Monday 11th. February - 0900 to 1200

 

Today's program features a mix of 1950s and 1960s pop and a dash of Easy Listening music.

The playlist includes the following hits from the the international and Australian charts:- 

• I Just Need Your Love - Little Pattie (Australian artist - 1960s)
• Born Too Late - the Shannons (1958)
• She's So Fine - the Easybeats (Australian artists - 1960s)
• Teenage Baby - Col Joye (Australian artist - 1950s)
• Tracy's Theme - Spencer Ross (1960)
• Beatnik Fly - Johnny & the Hurricanes (1960)
• Easier Said Than Done - Laurel Lee (Australian artist - 1960s)
• Cotton Candy - Al Hirt (1964)
• Fun, Fun, Fun - the Beachboys (1964)
• Georgie Girl - the Seekers (1960s)
• Born Too Late - the Poni-Tails (1958) (A counterpoint to the version by the Shannons)
• Come A Little Bit Closer - the Delltones (Australian artist - 1960s)
• Cradle Of Love - Billy Preston (1960)
• Pineapple Princess - Annette Funicello (1960)
• Ciao Baby - Lynn Randell (Australian artist - 1960s)
• Twenty-Six Miles - the Four Preps (1958)
• And I Love Her - the Beatles (1964)
• Diane - the Bachelors (1964)
• Volare - Bobby Rydell (1960)
• What Am I Doing Here With You? - Bev Harrell (Australian artist - 1960s)
• Blue Jeans - David Dundas (1970s)
• Always Something There To Remind Me - Sandie Shaw (1964)
• One In A Million - Bev Harrell (Australian artist - 1960s)
• Beyond The Sea (La Mer) - Bobby Darin (1960)
• Green Onions - Booker T & the MGs (1962)
• Would You Lay With Me - Judy Stone (Australian artist - 1960s)
• On The Prowl - Ol' 55 (Australian artists)
• Rag Doll - the Four Seasons (1964)
• Downtown - Petula Clark (1964)
• Monster Mash - Bobby 'Boris' Pickett (1962)
• Fever - Peggy Lee (1958)
• Blow Away - A Fine Frenzy (Alison Sudol - 2010)
• Beyond The Blue Horizon - Lou Christie (1970s)
   

 

 

The Comedy Spot which follows the news & weather update at 10:00 AM is another classic radio piece from the Hancock's Half-Hour series, entitled "The Picnic" and first broadcast by the BBC on the 20th. October 1959.



Program for Friday 8th. February 2013

Today I am going back in time to the 8th. of February 1961 (which was a Wednesday, incidentally) and the Top Thirty tunes that were being broadcast over the airwaves exactly 52 years ago.

Included in the playlist are the following tracks:-

• Wheels - the String-Alongs (also made popular by Bert Kaempfert)
• Asia Minor - Kokomo
• Dedicated To The One I Love - the Shirelles (the first of two in the charts this week)
• Theme from The Magnificent Seven - Al Cailoa & Orchestra
• Baby-Sitting Boogie - Buzz Clifford
• I Count The Tears - the Drifters
• Good Time Baby - Bobby Rydell
• Calcutta - Lawrence Welk
• There's A Moon Out Tonight - the Capris
• Rubber Ball - Bobby Vee
• Walk Right Back - the Everly Brothers
• Wings Of A Dove - Ferlin Husky
• All In My Mind - Maxine Brown
• Pony Time - Chubby Checker
• Once In A While - the Chimes
• Corrina, Corrina - Ray Peterson
• Calendar Girl - Neil Sedaka
• Where The Boys Are - Connie Francis
• Will You Love Me Tomorrow - the Shirelles (the second of their two in this weeks Top 40)
• You Can Have Her - Roy Hamilton
• Them That Got - Ray Charles
• Shop Around - the Miracles
• Please Love Me Forever - Cathy Jean & the Roommates (60s music was not all wonderful!)
• Sailor (Your Home Is The Sea) - Lolita
• Emotions - Brenda Lee
• Apache - Jorgen Inman
• Spanish Harlem - Ben E. King
• Theme from Exodus - Ferrante & Teicher
• At Last - Etta James
• Are You Lonesome Tonight - Elvis Presley
• Wonderland By Night - Bert Kaempfert
• Angel Baby - Rosie & the Originals (similar quality to Cathy Jean's effort!)

The Comedy Spot, following the 3:00 PM news update, is a Hancock's Half-hour, from the 2nd. of February 1956, entitled "Cyrano de Hancock".
It features Tony Hancock, Sid James, Bill Kerr, Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Williams.

Monday 4th. February - Different Times!

The program today will not only start at an earlier time but it will also be shorter.
This is due to the fact that for the first time in 20 years (i.e., since 1993) I am going to watch the American NFL Superbowl LIVE!!!

