British Tv & Radio Stations Archives

[Guest ShaneH]

whatever happened to all the vinyl?

there must have been some nice british soul promos in the vaults.

i heard a story about there being a nice collection of stuff at granada studios in the 80s.

any stories/facts?

Shane

[Guest Dan]

whatever happened to all the vinyl?

there must have been some nice british soul promos in the vaults.

i heard a story about there being a nice collection of stuff at granada studios in the 80s.

any stories/facts?

Shane

ask r buckley esq shane

he has an interesting tale to tell

[Lloydee]

Shane

I heard two stories;

the BBC only dealt in issues, no Demo's etc and if you can get your local Beeb station to request Sandi Wynns it'll show Tony Blackburn booked it out at same point.

Radio Lux 208 was plundered by a coupled of guys years ago, all Demo's!!!

We don't/didn't do Radio stations like they do in the US but I reakon Mexico would be a good place to start.............

[Guest Dan]

Shane

I reakon Mexico would be a good place to start.............

that's a really interesting idea lloydee

sure someone's been there but if not...

there must be plenty of other places worth having a crack at too when you think laterally like that.

Edited July 19, 2006 by Dan

[Citizen P]

Anybody tried Vietnam???

TP

[soulfulsaint]

Most local radio stations have been stripped bare too. There was usually a librarian who knew the values and strategically upgraded libraries to tape and CD and now MP3, presumably they sold the vinyl - purely for reinvestment purposes you understand. Met a guy in Detroit who claims the Public Library still has 60s discs on top floor but when I went it was mostly gash old LPs certainly no rare Detroit.

[Wally Francis]

A friend of mine picked up some really nice thing's whilst on holiday at CUBA,he became friendly with the hotel dj and he was a friend of the local radio station dj,so they met up and he had a few day's sorting through some shed's outside.His wife was non to pleased though

[Pete S]

Most of them have gone now. British Forces bases in Germany - one dealer from manchester and one from Brighton got most of those. Granada in Manchester, well known story dating back to 77, others on here know it better than me. Capital sold theirs off in the 90's. Mick Smith had a BBC radio station in Singapore cleared out. Muggins here bought 1500 demos from radio Leeds and they all turned out to be 80's and 90's pop they went straight back...

[pikeys dog]

Aharr, what about the Pirate Ships, Mateys?

As anyone got any info What happened to the disc from Radio Caroline?

Yarr.

[FrankM]

Record Collector did a report on LWT/ Redifusion or some London ITV sell off. I missed the Clyde singles sale but got a few good albums. I knew a few people who got some excellent seventies albums when Forth sold theirs. BBC Scotland let some Charities have access but a lot turned up at high prices with a well placed dealer.

And some "researcher" allowed access to several libraries including the BBC stole the singles and was caught and let go in Norway or some other european country. He was a regular dealer on e bay.

[Guest Dante]

Shane

I heard two stories;

the BBC only dealt in issues, no Demo's etc and if you can get your local Beeb station to request Sandi Wynns it'll show Tony Blackburn booked it out at same point.

Radio Lux 208 was plundered by a coupled of guys years ago, all Demo's!!!

We don't/didn't do Radio stations like they do in the US but I reakon Mexico would be a good place to start.............

Hi there,

I must be a total stupid... I didn't understand what you were trying to say. Mexico would be a good place to start what? hehe.

Hope you can explain it to me, sorry

Dante

[FrankM]

Think Radio Luxembourg.

Wolfman Jack was just one of a number of US DJ's who broadcast from a "Border Blaster" station sited in Mexico. They could use more power than US stations therefore achieved greater coverage. They targetted their advertising and musical taste on the US border states thus they must have had a library of sixties R&B. Whether those libraries still exist is another matter.

CKLW in Windsor, Toronto played a lot more Motown than it's nearby Detroit based rival WKNR. I don't know who got their library.

[Guest biggray1]

Can remember Elton Johns collection of 45s being sold off back in the 90s,he had collected many rare uk 45s of all kinds of music wich was mianly all demos...can recall him being interviewed by Record Collector Mag and Elton was reported to have had most of his collection from Radio stations in the Uk!!must have had some wicked stuff...oh and the proceeds of the sale was given to charity...good stuff Elton.

[Mike]

the afn (american forces network) stations been mentioned in past

there's some story/rumour about the one in munich

think it was benji who had the story

second hand shops in german towns with a us forces base used to be one of those tips taht never really accounted to much

also seen those afn 12 inch acetates (?) on sale a few times, never looked into them deeply

am right in saying sometimes used to use them rather than actual 45s, background anyone?

[Guest smigger]

Good shout on mentioning Vietnam. Have often thought about that but whilst visiting did not see any second hand vinyl shops.

Years ago, I had dropped out of the soul scene at that stage, I went to Iran. A hotel in Teheran had a second hand shop that was selling all sorts of books that had obviously been left by westerners that had to do a runner in 1979. Story goes that there a warehouses full of allsorts. Always wondered what might turn up there.

[Stateside]

the afn (american forces network) stations been mentioned in past

there's some story/rumour about the one in munich

think it was benji who had the story

second hand shops in german towns with a us forces base used to be one of those tips taht never really accounted to much

also seen those afn 12 inch acetates (?) on sale a few times, never looked into them deeply

am right in saying sometimes used to use them rather than actual 45s, background anyone?

I bought a load of albums(all dj copies) from a german guy who claimed they came from AFN - got some crackers like Anthony White, Willie Hutch's rca stuff, tons of Philly stuff

I know BBC Radio merseyside didn't keep an extensive library before the 70's and they had to requisition them from London and they would take 4/5 days to arrive. it would list the dates requisitioned and by whom.

