Hi!

Welcome to the Big “L” Club – the Club that has members all over the British Isles and also Holland, France, Denmark, Sweden, Germany, Poland and even America, Africa, Indonesia and New Zealand. The station doesn’t of course cover this great area but nevertheless its fame seems to have spread throughout the world.

About the Ship . . . She is a converted U.S. Minesweeper, 10000tons – during the last war she swept over 500 mines, shot down 4 enemy aircraft and rescued hundreds of survivors from the sea. She is now called the M.V. GALAXY and is anchored 4 miles off Harwich. The Radio Transmitter is a 50kw R.C.A. Ampliphase and the Antenna is a shunt fed 200 ft. high mast.

The Ship’s Crew, which numbers 24, includes 6 engineers – three of whom are in charge of the transmitter. A Cook Steward and his two assistants look after the catering side.

The D.J’s spend a busy two weeks on board followed by one week ashore – when they may go home, although they are far likelier to be making recording arrangements with all the celebrities who appear on Radio London, or collecting further material for their various shows . . . however here are a few facts about the D.J’s themselves:

TONY WINDSOR – Born in Melbourne, Australia. His first serious job was when he joined the broadcasting station 2 S.M. Sydney as a Sales Representative, later working as an announcer. He afterwards became the Station’s Number One D.J. and remained with them for seven and a half years. The highest rated D.J. in Australia, he was offered the No.1 spot with the Macquarie Broadcasting Network operating 87 stations – the biggest network “Down Under”. He is 6’2″, dark haired, blue-eyed. Keen on tennis, cricket, boxing and horse-racing, he is also a member of 32 surf clubs.

EARL RICHMOND – Born in Highgate, London. Started with the Forces Broadcasting Service in September,1948, as Announcer and Scriptwriter in Trieste. Continued with F.B.S. from 1951-1957, gaining experience in all aspects of sound broadcasting.

He freelanced in various stations all round the world, then studied television in the United States. In July 1959 he joined I.T.V. as a Transmission Controller, and later did freelance work with Southern Television before joining Radio London as a Disc Jockey.

DAVE DENNIS – Born in Croydon. Originally took up farming and the outdoor life, but this career was not to last long, as he wanted to act. He studied drama for three years at the Central School before going into Repertory. Early in 1964 he decided to turn to Radio and has, since then, been working as a D.J.

Hazel-eyed, slim, dark, 6’0″, his hobbies are writing and wireless.

PETE BRADY – Born in Montreal and educated there. In 1958 he was a well-known voice on Radio Jamaica – the disc spinning experience stood him in good stead on his arrival in London where he led the double life of Assistant Film Producer by day and D.J. by night. He has represented the West Indies and England in major Water Skiing Championships throughout the world.

He is dark-haired, 5’9″ tall, and has blue-grey eyes. Likes flying, motor-racing, water skiing, most beat and pop records, folk music and Dusty Springfield.

PAUL KAY – Born in England. Went into Repertory Theatre as an actor and stage manager – this took him to Nairobi in 1952. With the Mau Mau emergency at its height he served with the Kenya Police in the Department of Information, African Broadcasting Service. His work included running an up-country broadcasting station N.Y.E.R.I. near Kenya’s famous Tree Tops Hotel. In I960 he went to Cyprus and organised Cyprus Magazine and Jazz for the Forces. His interviews have included hundreds of the famous and infamous.

Among his interests are playing the piano and guitar. Amateur photography, competition motoring and horse-riding are his only outdoor hobbies.

DAVE CASH – A Londoner by birth, he went to Canada in 1958 where he commenced radio work at C.J.A.V. Radio, Port Alberni, British Columbia.

Aged 22, dark-haired, with blue-green eyes, he likes dancing, bowling, good movies, fast cars and Ivy League clothes. Favourite singers include Ray Charles, James Brown and Sandie Shaw.

KENNY EVERETT – Born in Liverpool. Started in the advertising world, working in an advertising section of a newspaper office. Always interested in radio, he contacted various stations and sent them demonstration tapes. This approach proved successful and after a few month’s wait he was offered the job of Disc Jockey with Radio London.

