Yes, a very enjoyable show. Listening to some of those tracks, it definately has confirmed my thoughts all along that when these tracks have were released on CD, and commonly heard today, that an alternate take was used on many of them, as several are definately not the same nowadays. One track I definately picked up on yesterday that was different was Silver Star. So yes, it is good to hear the long forgotten originals.

Ian 57 - I see you have just joined Digital Spy; in case you don't already know about it and would like to read and/or contribute to it, there is another DS thread called 'Top of the Pops 1978 - BBC 4 (Part 2)' on which Forum Members regularly post about the TOTP re-runs on BBC Four on Thursday nights at 7.30pm (which are repeated later on) and related matters.

I listened yesterday I didn't know it was going to be a vinyl 45's show & I have to say the 1966 part was awful I listened on DAB the crackles were off putting, It took me back to the old am days the song Nothing Comes Easy did it for me just sounded like it was from my old transister radio then! Anybody from Radio 2 looking at this please don't do it again stick to CD's, I thought Strangers In The Night would be number 1, Great chart though apart from Ken Dodd well there's always 1 or 2 out of step with the times look at Jim Reeves later on in the year Distant Drums who would have thought

Have to agree about the quality of the 1966 tracks, they sounded well worn copies to me, although the 1976 ones sounded really good. I suppose they were 10 years newer, but then 70's vinyl always sounded better than the majority of 60's vinyl I reckon. It did make an interesting listen for a change though.

Carts? Perhaps they'd moved to them for convenience?

Perhaps he means playing vinyl records when presenting a chart countdown?

After he left Radio 1 in 1984 he moved full-time to BBC Radio London where he presented a weekday morning show where he played only soul music, much of which, if not all, will have been on vinyl in the mid 80s.

I just thought he meant playing ANY vinyl singles in a radio studio on any show. That is how it sounded to me. There again, maybe he was just being very vaguely approximate. He must have been playing vinyl singles, and albums, and 12 inches almost to the end of the 80's in some way surely?

I think I can honestly say that if I had not known the nature of the show this weekend, then listening via a decent pair of headphones on DAB I feel confident in saying I'm sure I would have not noticed enough of a difference to stop and think about it, regards the 1976 singles. I think I may give that 1976 hour a second listen via the catch up feature.

Some of my parents vinyl records go way back to 1957 and still sound reasonably fine, yet a 1990 Michael Bolton hit jumps! Not that I care about that one much. I enjoy the new technology. I just wish the quality of the new material matched the quality of the new ways of consuming music nowadays.

Richie Wild you mentioned possible "Carts" which is a techie answer for Cartidges I guess. Would you care to elaborate on your thoughts about that aspect? Radio 2 were definitely spinning vinyl on the Gloria Hunniford clip I posted a few days ago, which appears to be from approximately 1988 at the very earliest.

Oh you can definitely tell it was vinyl as a few 1976 ones crackled too, most notably Fernando.

listening to my recording of last saturdays show i was a little shocked about the quality of the vinyl played (my old dansette could get a better sound than some of the singles played,especially in the 1966 section ).still hope it's not a one off

Radio 1 were playing vinyl and CD's into the 1990's, there's a video on you tube of a day in R1's life from 1988.

The only station I know that used carts for songs was Laser

I know many stations used carts over vinyl even big American ones like WABC. I don't see what the advantage was can someone explain.

We had a wall of carts with tracks on at Southern Sound (later, Southern FM) in 1986/7 - possibly they were there at launch (1983).


Well, playlisted vinyl suffers from 'cue burn' - i.e., when jocks lined up the record endlessly and wore the first few seconds out.
Could be a nasty surprise when a presenter on a previous shift had stopped a playisted cart before the end (say, bad back-timing up to the news) then forgot to rewind it. You soon learned to check every one - or the art of the quick quip. (Sad, but I seem to remember introducing the last 30 seconds of an Elvis Costello song as 'Oliver's Soldier'.)

BBC Radio London had a wall of about 500 carts of non needletime music tracks...everything from George Benson - Greatest Love Of All to Fleetwood Mac - Dreams. One of my favourites was Julie London - Cry Me A River

Hi! All
I also enjoyed Pick of the Pops on Saturday and I am very glad to say that I met Tony Blackburn outside the studios of Capital Gold/FM and he really enjoys what he does, you can tell from his presentation.