[Dayo]

Well, I guess it's ok to tell the story now.

It was 1981. I was playing funk and disco in a club in Luxembourg on a two month contract. It was a hangout for some of the 208 staff and DJ's. I was friendly with another English jock out there who was working part time at the 208 record library helping them to catalogue stuff.

It didn't take too much pestering before I got an invite to go and have a mooch. It was the most awesome collection of vinyl that you've ever seen. And on the far wall a few boxes of "rubbish 60's flops we're sending to a local fair" (Luxy equivilant of a jumble sale).

Would I like to look and see if there was anything I wanted?

Gulp.

[Guest musicden786]

Hello Shane.

As AFVN ( American Forces Veitnam Network) has got a mention thought there might be interest in a couple of pictures of the Studios, which two of the original DJs posted on the internet.

The pictures show the pre-recorded programme material.

Denis.

[Ged Parker]

Anybody tried Vietnam???

TP

Guy Hennigan did Vietnam in the 80's I think.

I have a number of British items from the BBC record library. They are stored in a inner polythene sleave rounded at one end (to the exact profile of a 45) and folded ove like an envelope at the other. They are then stored in another see through sleave with an index on the right hand side kinda like the thing you used to get in libary books saying who took em out and when.

A couple have on the inner sleave 'Handle with Care - This record could be irreplacable '

[Paul McKay]

I've bought a few items from France of late stamped with "BBC Library". They'd obviously been stored in a similar way as you could see where the plastic had reacted with the vinyl, rather like the old Polydor inner LP sleeves did to LPs.

I got some good stuff from the old Thames TV archive sell off back in the nineties, but the major record dealers had prior access and any great stuff was auctioned supposedly though I didn't manage to get into this despite queueing from an early hour. The last Wembley record fair had another TV company (I think) selling off their archive, but only got an "I'm gonna miss you" Coral DJ copy for £60 from a local dealer who'd been there.

[Guest Darks]

whatever happened to all the vinyl?

there must have been some nice british soul promos in the vaults.

i heard a story about there being a nice collection of stuff at granada studios in the 80s.

any stories/facts?

A close friend of mine worked at the BBC in Manchester. He's just been made redundant so I guess he's none to bothered about this.

BBC Manchester had tons and tons of vinyl until very recently. It was considered a millstone around there necks and would have been slung in a skip. I suspect a lot has met that fate. Record libaries have long been surplace to requirements and the way the BBC now operates, on a privatisation type model, space is at a premium.

My mate did try and liberate most of the vinyl via charity sales within the Oxford Road building. He would arranged for loads of vinyl to be deposited in the canteen and the sale was open to the staff and me! plus a few other well known vinyl vultures who I have no idea how they found out about these sales.

Prices were very reasonable. 10p per record. The BBC staff were, by and large, a self regarding bunch of twits, who found the idea of old fashioned vinyl to be a joke. Any one who appeared to interested in the actual music contained on the records was viewed as eccentric. This was helpful as there were thousands of records and only a couple of people intrested in buying it.

It goes without saying that there was no 60s stuff left and big 70s records such as Rita Wright on Jet were not there. I guess it had been picked over long before I had sight of it. It should be realised that these record libaries did stock thousands of very very bad records.

Still we got loads of PIR demos and all sorts of good albums. My mate found the 100% pure poisen album which ended up in a well known local record shop. I found the original play card for the album. This records the date, time and track played on the radio. Needless to say the card was blank.

However, the interesting thing was the extensive range of "BBC Music Library" Albums. These were distributed only within the BBC on their own Radio Play label. The Albums contain programming notes. i.e,it tells the presenter intresting things to say about the record. "An irresistable piece of monkey business" is how the Miracles Mickey's Monkey is described.

I've got loads of these on the BBC radio play albums and most of them are motown related. The most intresting one is the Detroit Spinners, containing a slighty different cut of "What more can a boy ask for". The release pre-dates the Motown issue. Anyone else come across these?

Regards Alan

[Pete Morgan]

Anybody tried Vietnam???

TP

I tried six years ago . I spent 3 weeks in Ho Chi Minh. I found the main Radio station at the time of the American occupation but it became part of the peoples republic broadcasting after the Americans fled. Most American stuff was burnt or plundered ( except Military equipment ) . I spent a good two weeks searching all around and checking out the markets that were flogging ex American Army surples ,but to no avail. I ended up buying a Lamberetta sx 200 though. My last day before flying out i saw a little kid with a us 45 in his hand scraping it down the side of a wall. I ran after him but he buggered off before i could ask him where it came from. I am sure there may be a few tunes still floating around. But unfortunatly i found nothing . I got hassled too when i inquired at the site of the old Station by goverment officials; so i gave up.

Pete m

ps

I reckon Guam is the place to check out... still a us base ( since the 2nd world war )

happy hunting

[Guest musicden786]

The full story of AFVN has not yet been told.

From the start up in the Rex Hotel in 1963 to the end game in the seventies.

The reasons for this situation are various.

The Vets in the USA and other Countries have been trying for some time to make the story and the music played by this Radio Station, open to all those interested.

The most sought after items are the specialy pre-recorded programmes, (pre-recorded in the USA), most of which are held in safe hands.

Denis.

[FrankM]

I heard Christie's auctioned off her collection. A big record fan she received every EMI record before it was issued to the shops. Think of those red and White TMG 500 series demos.

Anyone got a contact for Linley to see if he kept any?