The last time that I was able to do this was the 1993 game, when Don Lane was the presenter and the games were shown here live on the ABC.

So.......today's program is starting an hour-and-a-half earlier than normal, at 7:30 AM, and will finish at 9:30, truncated to two hours instead of 3. (Normal time-slot is 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon.)

I do hope that my regular listeners will forgive this shortened program, but now that I've been retired for nearly six months I don't have to feel guilty about taking time off work to watch a football game!

The two hours will be a mix of all that was good from the 1950s and 1960s charts but due to the abbreviated time I will not be including the regular half-hour comedy spot.
The playlist includes the following tracks that were receiving airplay in the Top Forty, 51 years ago, in the first week of February, 1962:-

• The Peppermint Twist - Joey Dee and the Starlighters
• Crying In The Rain - the Everly Brothers
• A Little Bitty Tear - Burl Ives
• Her Royal Majesty - James Darren
• Cotton Fields - the Highwaymen
• Multiplication - Bobby Darin
• Hey! Baby - Bruce Channel
• Chip Chip - Gene McDaniels
• Norman - Sue Thompson
• I Know - Barbara George
• Duke Of Earl - Gene Chandler
• Irresistable You - Bobby Darin
• Baby It's You - the Shirrelles
• Break It To Me Gently - Brenda Lee
• The Twist - Chubby Checker
• The Wanderer - Dion
• Midnight In Moscow - Kenny Ball and the Jazzmen
• Town Without Pity - Gene Pitney
• Smokey Places - the Corsairs
• Can't Help Falling In Love - Elvis Presley
• Let Me In - the Sensations

Please join me if you can.

Friday 1st. February - a new month!

 

Well, here we are one full month into the year of 2013. January seemed to fly past so I expect the next 11 months will be much the same!

The program for today is similar to the last couple in that it will feature a selection of popular hits and easy-listening tracks from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.....and maybe a small foray into the 1980s.

Comedy spot after the 2:00 PM news & weather update will be a Hancock's Half-hour, today presenting, from 1958, "Hancock's Car".

Please join me for three hours of perfect Baby-boomer nostalgia.

Program for Monday 28th. January 2013

On this national public holiday I will be reverting to a smorgasbord of music from the charts of the Fifties and Sixties, together with a selection of Easy Listening tracks from down through the years.

The Comedy Spot following the 10:00 AM news & weather will be an episode of Take It From Here, first broadcast on the 4th. December 1958.
The Glums features Ron getting a job (he applies to join the police force) and the effect the announcement has on his bethrothed, Eth, and his father!

Please join me for three hours of enjoyable nostalgia.

The pre-Australia Day Show - Friday 25th.

The music content for this afternoon's program will have a distinct Aussie flavour, with music from the Australian charts down through the decades between the 1980s and the earliest pop-music of the 1950s.

Interspersed with these tracks will be items from the Easy Listening genre and, following the news and weather at 3:00 PM, the Comedy half-hour will also feature something distinctly Australian and with a definite period flavour - an episode of "Yes, What?" from the 1940s.

Yes, What? was an Australian radio comedy first broadcast in 1936 until finishing in 1941, and is one of the best known examples of Australian radio drama. Originally called The Fourth Form at St Percy's, it was a comedy set in a school classroom. The program ran for 520 episodes and was written, produced and directed by Rex Dawe.

In addition to this classic piece of period Australiana I also have excerpts from two Jack Davey radio shows - The Protex Show and The Dulux Show, the latter featuring a 15-year old John Howard (yes, the lad who became our Prime Minister) and his answer to a tricky question!

(Jack Davey, 1907 - 1959)

Monday 21st. January

The second-last week of January already! This month has gone too fast.
For today's program I will be presenting a mix of music to which we Baby-boomers usually relate - and that includes just about any popular music from the early 1950s through the 1980s.

For the Comedy Spot, following the 10:00 news update, I have moved away from Hancock's Half-hour and have chosen an episode from another British series of the 1950s - "Take It From Here", one that features The Glums in all their glory!
This is actually the first show in which the Glums featured as a segment in their own right - it went to air on the12th. November 1953 - 60 years ago. Below is the precis of the show (7th. series, Show #1):

7/1 November 12 1953
New series changes .
Alma Cogan: Isn’t Life Wonderful
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells: cinema, corset ads, Radio Times Home Service & Light Programme versions of a play
Keynotes: Ricochet
Glums: Is marriage today an economic anachronism? (Eth introduced)
Alma & Dick: What a Perfect Combination
Pygmalion

Cast, from L to R: Wallas Eaton, Jimmy Edwards, June Whitfield and Dick Bentley