R2OK!

Nickbucks · Joined: 30 Dec 2006 Posts: 100

BBC Radio 2 ( & R1,R3 & R4) will celebrate 50 years of broadcasting this year with an raft of celebratory programmes scheduled for September. This was announced on the JV show this lunchtime when Johnnie Walker was a guest. Clips were played of Terry Wogan & Jimmy Young , Ray Moore and Gloria Hunniford and mention made of Alan Keith & others. Surprise surprise the BBC is looking for listeners memories which is hardly surprising given that the present R 2 staff and presenters were neither born or listened to Radio 2 in 1967. May be worth members here sending in some memories of the good old days. Details on the R2 website apparently. If you want to listen the feature was in the last half hour of the JV programme.

becky sharp · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 6814

Enjoyed this half hour....

Hearing the voices of Jimmy,Terry and Ray,then thinking of the likes of Fearne Cotton being the future of Radio 2 filled me with despair. Sad

oldraver · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 1175 Location: London

I missed this...I can tell how downhill R2 has gone, by the fact that these days, I'm grateful for Steve Wright and Jeremy Vine. If ever I get to the stage where I switch Chris Evans on of a morning, then I'll know it's time to relocate to the Sunnyside Rest Home.

I still can't stand Tim Smith, though, so there's hope yet.
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life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19334 Location: Cheshire

I missed this too (I was away and didn't hear any radio for a couple of days) so must listen back. Of course 50 years ago we would all have been Radio 1 fans........

Thanks for the heads up Nick!

Raver I'm like you. I couldn't stand Steve Wright 10 or more years ago and in fact him being on Radio 1 just as I came off shift at the airport all those years ago got me switching over to Radio 2 for the first time! I remember feeling somewhat agrieved to know he was taking over from Stewpot in the afternoons. Nowadays I can listen, not usually to a whole show though! I guess he's mellowed.......

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005

Nickbucks · Joined: 30 Dec 2006 Posts: 100

Helen you are welcome. I think that old age is creeping up on Steve Wright- I( believe he is now 62 ! Hard to believe. As well as the more well known faces of course there are others I remember- David Hamilton ( rarely mentioned these days), John Dunn, Tony Brandon and Judi Spiers are a few whose names come to mind also David Jacobs doing a daily lunchtime show. I always used to listen to Round Midnight with Brian- many forget that he was an accomplished broadcaster of that arts strand as well.
Then there were the newsreaders- who remembers Paddy O'Byrne, Tom Edwards, Jean Challis amongst others ? Sorry but dislike JV as much as I do Chris Evans. On the other hand Tim Smith is great. He is a foil set up by Steve Wright but when he is on his own on his Saturday show on BBC Radio Oxford he is so much better.

FleetingEileenM · Joined: 30 Mar 2010 Posts: 5767 Location: Hampshire

becky sharp · Joined: 01 Dec 2008 Posts: 6814

Have just recently started listening (again) to some of Steve in the afternoon ( I was a fan back in the Radio 1 days) and have found myself chuckling at his "Hands Up" bit... asking the other week about a "Snap Election"

Haven't a clue who Tim Smith is.

On the whole I like the music he plays.

Angela W · Joined: 11 Dec 2006 Posts: 7202 Location: North Yorkshire

ruddlescat · Joined: 16 Sep 2010 Posts: 18010 Location: Near Chester

I can understand the reluctance of folks who raved over the pirate stations to listen to the rather more sanitized BBC offering i.e.Radio One - but it was actually a decent station in the early days and of course many of the ex pirate jocks ended up on Radio One anyway

Radio One lost its way in the early nineties when the dreadful Matthew Bannister took over but in the sixties and seventies its output was actually very good IMHO Smile

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Lord Evan Elpuss · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 3415 Location: Cloud Cuckoo Land

Radio 1 was my station of choice from the 1970s when I got my first transistor radio, right up to when Matthew Bannister had his 'cull' of those DJs that I had grown up listening to and watching on Top Of The Pops. Initially I felt a bit put out by his actions, but then I had a re-think and concluded that after all Radio 1 was originally designed for teenagers, those of the 1960s / 70s. The fortunate thing at the time was that Radio 2 was also changing and it soon became my main listening. Then along came Lesley Douglas & a few others. Despite that, there are some of the more recent DJ signings that I enjoy listening to.
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SantaFefan · Posted: Mon May 08, 2017 11:34 am Post subject:

Seems like I was right about Ol' Wrighty aaaaalll along then? I always feel content when the Big Show is on..
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Johnnie Walker read out my message on Pirate Radio! Very Happy

13/8/07
I have heard how radio should be.

oldraver · Joined: 18 Dec 2006 Posts: 1175 Location: London

He does play the best music, it must be said. My ten year old granddaughter hates the way he talks over the records, though! She quite likes Simon Mayo and Richard Allinson on Magic, when we're in the car.

Last evening, on the way to swimming club, The Eagles came on the radio...she listened for a while, then said "There's gonna be a hard egg tonight, Grandad? "

A chip off the old block...
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life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans

Schizoidman · Joined: 20 Sep 2010 Posts: 1140 Location: Rural West Sussex

I agree with both you and your granddaughter. Steve Wright plays good music, often oldies that you don't otherwise hear, and he doesn't take himself too seriously.

And yes, he does talk too much over the music, usually with banal waffle.

Helen May · Joined: 10 Dec 2006 Posts: 19334 Location: Cheshire

Just caught up with this broadcast before it disappeared. Lovely to hear all the old voices and the clips!

I've so many memories but probably not good enough for the show.

H
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88 - 91 FM this is Radio 2 from the BBC!

I said it live on air in the studio with Jeremy Vine on 10/3/2005