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Radio Mercury - music policy (early years)
Mark Watkins
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Anyone have any info. pls on the music policy/format for Radio Mercury in those first few years or so?
Maybe some examples (from memory?!!) of key songs (non-chart) on their early playlist/s; and, in terms of chart material - what did they play (the whole Top 40?) / avoid?
Thanks
Mark
Maybe some examples (from memory?!!) of key songs (non-chart) on their early playlist/s; and, in terms of chart material - what did they play (the whole Top 40?) / avoid?
Thanks
Mark
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_FM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grVuy9d-0m0
Broadfield House where Radio Mercury used to be housed is now a school.
Saying that, their theme tune (You Tube) was one of the best I've heard for a commercial radio stn.
I'm really after info. with respect to particular "key" songs played etc from those formative years. If anything comes to mind.
I suspect it was a contemporary easy listening stn, but be good to know what types of tracks & how much of the chart they played.
Oh Andrew you are taking me back a bit here. I always used to listen to Pat Sharp on Mercury 7-9pm and Timbo from 9pm.
Pat's show was very much a current hits format and I am talking about mid-80's here, from memory this was Pat's last radio gig before joining Capital in 1987 to host the evening show jointly with Mick Brown.
During the day there was Ed Stewart and Geoff Aspel (Michael's son) and Peter Young on Drive. As to Breakfast I can't remember, was it Andrew Marshall?
The station had a very good music mix with some good radio names, and the jingle of course ... Mercury, the heart of the South!
Great days
The first programme guide is here:
http://www.thisisilr.co.uk/rm/guide.html
I used to sit doing my homework at this time so I could record some of the songs from this chart as they were often the 12" versions.
This was because they didn't want to give a de facto free plug for Capital, which could be heard in their area. Of course, their proximity to London was the main reason they could use the likes of Ed Stewart or Peter Young.
This was because the chart was, in fact, networked from LBC using the same lines which were used for IRN, which was why the chart had to be in mono - so the flagship national show was the only time all week when ILR would be in inferior sound quality to Radio 1 (usually it was superior, of course).
Later in the Jensen era it was distributed via satellite in stereo.
Indeed it was. In fact the BT lines used by LBC to send the IRN service and the Network Chart Show to the stations around the UK were also in operation when not being used during live transmission in order to send out syndicated programming such as documentaries, interviews and consumer focus items. These were widely used in the days when radio stations had 'needletime' restrictions on the amount of music they could broadcast each day, but also something that made them 'public service' rather than the jukeboxes they were able to become once the restrictions were lifted. Can you imagine a commercial station now doing a 30 minutes political slot each week?
Mercury was pretty much MOR in the daytimes, because of the (previously alluded to) proximity to London, not wishing to take Capital head-on.You'd often hear Streisand and Sinatra, but not Bert Kaemfert or Geoff Love.
The fact that they hired Ed Stewart, Tony Myatt and Geoff Aspel (Michael's brother!) no doubt enhanced the general MOR feel.
The music was wrapped up rather expensively (if a little clinically) inside a jingle package that was produced to blend in with certain artists or songs.
As a former radio presenter who had contacts at the station - and had visited the studios on behalf of my boss,who was a client at the time - I can vouch for the fact that you'd play a Beach Boys jingle into a Supremes song at your peril: memos mentioning your future career in hospital radio would fly down from above.
Talking of which, during one particular era one of the more quirky and bizarre shows was presented by the PC himself... the Andrew Marshall quiz show,of which top-of-the-show teases went on and on and on and...
Met Ed, who was very generous in offering free training (from the man himself) should I want to pursue my (not-as-yet-kick-started) career there.
Then there was the inspired paring of Sharp and Blunt during another era (Pat and Martin)... sadly, the chemistry between them proved to be less promising than this co-incidental programming gift.
Later, but still during the relatively early era, there was some programme sharing with Southern FM.
I believe the news was sent down the line before the Network Chart show started which Mercury would record and play out at 5pm. The only bulletin not to start with a time check.
Was there an IRN bulletin at 6pm as well when LBC carried it? (I don't think there was a 6pm bulletin during the chart by the time I started listening (88/89) - the only time I remember one is during the Gulf War)
When did Mercury start carrying the Network Chart?
I always hought the Network Chart had no news at 5 or 6, Piccadilly used to do news at about 4.55 on the Steve Penk show and the chart would start dead on 5pm. The BBC dropped news at 5pm a short while later when Chartbusters started on Radio 1
I agree, I believe the chart show started on the hour, hence the early IRN news which Mercury played out at 5pm.
Ah i see, I was getting confused for a moment.
I think Southern took the chart the day after the 1986 FA Cup Final, I remember Jensen welcoming them and also saying hello to those in "Radio City-land" after the all Merseyside game
Regarding LBC I am sure they continued taking the Network Chart even after the Stereo satellite feed from Capital existed. I heard that LBC didn't want to but Capital was going to stop taking the news from IRN if they didn't continue with the Chart. Someone correct me if I'm wrong?:D
Apologies - my post wasn't clear I meant a 6pm bulletin in addition to the one before 5pm.
Oddly enough, the number one on that Network Chart was Patti LaBelle & Michael McDonald's "On My Own" - the second non-Gallup/Guinness-approved number one there in as many weeks (the week before it had been Janet Jackson's "What Have You Done For Me Lately?").
Where I grew up, you could hear it on as many as four stations by the mid-1980s - Capital, LBC, Invicta and Essex - though only the last-named censored "We Call It Acieed", which was another Network Chart-only number one.
That reminds me of when Carol Decker slagged off her home town of Wellington in Shropshire, Beacon PC Pete Wagstaff refused to play their records for a while so when they came on the Network Chart something else was played. Going O/T but Beacon opted out of the Network chart, replacing it with - a chart! It didn't last long!
LBC stopped taking the Network Chart when it split into LBC Crown FM and London Talkback Radio. This was in October 1989. According to www.irn.co.uk IRN switched distribution to satellite in 1989.
A similar showcase for new music was the Howard Pierce presented 'Soundcheck'. For a while, it aired on Sunday evening - again under the short-lived programme-sharing arrangement with Southern Sound. When that ended, he continued to make it for Mercury alone.
A few years in - the specialist music shows were dropped - and for quite a while, Mercury had the 'Weekend of a Thousand Hits'. It meant the jocks were not supposed to talk for more than 15 seconds so the music would dominate.
I'm not sure if that was ever the case, until the famous (Jeff Wayne??? No - who WAS the composer?) LBC package came along - most recently used by BBC Solent - which had a news jingle with a dead end. This meant LBC could leave a 1 second gap for stations to opt in; though you often heard inexperienced tech ops and jocks opening the fader too early!