Dark haired, 5’9″, blue-eyed and 20 years of age, he is fond of travelling by ‘plane, likes Alfred Hitchcock films, Peter Sellars, Cilia Black, Nina Simmone and the Beatles.

DUNCAN JOHNSON – Born in Toronto, Canada. He spent four years travelling around North America from Havana to the Yukon, working on oil rigs, driving trucks or working in logging camps when the financial situation demanded it. He started work in radio, at the suggestion of a French-Canadian friend who had applied for a D.J’s job but was not acceptable owing to his accent. Duncan spent two years in commercial radio and T.V. in Western Canada and a further eighteen months in Bermuda.

He is 26 with light brown hair and grey eyes, and is 6’3″ tall. He is a keen but poor golfer and prefers just watching most sports, but still thinks ice hockey is the most spectacular to watch or play. He likes almost every type of music.

MARQUEE CLUB

Have you been to the Big “L” disc session, at the Marquee every Saturday from 2.30 p.m. until 5.00 p.m.? I do hope so.

It would be terrible to think of you missing all the fun. If you have not been, why not go this week, it’s a real rave. Each week you can meet your favourite D.J’s and see all the pop stars, like Connie Francis, Gene Pitney, Manfred Mann, the Ivy League and many, many more. The Club is situated at 90, Wardour Street, W.1. This is the third turning on the left along Shaftesbury Avenue from Piccadilly Circus. Don’t forget if you do come, the admission fee is only 3/- per head for Big “L” Club members or 4/- for non-members.

Big “L” also visits the Wimbledon Palais every Saturday evening, with its Popular D.J’s there to see that everything moves along at a frantic pace. Keep listening to 266 for full details.

BIG “L” CLUB SPECIAL OFFERS

Now a word about the fabulous special bargains we have to offer you. The one that is most beneficial to club members is a wonderful eight-transistor radio complete with carrying case, aerial, earphone and an extra battery. The price of this marvellous set is £5.15.0d. but club members can get one for only £5.5.0d. that’s a saving of 10 shillings. One other great feature of this radio is that it has been specially adjusted to receive Radio London loud and clear.

The next thing I know many of you want is a Big “L” tee-shirt. For those of you who have not yet seen one, let me try to describe it. The front has the R.L. symbol, and the back features in big, bold black lettering – BIG L 266. Again there is a reduction in price for club members, 11/6 as opposed to 12/6 for non-members.

Also some really fashionable,eye-catching identity bracelets, silver or 22 carat gold-plated with a strong chain and secure fastener. These are offered to you at the amazingly low price of 10 shillings. Each bracelet comes in its own smart presentation case.

Photos of the Disc Jockeys are now available at 9d. each or 4/8d. for a set of eight – but you as a Club Member pay only 3/6d per set. We also have gay yellow and black pennants for 1/9 – and extra badges can be obtained at 3/9d. each.

I’ll be in touch with you from time to time with the latest news of the Big “L” Club and its activities.

Yours,

Robyn Rodgers

The post The Big L Club appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

In order to provide this diversity the BBC broadcasts three programmes, the Home Service, the Light Programme and the Third Network which includes as a major element the Third Programme. These programmes are described in greater detail in the following pages. Each programme has its own character and is planned within its own framework, but there is also complementary planning between the services to ensure, for example, that programmes of the same type are not broadcast at the same time on different wavelengths.

The form and content of radio programmes are continually changing to keep pace with developments. One of these developments has been the very rapid spread of the small portable transistor set in the last few years; in 1963 alone some 2 million were sold. Another development has been the increasing popularity of the car radio set, about 1½ million of which are estimated to be in use at present. The freedom to listen in any room, or in the car, or in the garden, or away from home is undoubtedly one of the reasons for the increase in the daily average audience. At the same time greater mobility has meant that many listeners cannot or do not want to concentrate for long periods on programmes. For this reason the BBC has increased the number of magazine type programmes, such as ‘Today’ and ‘Roundabout’, which can provide entertainment for those whose listening time is limited.

