is when the NRDC took over development and Nibmus became involved. This was a somewhat short lived experiment from late 1977 to early 1978.]

 

NOTE: 09/14/15 update: For more information about these rare radio broadcasts, see newly posted index for BBC Quadraphonic & Matrix H/HJ Format Radio Broadcasts. A new link is at the top of this page.

 

In my research and collecting, I have never been able to verify a single quadraphonic BBC UK radio show vinyl release in any format other than SQ. The only surviving non-SQ broadcasts are off-air recordings of live BBC broadcasts. Of the known quadraphonic radio show releases, there were only 27 issued on LP in SQ by BBC UK.

 

 

Acknowledgements

 

I want to formally note that in the initial creation of this index, due to my primary focus, the Top Of The Pops series was intentionally omitted, and only a few episodes of this program have been included. This decision was in part due to the significant duplication of program content within Stereo Pop Spectacular/In Concert episodes and its multiple usage across various BBC programs. I also assumed that the shortened programs on TOPs would be edited/incomplete versions of what had been on the Stereo Pop Spectacular/In Concert episodes.

 

I have subsequently become aware that in some cases, the shortened TOPs episodes actually do include tracks that were not included in the Stereo Pop Spectacular/In Concert episodes, and therefore this makes them historically important for the completeness in the understanding of what was recorded and subsequently broadcast by a particular artist.

 

Therefore, with this acknowledged gap in completeness, for the moment I will have to leave these for other energetic persons to fill in.

 

 

 

London Wavelength Inc.

Overview/History

 

London Wavelength Inc., a company incorporated in the U.S., was a commercial company set up in the mid 1970s to syndicate BBC recordings for airplay on commercial American radio stations. As such, it can be considered as an arm of BBC Transcription Services, having access to the treasures within the BBC archives and including the BBC Transcription Services logo on their cue sheets.

London Wavelength Inc. began its corporate life as a division (syndication wing) of ASI Communications, NYC. It was the 'sister operation' to London Wavelength Ltd. in the UK. It licensed and then syndicated programs originally produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and as such was the exclusive U.S. distributor of contemporary music syndication shows from the BBC.

 

In 1976, another owner purchased London Wavelength Inc. from ASI, but continued the licensing agreement with the BBC. This ownership continued until early 1985, when both the BBC Rock Hour program and London Wavelength Inc. company suddenly ceased.

 

 

 

BBC Rock Hour Radio Programs & Distributed Series

 

Under their licensing agreement, London Wavelength Inc. was given access to original BBC recordings which it then reedited to meet the needs for use on U.S. commercial radio stations.

 

This included the insertion of pre-recorded commercials by national sponsors of particular shows. To accommodate these commercials, the original BBC 60 minute programs were often shortened by deleting one of the original tracks. This then made the U.S. versions of these originals shows to be subsets of their counterparts on the standard BBC transcription LPs. The BBC Rock Hour versions usually have about 50 minutes of material, whereas BBC "In Concert" programs carry nearly a full hour of music.

 

While this was the norm, there are actually examples of additional material being made available to London Wavelength. For example, there was a special double issue of Rick Wakeman at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1976, comprising 100 minutes of a concert that was formerly limited to just one hour on both the BBC broadcast and corresponding transcription LP. Another unique feature is that early shows were produced on reel-to-reel tape, which if well preserved and properly treated can often produce superior quality sound as compared to BBC vinyl.

 

As with BBC transcription LPs, their programs carry an introduction by a British DJ (often Brian Matthew, Richard Skinner or Andy Peebles), but unlike the BBC LPs, their programs contain advertisements and are syndicated for airplay under contract.

 

They are famous among music collectors for the "BBC Rock Hour" programs, sometimes featuring album cuts, sometimes interviews, sometimes live concerts. Other London Wavelength produced programs include the "London Wavelength Concert Hour", "BBC College Concert" (started 9/12/82), "Rock Over London", specific artist biographical specials, "Radioactive", "Rock Capsules", "60?Second LP" and "The Billboard Report".

 

The weekly syndicated concert programs typically were delayed releases of BBC transcription LP shows in slightly altered form. Therefore, a new show would air on the global BBC radio network and then would be released in a U.S. London Wavelength configuration a few weeks later.

