Alan Freeman RIP

Yes he was. Coincidentally I was thinking of starting a Radio Luxembourg thread (208) to see how many members would admit to remembering their introduction to rock and roll music, pre pirate radio days! 😀

Sounds like a good thread to me, shall I start my bit.
Sunday night used to be family night in our house, now I’m talking about the days before Fluff used to present the top twenty on a sunday evening.
We would have to put up with Sing Something Simple on the Light Programme, incidentally if anyone remembers that dire programme, the Mike Sammes Singers that ‘performed’ it featured as backing vocals on ‘I am the Walrus’ by the Beatles, so they obviously weren’t as boring as we thought.
We usually played Monopoly, or various card games and looked forward to Radio Luxembourg starting at 7:00, but where I lived, reception was always appalling, despite my old man’s massive valve radio that resembled some sort of art deco cinema frontage.
The music on Luxembourg was great, the only programme playing anything like it on the BBC was Saturday Club. Elvis was not appreciated in our house, Buddy Holly was King, I would have been interested to see what would have happened had BH not suffered an early demise, his advantage over Elvis was his writing ability, a sad loss of a great talent, my brother didn’t speak for several days following his death.
We also had problems picking up the pirate stations as well, we tended to stick with Luxembourg as reception had improved and Radio 1 when it first arrived was not too good as they had to honour live performance rights and had all sorts of grim people attempting to perform the hits of the day live on air. I think that the only programme free of this nonsense was actually Alan Freemans chart show.
I did win a competition on Luxembourg once, this was in the days of Kid Jensen, ( whose party I once crashed and was evicted from as I quoted my invite as being from a rival DJ who was also not on the list, got my hands on a glass of his scotch though).
Yes, the Kid ran a competition called ‘Find the Flip’. I happened to be upstairs doing my homework and listening to Luxembourg and the flip side in question was on my record player, Badge by the Cream as it happens.
I wrote down the answer on a piece of toilet paper including all the credits and the fact that George Harrison played the middle eight.
Several days later I was surrounded by hordes of admiring girls at school who had heard my name read out on air, I missed it.
I was sent a copy of an album courtesy of Radio Luxembourg with an actual hand written note by Kid Jensen, the album was by a band called ‘Moves of Vegetable Centuries’, cool, it ended up being destroyed under a chair leg at a particularly wild party.
I have to go back to Saturday Club, it was the best radio show around, nothing on Lux or anywhere else could touch it.
As I mentioned earlier they did experimental stereo broadcasts where you tuned in the radio to one frequency and the telly to another, unfortunately our telly was sat over the radio so you had to lie at an angle to appreciate it.
One day some company, it may have been PYE announced that they were going to do an experimental broadcast of Saturday Club in 4 track at the Co-op showrooms in Nottingham. Of course we were down there like a shot and sat in the middle of these gleaming massive teak cabinets for several hours on a saturday morning while engineers fiddled with whatever they had to fiddle with, it was amazing and no doubt better than the awful but expensive system that I have now.
Not Arf, pop pickers.

Brentwood nylons for a start!!!

Your geography/memory is as good as mine 😉 It was Brentford Nylons.I think these were the first fitted bedsheets( I stand to be corrected ).The first ones I slept in were orange,or is that too much information 😮

Alan Freeman.

Yes, I remember listening to Alan Freemans ” Pick of the pops ,” every Sunday back in the sixties. That was quite an unforgettable experience, and one that was an icon of that time. That was when Radio was in it’s halcyon days, before these computer things came about. I still enjoy listening to the radio, but no one can replace Alan Freeman, for his distinct style of broadcasting. Of course there were other dj’s who were around during that era, and they also had their distinct style, but Alan Freeman made Sunday afternoons an exciting listening experience. Mixing opera with pop, certainly was a stimulating sound, and of course in mono, on a Valve medium wave radio. 😀 😀 😀
_____________________

I find that very hard to believe.Probably opening another can of worms here,but WTH.Look back on his past history and see what you missed 😉

Brentwood nylons for a start!!!

I never usually listen to the radio so I have to admit that I don’t have the faintest idea who Alan Freeman was but RIP dear boy!!!!!!!! 🙂

Mark 🙂 🙂 🙂

I find that very hard to believe.Probably opening another can of worms here,but WTH.Look back on his past history and see what you missed 😉

Yes he was. Coincidentally I was thinking of starting a Radio Luxembourg thread (208) to see how many members would admit to remembering their introduction to rock and roll music, pre pirate radio days! 😀

Re my earlier post,K E Y N S H A M is in Bristol,not Essex(my mistake).To hear this classic radio ad click here and click on the “listen to the advertisement here” button

Yes he was. Coincidentally I was thinking of starting a Radio Luxembourg thread (208) to see how many members would admit to remembering their introduction to rock and roll music, pre pirate radio days! 😀

I’m sure Horace Batchelor would. Spelt H O R A C E B A T C H E L O R, P O Box (can’t remember),Keynsham,that’s K E Y N S H A M,Essex.Searching for the soundbite as we speak 😎

RIP “Fluff”

Not Arf!!!

Spent most Saturday afternoons back in the mid 70’s doing my house up, while listening to Fluff, (more time listening than working) so glad I tapped them. Saturday Afternoon Rock show magic.

Paul

I never usually listen to the radio so I have to admit that I don’t have the faintest idea who Alan Freeman was but RIP dear boy!!!!!!!! 🙂

Mark 🙂 🙂 🙂

Incidentally wasn’t Fluff originally from Australia?

Yes he was. Coincidentally I was thinking of starting a Radio Luxembourg thread (208) to see how many members would admit to remembering their introduction to rock and roll music, pre pirate radio days! 😀

I think he has had an operation or is ill as JW wished him a speedy recovery the other week…

I checked on the BBC website, he is ill, hope the old boy recovers from whatever it is, ironic to think of JW standing in considering what he went through last year.
Incidentally wasn’t Fluff originally from Australia?

…PS Anyone know whats happened to Brian Matthew, he seems to have dissapeared from his Radio 2 saturday show, hope he’s ok, Saturday Club was real ground breaking radio in the early 60’s, first to be broadcast in stereo, as long as you could tune in your telly to the other channel!

I think he has had an operation or is ill as JW wished him a speedy recovery the other week…

I’ll second all that, I know that the poor old boy had been suffering from severe arthritis for many years and was no doubt in a lot of pain.
In 69 I was working as a youthfull waiter at Butlins, Minehead, when the Radio 1 Roadshow arrived. I managed to sneak off to the ballroom during my break and watched Fluff in action. What I remember about that was that he played a very risque track, well for that time it was, by Peter Starsted, and as the lyrics came out he should have pulled the plug but he refused, mind you he was laughing so much he couldn’t do much about it, he finished by saying that we were lucky to have heard probably the only airplay of that particular record.
After the show they all came over to the restaurant for a meal which meant I had to serve them, and what a great bunch they all were, particularly Fluff, who gave me a Ten shilling tip afterwards, a lot of money in those days.
RIP Smashy.

PS Anyone know whats happened to Brian Matthew, he seems to have dissapeared from his Radio 2 saturday show, hope he’s ok, Saturday Club was real ground breaking radio in the early 60’s, first to be broadcast in stereo, as long as you could tune in your telly to the other channel!

The passing of a legend…
Thanks for the happy memories from this pop picker…