It is unfortunate that the increase in the number of transistors has not been matched by a comparable development in the use of VHF sets. Reception in the overcrowded medium- and long-wave bands continues to be difficult in many areas, in marked contrast to the interference-free reception which VHF can provide. VHF is particularly valuable for listeners to the Third Network. Medium

wave coverage of this network reaches only 69 per cent of the population while VHF coverage is 98.4 per cent. Yet another advantage is the greatly superior quality of VHF reproduction, a fact of significance to music lovers for whom the new Music Programme is planned. Although more and more listeners are turning to VHF – about 350,000 VHF sets are bought each year – the BBC hopes that this pace will accelerate.

1964 saw the beginning of the sound radio extensions which were recommended by the Committee on Broadcasting and subsequently approved by the Government. These had been held up by contractual difficulties which were resolved during the course of the year. They include an earlier opening at 5.30 a.m. and later closing at 2.00 a.m. for Light Programme and the broadcasting of a serious music programme on Third Network during the daytime. The extensions are being introduced by stages, and further details are given in the following pages. An extra half-hour was added each day from Mondays to Fridays during the winter months to the Third Programme.

Home Service

The Home Service, which serves the broad middle section of the community, necessarily overlaps to a certain extent with the Light Programme on one hand and with the Third Programme on the other. But it has its own distinctive characteristics. It carries out many of the functions of information and education enjoined on the BBC in the preamble to its Royal Charter, being, for example, the main vehicle of news, and for daily reporting on Parliamentary proceedings when the House is sitting. In the field of current affairs it exploits fully the potentialities of radio for rapid world-wide coverage in its provision both of news and of comment and discussion. The Home Service carries sound broadcasting’s programme for schools. Its music programmes concentrate on the great standard works. It broadcasts several dramatic productions each week, including stage plays, serials, works written specially for radio, and adaptations from novels. Its programmes provide a basic national pattern which can be varied by each regional Home Service to suit the particular needs of the region in question.

Light Programme

The main purpose of the Light Programme is to provide a service of entertainment and relaxation for the majority. Its basic ingredients are popular music, light music, comedy, and light drama, which includes the daily serials. Brief news summaries are broadcast at half past the hour every day, with a more restricted service on Saturdays and Sundays. Short weather forecasts are provided as part of a general service, and a special service of shipping forecasts on 1,500 metres is provided for those at sea in coastal areas.

Sporting events of many kinds are covered in the Sports Service transmitted on the Third Network wavelengths on Saturdays, and this frees the Light Programme for the broadcasting of entertainment music specially designed for those who listen on car radios and transistor and portable radio sets. This policy has increasingly been extended to other daytime listening hours, particularly at week-ends.

Full attention is paid to the interests of the home listener who has no television set or may not wish to spend all his time watching television. This is particularly so in the evenings, when the schedules include as wide a variety of programmes as is consistent with the main purpose of the Light Programme.

Third Network

The Third Network consists of the Third Programme, the Music Programme, and other programmes designed to appeal to minorities of one sort or another including ‘Study Session’ and the Sports Service.

The Music Programme, which is being introduced by stages, will, when completed, be broadcast every day of the week, on Monday to Friday from breakfast time to the early evening, on Saturday from breakfast time to the start of the Sports Service, and on Sunday from breakfast time to the start of the Third Programme at 5 p.m. Its programmes will cover the whole field of good music, including orchestral and chamber concerts, opera, recitals, and light music.

‘Study Session’ is broadcast from Monday to Friday between 6.30 and 7.30 p.m. It serves minority audiences who seek to increase their knowledge or extend their awareness in some particular field – for example, by learning languages (Russian, French, German, Italian, Spanish) or studying in some detail a period of history (The Greeks, The Normans, The Renaissance) or deepening understanding of some area of contemporary affairs, whether political, social, literary or scientific. There are regular programmes in science, social studies, current affairs, music, education, and the arts.