 

Another unique aspect of this series was that, while it appears that London Wavelength had primarily licensed BBC UK "In Concert" shows for its early reel releases in the U.S., starting on December 1977, it began producing and subsequently releasing? programs that originated from U.S. concert performances. Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, these unique shows were not subsequently aired in a reciprocal manner on the BBC UK radio network. Those programs released during the reel to reel era were:

 

12/30/77 Blue Oyster Cult - Cobo Hall, Detroit, MI, USA

07/23/78 Richie Blackmore's Rainbow - Omni, Atlanta, GA, USA

08/27/78 The Cars - Paradise Theater, Boston, MA, USA

11/05/78 John Hall With Bonnie Raitt - Peoria, IL, USA

02/04/79 UK - Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH, USA

04/01/79 Renaissance - Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster, PA, USA

05/06/79 Elvin Bishop - My Father's Place, Roslyn, LI, New York, USA

10/28/79 Delbert McClinton - The Cabooze, Minneapolis, MN, USA

05/04/80 The Police - Hotel Diplomat, NYC, USA

09/07/80 Gary Numan - Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA, USA

 

Also, of the 27 known quadraphonic radio show releases issued on LP by BBC UK, and only 10 were issued on reels by London Wavelength in the U.S.

 

 

Show Series Numbering and Dating

 

For 1975 - 1980 BBC RH reels, there is a date that is usually printed on the upper right corner of the box label, which many people confuse as being the broadcast air date. It is in fact the tape mastering production date, but is assumed to be at least a close approximation to the actual broadcast date. Where the broadcast date is known, it has usually been within 5-12 days after the reel box mastering date code.

 

For the BBC Rock Hour series, during the years of 1975 through 1977 the shows were serially numbered #1 - 46. In 1978 the show numbers re-started with #1 - 52. In 1979 the show numbers re-started with #1 - 18 up through approximately mid-year. Then the series show numbers re-started again at #1 - 18 up through the end of the year. In its final year in reel format, the show numbers started at #101 and ran up to #134 in mid-year. Additionally, from approximately shows #111 - 126, the year "1980" was added to the box label after the show number.

 

It needs to be stated that there was some overlap in shows being distributed in reel and LP at the same time, as LW decided to issue a them in both formats for shows #127 - 136.

 

At that point the series transitioned from reel tape to vinyl LP format for radio station distribution. The series numbering was simply continued with #127, beginning with the first LP release. The LP format shows continued with show numbers serially incremented until the series abruptly ended in early 1985.

 

Similar to the media format sequencing of King Biscuit Flower Hour show releases, the U.S., London Wavelength BBC Rock Hour shows were initially released to subscribing stations typically on one 7" reel to reel for one hour shows. Certain, longer length specials were issued on multiple reels.

 

The first BBC RH shows were released on reel tape and continued in this format until mid 1980. At this time, the last known 7" R-R show was code dated 08/08/80 with The Undertones/ Wreckless Eric as BBC Rock Hour #134. [There was also a 10 1/2" reel release with Gary Numan as BBC Rock Hour #136. It is not known if this was also issued on 7" reel.]

 

The first known show released in LP form was broadcast 07/06/80 with Eric Clapton: The Eric Clapton Special as the BBC Rock Hour Special, show #127. [Note: With the media format transition, London Wavelength maintained the show numbering scheme as it went from tape to vinyl.]

 

London Wavelength continued to release BBC Rock Hour shows on vinyl until the series suddenly ended with its last known show being of R.E.M. broadcast 01/20/85 as show #603. As a result, the series never made the transition to CD releases like other syndicated shows of the time.

 

There is little known as to why the London Wavelength Inc. in the U.S. ceased further program distribution. It may have been financial (KBFH and other show competition) or possibly a loss of the continued licensing agreement with BBC Transcription Services in the UK.

 

Subsequent to the demise of London Wavelength Inc., in roughly 07/85, Westwood One negotiated a similar, exclusive licensing and distribution agreement with the BBC for the U.S. market. As a result, some of the late 80s and early 90s WW1 shows were actually programs that had originally aired as part of the BBC Rock Hour series (notably programs by Kinks, ELO, Pink Floyd, Elton, Led Zeppelin).

 

 

Corporate Ownerships, Managements And Distributors

 

Known Presidents And Other Staff Of London Wavelength Inc.

