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There is nothing quite nostalgic than Sunday afternoons - nowhere were open to purchase a loaf of bread, Songs of Praise and that EastEnd omnibus thing on BBC 1 and when Open University finished, Sunday Grandstand on BBC 2 until the Money Programme took over at around 6.40 pm. Bored out of my mind, school in the morning, almost nervous breakdown territory.
And I have to say that BBC Radio 2 was still having almost the same programmes on Sunday afternoons in the 1990s as they did 20 years before - always aimed at Rushcliffe Borough grannies and grandfathers retired in the middle of the countryside - not a single offending Unitary Authority to be seen! Cue the Waltham Music Centre and the Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder at the ready, folks!
Turning the radio dial on a Sunday afternoon - that "disgraced man's" Record Club on Radio 1, followed by Tom Browne, Tony Blackburn, Tommy Vance etc doing the Top 20. Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 followed by a play. Ron Stevens presenting the Golden Years on BBC Radio Nottingham (95.4 VHF, straight after Dennis McCarthy's Sunday Show); and something else on Radio 2 - yes, something else.
Fair enough, for nearly 30 years it was in its "musical hall" era even when Desmond Carrington was on in the mornings in the Michael Ball slot - that was unless Easter or the London Marathon made him redundant one or two weeks in early spring. But then we had Benny Green (not the footballing mad Grange Hill pupil), but a lot older namesake with a jazz theme. At around 4.30 pm Cliff Adams and his singers promised to Sing Something Simple - give them a tune and they will sing it, just like any promising barbershop quartet would. Adams did the "for mash, get Smash" advertising jingle which was probably his big legacy outside Radio 2-land. And speaking of football, it was always on 909 and 693 where it still is on Radio 5 Live - but they were Radio 2's MW frequencies back then.
And for the over 50s who weren't too interested in Buck's Fizz or Kate Bush, there was Charlie Chester in that 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm slot, which he had weekdays until October 1972 when Tom Browne became his Radio 1 counterpart, until he was replaced by Pam Ayres and then Ed "Stewpot" Stewart - another near Grange Hill namesake, who helped me to find someone in his Where Are They Now? feature. The slot is more or less still going courtesy of Paul O'Grady.
In the evenings, Melodies for You, Sunday Half Hour and Your Hundred Best Tunes courtesy of Alan Keith who reached his 94 best years when he passed away. Now, look what it is like now - Radio 1 circa 1984! Well, almost...
Does anyone miss the slow pace of Radio 2 on Sundays, or do you think that it is a lot more livelier these days?
And I have to say that BBC Radio 2 was still having almost the same programmes on Sunday afternoons in the 1990s as they did 20 years before - always aimed at Rushcliffe Borough grannies and grandfathers retired in the middle of the countryside - not a single offending Unitary Authority to be seen! Cue the Waltham Music Centre and the Grundig reel-to-reel tape recorder at the ready, folks!
Turning the radio dial on a Sunday afternoon - that "disgraced man's" Record Club on Radio 1, followed by Tom Browne, Tony Blackburn, Tommy Vance etc doing the Top 20. Gardener's Question Time on Radio 4 followed by a play. Ron Stevens presenting the Golden Years on BBC Radio Nottingham (95.4 VHF, straight after Dennis McCarthy's Sunday Show); and something else on Radio 2 - yes, something else.
Fair enough, for nearly 30 years it was in its "musical hall" era even when Desmond Carrington was on in the mornings in the Michael Ball slot - that was unless Easter or the London Marathon made him redundant one or two weeks in early spring. But then we had Benny Green (not the footballing mad Grange Hill pupil), but a lot older namesake with a jazz theme. At around 4.30 pm Cliff Adams and his singers promised to Sing Something Simple - give them a tune and they will sing it, just like any promising barbershop quartet would. Adams did the "for mash, get Smash" advertising jingle which was probably his big legacy outside Radio 2-land. And speaking of football, it was always on 909 and 693 where it still is on Radio 5 Live - but they were Radio 2's MW frequencies back then.
And for the over 50s who weren't too interested in Buck's Fizz or Kate Bush, there was Charlie Chester in that 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm slot, which he had weekdays until October 1972 when Tom Browne became his Radio 1 counterpart, until he was replaced by Pam Ayres and then Ed "Stewpot" Stewart - another near Grange Hill namesake, who helped me to find someone in his Where Are They Now? feature. The slot is more or less still going courtesy of Paul O'Grady.
In the evenings, Melodies for You, Sunday Half Hour and Your Hundred Best Tunes courtesy of Alan Keith who reached his 94 best years when he passed away. Now, look what it is like now - Radio 1 circa 1984! Well, almost...
Does anyone miss the slow pace of Radio 2 on Sundays, or do you think that it is a lot more livelier these days?
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