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Eurovision Radio 2
lufcfan1998
Posts: 18,628 Forum Member
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When did it switch from Radio 1 to Radio 2?
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lufcfan1998
Posts: 18,628 lufcfan1998
Posts: 18,628 lufcfan1998
Posts: 18,628 lufcfan1998
Posts: 18,628
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I don’t ever remember it being on Radio 1. Ray Moore did the radio commentary on Radio 2 for quite a few years and I think Ken Bruce took over in 1988 when Ray Moore was forced to retire from broadcasting due to ill health.
Ok I could’ve swore I read somewhere that it was on Radio 1 first then switched to Radio 2.
It was on Radio 1 but only because Radio 1 joined Radio 2 for Saturday Evenings for many years.1983-85 it wasnt on the Radio,from 1986 just on Radio 2 as by then Radio 1 had it's own shows in the evening.
The contest started before Radio 1 even existed, and before R2 replaced The Light Programme
It would have also been on Radio 2 at that time - in fact it is listed as a Radio 2 show apart from 1969 and 1970 where it's in the Radio 1 listings.
Obviously this is going from the Radio Times entries of the time so could have been identified on air differently.
It was also on Radio 1 between 1980-1982.
BBC budget cuts meant that Radio 1 went back to simulcasting Radio 2 from 7.30pm on Saturday nights from April 1980. The Saturday evening schedule was restored in December 1982 when Janice Long & Gary Davies joined the station.
The final bits of Ken's commentary were superb - he was saying what we were all thinking about dragging out the announcements of the final votes - it was ludicrous, the Italian hosts continuously repeating what we already knew rather than telling us what we didn't.
I hope he managed to find Richie and drag him away and get the lad to buy him a pint or two after they were off air.
There were some strange listings in the early days of Radio 1 and 2 suggesting that things like Late Night Extra and Night Ride were Radio 1 shows but they were very much in the Light programme mould and played little or no pop music.I often wondered if they did it deliberately to try and make it seem as Radio 1 had more of it's own programmes than it actually did.However,anybody around at the time would rarely find any pop music after 7.30 whatever they called it and hastily move to Luxembourg or others if that's what they wanted.
I stand corrected on 1970 being the first year - although I'm sure I remember them making a big thing about it being on radio as well as TV in 1970, and when I checked Genome myself earlier I somehow missed the earlier entries. I was 12 in 1970 so probably just becoming more aware of these things. One confusing factor is that the contest was on a bit later, starting at 10 p.m. on at least a couple of occasions. This would partly have been because we did not put the clocks back for a couple of years at around that time and the contest was held several weeks earlier, before the end of March in some years. However even taking this into account it would still have been a later start than the present 2100CET, perhaps because it was much shorter in those days with fewer countries competing and less padding to make it into the major event it has become today. In those days the intention seemed to be to just get it over and done with as quickly as possible, which you certainly couldn't say about it now!
I've been watching some contests from early years including the one from 1970 with only 12 songs-if you come 12th these days you've done quite well!.Although it was late it didn't matter too much as it didn't take them more than about 45 minutes to get through the songs!.The 1970 one was notable because some countries stayed away after a dispute about the one the year before when 4 countries were joint winners.
Re the dragging out the announcements of the votes, watching on TV, they were waiting to be fed them through their ear pieces so had to fill while this was happening.
I've said before that I wish the BBC would do with Eurovision what they do with some football games when they have Radio 5 Live commentary on the Red Button, by having Ken's/Radio 2's commentary on the Red Button
I can remember Simon Bates presenting Late Night Extra in the early 70s, (before he had his eventual daytime R1 gig) . I used to listen via BBC Radio Oxford FM, because back then 88-91 FM carried R1's 'Sounds of the 70s' between 10pm and Midnight (John Peel later made that slot his own Mon -Thurs)
You're right though there was so much simulcasting and differing opt outs between '247m', 1500m, and 88-91, that sometimes you were never really sure whether you were listening R1 or R2. David Hamilton's afternoon show in the early-mid 70s is a good example. Was it a R1 or R2 show (Also 1500m would often split away from it for sports) ?
The David Hamilton show was Radio 1 on Radio 2 effectively,I remember the pop element remained very much with the Radio 1 playlist which was rather a contrast to what has preceded it on Radio 2 with shows involving the BBC radio Orchestras and interviews with celebrities.Hamilton's show was however interrupted on Long Wave by racing and disappeared during Wimbledon.
Because the BBC said it was stopping the Red button service it is not on many of the latest TVs. They are equipped for the iPlayer text news service which the BBC abandoned. The Red button takes you to the News channel via iPlayer now. There is a bit about it being discontinued on the Sony site. Red Button/ 5 live is SD/stereo, you can watch BBC1 HD and listen to Radio2 but it is not in sync on FM, DAB is nearer.
I guess it would have depended on the audio available via the microwave links with the other EBU members (pre-satellite).
Via TV it would have been mono only in this country until at least the start of NICAM transmissions. Nowadays it’s the opposite way around, with 5.1 surround sound audio available via the master satellite feed, and used by some broadcasters including the BBC (on the broadcast versions of the HD channels).
Yes, effectively Radio 1 was in FM stereo on weekday afternoons for a few years in the mid 1970s. That came to end in late 1977 when Tony Blackburn took over the Radio 1 afternoon show, and Hamilton's show became Radio 2 only.
Fair enough but I access the Red Button by using channel 981 on Sky or 601 on Freeview which I always thought was available to all so surprised that some cant get it.
Oh well, another idea gone!!!
601 does work, women's football on at the moment, but few know of its existence as on older sets you access the Red Button Service using the red button on your remote not via a channel number. Picture quality is very poor at the moment on a 48" TV at 3m, I couldn't swap Eurovision in HD plus surround sound for that.
If only the idea of extra audio streams had been properly implemented, then you'd have the alternative audio tracks associated with the main HD video stream, and not a separate low res sub-SD channel as described above. It's madness to do it any other way, but they do ! ?
David Hamilton used Radio 1 jingles when his show was on both Radio 1 and Radio 2. The news though was on the hour though rather than the half hour.
I do recall a family day out in 1975, and David Hamilton playing Frank Sinatra's 'Nice 'N Easy Does It', (a track well and truly in Radio 2's domain (of that time)
My dad turned it up full blast on the car radio (Which is why I remember it)
That song may have been the inspiration behind the Stranglers' 1978 hit Nice 'n' Sleazy does it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZSvp1f8-1U