 

 

In 1972, London Wavelength Inc. was launched by Ralph Guild, as a division (syndication wing) of ASI Communications, 7 East 51St, NYC.

Marty Ross - President (06/73 - 03/23/74)

Tony Fasolino - Exec. VP. (03/31/73)

Mike Vaughan - President (11/30/74 - 10/82), Chairman Of The Board (05/84)

Don Eberle - Network Coordinator For MOR Programming (75), Vice President (78) (1975 - 3/82)

Ann Ferguson (1975)

 

In 1977, the then current president Mike Vaughn purchased London Wavelength Inc. from ASI, but continued the licensing agreement with the BBC. Vaughn owned the company until its demise in early 1985.

Don Eberle - President (?? - 05/84)

Ray Bentley - VP Sales (1978)

Gayle Miller - VP Programming(83), Executive Vice President Operations (84) (1981?985)

Andrea Miller - (1984)

Karyn Petrone - VP Administration And Business Affairs (06/84)

 

The company address changed to 400 Park Ave., NYC. (08/17/74)

They later moved to 154 E. 46th Street, NYC 10017

Finally it moved its offices to 111 South Kraft St., Bronxville, NY 10708 (~11/84)

 

 

Radio Show Distribution Media Details

 

 

Duplication Service Houses Used For Show Tape/LP Duplication For Subscription Distribution

1972 - 1974 - unknown (pre-BBC Rock Hour Series reels)

 

1975 - mid 1977 - National Tape Service, Caldwell, NJ

 

mid 1977 - 1979 - RKO/ National Tape Service, NYC

 

1979?- 09/80 - National Tape Corporation, Caldwell, NJ

 

1980 - 1985 - unknown LP producer

 

Standard Media Formats Throughout?Series Lifetime

 

11/??/72?? ?9/07/80*                     =        ?Reel To Reel

 

07/06/80 * - ?1/20/85                    ?=        ?LP

 

*Note: There appears to be some overlap in shows being distributed in reel and LP at the same time.

Reel/Box Labeling Differences Throughout The Lifetime Of The Series Distributed On Reel

 

1972 - 1973?- tan reel boxes with a 5" x 7" white label with ASI & LW logos, name of special, mono/stereo check box, glued to the front (both 7" & 10 1/2" reels for pre-BBC Rock Hour series shows known)

 

1974 - 10/75?- white or grey matte reel boxes with a 4" x 4" white label large NTS logo and address, master date code, tape speed, mono or stereo indication, special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued to the front (pre-BBC Rock Hour series shows)

 

11/75 - 06/77?- grey matte boxes with 4" x 4" white label with large NTS logo and address, master date code, tape speed, mono or stereo indication, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued to the front

 

06/77 - 08/78 - grey matte boxes with 4" x 4" white label with RKO/National Tape Service and address, master date code, tape speed, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued or adhered to the front with clear tape

 

08/78 - 09/79 - white or black boxes with 3" x 4" white label with RKO/National Tape Service and address, master date code, tape speed, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued or adhered to the front with clear tape

 

09/79 - 09/80 - white or black boxes with 3" x 4" white label with large RKO Tape Corporation logo and name and address, master date code, tape speed, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued or adhered to the front with clear tape

 

Cue Sheet, Track Listing & Other Enclosures Used In BBC Rock Hour Series As Distributed On Reel/LP

 

1972 - 1974 - these early, multi-reel specials often had more elaborate cue sheets usually cloned from the original BBC TS LP cue sheets replacing the show number and air dates, along with LP side indications with reel number indications

 

1975 - 1980 - BBC RH reel shows had cue sheets usually cloned from the original BBC TS LP cue sheets replacing the show number and air dates, along with LP side indications with reel number indications; they occasionally included custom promo pages from the artists record label and in ~1978 quarterly bulletins of upcoming shows from LW

 

1980 - 1985 - BBC RH LPs had cue sheets usually cloned from the original BBC TS LP cue sheets replacing the show number and air dates; in later years they occasionally included the artist's logo or name within the cue sheet

 

BBC Series Reel/LP Sequences

 

BBC Specials (reel) - mid 1972 - mid 1975

 

BBC Rock Hour (reel) - mid 1975 - mid 1980

 

BBC Rock Hour (LP) - mid 1980 - early 1985

 

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