On Saturday afternoons a special Sports Service is broadcast which provides a continuous programme of commentaries and reports on sporting events. The Third Network is also used for special programmes including ball-by-ball commentaries of the Test Matches and for experimental broadcasts in stereophony.

The post BBC radio in 1964 appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

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The post Radio Caroline clips appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

Ten years ago, when the shadow of the Television age seemed rather ominous for Sound, few people would have believed that radio in Britain in 1964 would be a medium still in universal currency, still developing, progressing, and expanding. Yet that is our state of health at this juncture. Even though almost 90 per cent of the population of Britain now has television, the latest figures show that from twenty-six to twenty-seven million people use sound radio on the average day, and the figure moves steadily upward year by year. Nor is the use merely a nominal one. Those who listen do so, on an average, for something like two and a quarter hours each day. This continuing interest in radio is supported by the statistics of receiver sales. Last year, radio sets outsold television sets by a comfortable margin in the dealers’ shops. Two and a half million radio receivers were sold in Britain during 1962, an average of one every twelve seconds. Broadcasting’s vast audiences have shown that they require radio as well as television, and have plenty of room for both. Sound’s crisis is past. It has emerged as a medium which demonstrably has an important and valuable future.

But it will be a future with a difference. In looking to 1964 and the years ahead, sound must of course take account of the opportunities which technical development is continually offering. Two such developments are clearly revolutionary. The first is the introduction of the transistor receiver, which can be so small in dimensions and so efficient that it can be taken and used almost everywhere. Through the transistor, sound is fast becoming the truly ubiquitous medium. As the advertising slogan in the USA has it, ‘wherever you go, there’s radio’. The transistor is making sound a personal service for every listener, something that can be at his disposal all the time, rather than something to which he can only come during a few limited hours of the day.

The other major development, VHF, is, in a sense, right at the other end of the scale. VHF is high fidelity broadcasting — radio for the connoisseur — able to ofFer something approaching perfection in listening to the individual who is prepared to cultivate the medium and to devote his attention to it in some of his leisure hours. VHF transmission of all three sound services now blankets the country. Nearly 99 per cent of the population is within reach of VHF, and about five million VHF sets are in use.

In a way these technical developments divide the audience, and such broad divisions are going to be important considerations for the future. The demands of the transistor-listener are likely to vary considerably from those of the VHF listener. The millions who look to radio for a pleasant background sound to ease the boredom of the routine daily chores, require a service quite different from the needs of the much smaller audience of ‘foreground’ listeners who turn to sound in a positive way and call for serious programmes to which they are prepared to give concentrated thought and attention. Again, it is often suggested that because television is now so widespread, sound should leave light entertainment, say, or drama, entirely to the visual medium. But this argument ignores the just claims of around five million people who for one reason or another are still entirely dependent on radio. In the television household, sound is inevitably a complementary medium. In the sound-only home, radio must continue to provide the full programme range.

So BBC sound broadcasting in 1964 will be shaped with all these complex considerations in mind. We shall try to serve our big battalions faithfully. Our minorities will still be cherished. Our aim will be to use our three channels even more effectively than before to satisfy the ever-widening range of programme requirements. But these good intentions could truthfully be set down about any year. What makes 1964 special is the hope that, if negotiations in progress at the time of writing succeed, it will see an increase of sound broadcasting time each week by as much as one-third.

During 1964, if our plans mature, we shall extend the Light Programme’s day by three hours, starting earlier and finishing later. Meanwhile, we hope to introduce on the third channel a regular service of serious music, running right through the day until early evening when the Third Network will take over. This filling-in of the sound broadcasting pattern, if it can be achieved, will provide the British listener with a range of programme choice unrivalled anywhere in the world. It will be the most important radio innovation in this country since the introduction of the Home-Light-Third pattern at the end of the war, and it will indeed make 1964 a milestone year.

The post Radio’s role in 1964 appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.

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The post Introducing Radio Caroline appeared first on THIS IS ZENITH 1964 from Transdiffusion.