Lets have another special at some point Tony and keep up the good work, maybe Tony could do 1983 around July I think and feature Kissing the Pink[Last Film] which I really like and is on ITunes.

I remember Radio Nova in the early 80's using carts which, sorry for being techy, looked like an 8 track cartridge from the 70's. They allowed instant start and, if recorded as soon as the record arrived, had improved quality sound over a slowly wearing record, plus the added advantage of not wearing out the start, as mentioned above.

I remember Stu Allan at Piccadilly being not too impressed that, at their station, the cart had a second's space in front of the track/ad/jingle to allow for jocks hitting play too early. So to be tight with the music he had to press the button.early.

I'm sure he likes doing what he does, I just hope they stick to CD's in the future 45's had their place but I don't want to hear the crackles in this day & age.

Are they even using CD's nowadays in radio studio's such as Radio 2? Is it not all digitised virtual music, like with mp3 / iPod's?

I'd be willing to bet that Tony isn't greatly nostalgic for old vinyl singles on turntables, along with crackles and jumping etc. After all, he has embraced modern technology with relish which is epitomised by his embracing of Twitter so fully and entertainingly, which if you had asked me without knowing I might have said he would not have touched it with a bargepole but he can't keep away from it. Good for him too!

Just hearing him on the radio makes me that bit happier everytime. He wasn't the first King Of The Jungle for nothing.


Cheers for your reply / answer Richie!

I think everyone who uses modern studios now finds them easier. Terry Wogan even said they were a doddle. I guess its fun to play records now and again, JW does on Sounds of the 70's for th odd album track

I was out last Saturday and didn't hear Pick of the Pops until I listened on I-player on Wednesday. However, I heard Tony on Magic on Sunday and he played Mud's Shake It Down. I had the feeling he might have had the idea having played it on Pick of the Pops, which sure enough he had! This is one of Mud's least played songs on radio.

The beauty of POTP, playing some of those rarely heard gems

There is one station out there that thinks Mud only released Tiger Feet as that's the only track they play.

Another great Mud song you don't hear is Hynotize, well you do hear it on the right stations but you have to go looking.

It wouldn't be a station with a name that rhymes with mould would it?

I first heard, and saw this record by Mud just 2 years ago for the first time ever, at the start of the retro run of TOTP on BBC4 when it came on the show during the May/June 1976 editions. I absolutely loved the track and immediately bought it digitally. As it was their penultimate hit I was not expecting much from it, but it is a forgotten gem clearly. Without shows like POTP and the TOTP re-runs, the same tired out old regular hits by artists seem to be played, when infact there is so much more out there which at least Pick Of The Pops and the TOTP re-runs allow to be heard and discovered all over again. I've bought many tunes this way.

Just look at this bag of hits by Mud;

March '73 - Crazy - No12
June '73 - Hypnosis - No16
October '73 - Dyna-Mite - No4
January '74 - TIGER FEET - No1 (4 weeks)
April '74 - The Cat Crept In - No2
July '74 - Rocket - No6
December '74 - LONELY THIS CHRISTMAS - No1 (4 weeks)
February '75 - The Secrets That You Keep - No3
April '75 - OH BOY - No1 (2 weeks)
June '75 - Moonshine Sally - No10
August '75 - One Night - No32
October '75 - L'L'Lucy - No10
November '75 - Show Me You're A Woman - No8
May '76 - Shake It Down - No12
November '76 - Lean On Me - No7


This is quite an impressive stack of hit singles in a relatively short time, many very good and unplayed. Dyna-Mite another great one too, and Rocket. Even their final hit, the cover of Lean On Me is actually pretty damned decent and well produced.

Having sad that, Mud were recently seen on TOTP from Spring 1978 with an atrocious record that utterly flopped called Cut Across Shorty.

What were you doubting?

The 60s vinyl sounded worn to be, as did one or two from the 70s.

Wonder if they were using the old EMT units or some newer, cheaper ones

I think the only time Vinyl 'sounds' nicer than CD is when it is brand new

But as Tony said during the vinyl show last weekend, the singles he was spinning were infact actually the originals from the time and were indeed 47 and 37 years old. Just how long is well looked after and protected vinyl actually meant to last?