ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
Where's Pablo Escobar? - DAY BEFORE:
Let's Assassinate Hitler - DAY BEFORE THAT:
The Death of Kissing - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
ON THIS DAY
Radio 1 Hits The Road
Concerned that it was too London-centric, the BBC commissioned a series of pop-up outside broadcasts for its youth music station Radio 1, kicking off modestly in Newquay on 23rd July, 1973. The events exploded in popularity, and spawned an annual tour of bucket-and-spade Britain, becoming the iconic ‘Radio 1 Roadshow’.
Despite the concerts pulling in massive crowds – and radio audiences of around 15 million – the events struggled to attract credible music artists, who didn’t want to be seen rubbing shoulders with popsters like the Wombles and the Bay City Rollers.
In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion explain how Steve Wright came to ‘give away’ his son in a late-night escapade, reveal ‘the shorts rule’ imposed on the network’s presenters, and applaud the entrepreneurship of ‘Smiley Miley’, the roadie who wangled the rights to sell the merch…
Further Reading:
• Peter Powell hosts the Radio 1 Roadshow, 1982:
• A compilation of archive Radio 1 footage from the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06w9txp
• ‘The Happy Sound’ – a history of the Roadshow at Radio Rewind: https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/roadshow.htm
ON THIS DAY
Radio 1 Hits The Road
Concerned that it was too London-centric, the BBC commissioned a series of pop-up outside broadcasts for its youth music station Radio 1, kicking off modestly in Newquay on 23rd July, 1973. The events exploded in popularity, and spawned an annual tour of bucket-and-spade Britain, becoming the iconic ‘Radio 1 Roadshow’.
Despite the concerts pulling in massive crowds – and radio audiences of around 15 million – the events struggled to attract credible music artists, who didn’t want to be seen rubbing shoulders with popsters like the Wombles and the Bay City Rollers.
In this episode, Olly, Rebecca and Arion explain how Steve Wright came to ‘give away’ his son in a late-night escapade, reveal ‘the shorts rule’ imposed on the network’s presenters, and applaud the entrepreneurship of ‘Smiley Miley’, the roadie who wangled the rights to sell the merch…
Further Reading:
• Peter Powell hosts the Radio 1 Roadshow, 1982:
• A compilation of archive Radio 1 footage from the BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06w9txp
• ‘The Happy Sound’ – a history of the Roadshow at Radio Rewind: https://www.radiorewind.co.uk/radio1/roadshow.htm
ON PREVIOUS DAYS:
- YESTERDAY:
Where's Pablo Escobar? - DAY BEFORE:
Let's Assassinate Hitler - DAY BEFORE THAT:
The Death of Kissing - DAY BEFORE BEFORE THAT:
I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!
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OLLY MANN
Olly Mann made his name with another trivia-wielding podcast, Answer Me This! with Helen Zaltzman – and now presents The Modern Mann, The Week Unwrapped, and Four Thought for BBC Radio Four. He also has an A-Level in History, so Dan Snow beware.
REBECCA MESSINA
Rebecca got a passion for podcasting working at The Week magazine and a passion for trivia appearing on University Challenge in 2011, making The Retrospectors her natural home.
ARION MCNICOLL
Arion started out in satirical news in Australia, then moved to the UK to work for ostensibly serious publications including The Times, CNN, and The Week… before realising that since around 2016 the news has all been satire really.
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