I am from the US, and as far as i know the BBC is the British Broadcasting network, much like ABC and NBC here in america... my question is where do all these BBC sessions come from, are they on televisions shows like we have here, or is there a special channel like MTV, before it turned to shit, either way they are all awesome, from zepplin to the who to the faces, i just never knew what they actually are.

Mickjagg65, I'm a Yank also, so maybe I should keep my mouth shut, but...
I believe most of the BBC releases come from BBC radio, in particular a show called The Old Grey Whistle Test. There is a fantastic supply of great music within the BBC vaults.

For many years in jolly ol' the government (the BBC) controlled most of the TV and radio. Remember it was these guys that invented "Big Brother" :-)

'Don’t forget, if you’re on your bike, wear white'

Mickjagg65 Wrote:
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> I am from the US, and as far as i know the BBC is
> the British Broadcasting network, much like ABC
> and NBC here in america...


well...it was actually the FIRST broadcasting network in the world..


my question is where do
> all these BBC sessions come from, are they on
> televisions shows like we have here, or is there a
> special channel like MTV, before it turned to
> shit, either way they are all awesome, from
> zepplin to the who to the faces, i just never knew
> what they actually are.

which shows are you referring to? if you mean the early 60's stuff, you're talking about BBC radio. Most of that material comes from "Saturday Club" which was a pop show on the BBC Light programme. At that time there wasnt many outlets for pop music on BBC radio apart from shows such as Saturday club, Top gear etc. From 1967, they launched 4 new channels with BBC radio 1 being the mainstram pop channel. The Stones didnt do any BBC radio sessions after 1965

KSIE Wrote:
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> Mickjagg65, I'm a Yank also, so maybe I should
> keep my mouth shut, but...
> I believe most of the BBC releases come from BBC
> radio, in particular a show called The Old Grey
> Whistle Test.

OGWT was actually a TV programme. It ran from the early 70's until around 1986. It was geared towards albums (unlike Top of The Pops, which was and still is a show geared towards the singles charts) and featured bands playing a couple of songs from their new album in the studio, early promo clips, ocacsional live concerts etc (the Stones' 1976 Paris show was shown as an OGWT special). The Stones never appeared "in session" in the BBC TV studios for OGWT.

There is a fantastic supply of
> great music within the BBC vaults.

actually there isnt. Its embarrassingly poor. The BBC had a habit for many years of wiping tapes of old shows for storage purposes. Not just for music either. They obviously had at the time no concept of the long time value of this material for archive purposes. The Stones appeared on TOTP probably about 20-30 times between 1964 and 1971 - there are performances of only 5 of those songs still in their vaults and when theres some kind of retro show, they recycle the same ones (the clips of LSTNT and Brown sugar from '67 and '71 dont even come from the original broadcasts but from those year's Xmas specials where the clips were actually rerun). Similarly, most of the band's radio broadcasts are lost too. A lot of the Ready Steady Go shows from 1964-66 survive, but they're from ITV, not the BBC.

>
> For many years in jolly ol' the government (the
> BBC) controlled most of the TV and radio.

there has been independent (commercial) TV in the UK since the early 60's. The government doesnt "control" the BBC or its programming. It funds it through license payers.


> Remember it was these guys that invented "Big
> Brother" :-)

No they didnt. "Big brother" originated about 5 years ago on Channel 4, which like most TV channels in the UK has nothing at all to do with the BBC.

I was right about one thing: I should have kept my mouth shut!

Thanks for all the info Gazza!



'Don’t forget, if you’re on your bike, wear white'

I wonder why there was so much Beatles material available from the early to mid 60's as well as The Who which was all eventually relesed if the BBC made a habit of erasing old tapes?
Surely there must be enough old Stones material to release a Stones at the BBC disc (or two).

Does anyone know why it was called The Old Gray Whistle Test? I always imagined there was a good story/reason for that name.

Gazza Wrote:

> > Remember it was these guys that invented
> "Big
> > Brother" :-)
>
> No they didnt. "Big brother" originated about 5
> years ago on Channel 4, which like most TV
> channels in the UK has nothing at all to do with
> the BBC.
>


I always thought it was originally broadcasted on one of the Dutch commercial TV stations, and produced by 'Endemol'. But maybe they stole it again from Channel4.

- Koen.

DGA35 Wrote:
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> I wonder why there was so much Beatles material
> available from the early to mid 60's as well as
> The Who which was all eventually relesed if the
> BBC made a habit of erasing old tapes?
> Surely there must be enough old Stones material to
> release a Stones at the BBC disc (or two).


there are plenty but there could and should be more of both bands as well

and yes, you're right about there being enough Stones radio material still there to release a double disc set for sure (theres also, I'm sure, plenty of material from radio and TV in the hands of collectors that the BBC and other corporations have erased.

There was talk about 5-6 years ago of a possibility of a BBC Stones album, as there was a report at the time that they'd unearthed some more archive material, but (as is always the case with rumours and speculation about the Stones releasing archive material) it came to nothing.

Koen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gazza Wrote:
>
> > > Remember it was these guys that
> invented
> > "Big
> > > Brother" :-)
> >
> > No they didnt. "Big brother" originated about
> 5
> > years ago on Channel 4, which like most TV
> > channels in the UK has nothing at all to do
> with
> > the BBC.
> >
>
>
> I always thought it was originally broadcasted on
> one of the Dutch commercial TV stations, and
> produced by 'Endemol'. But maybe they stole it
> again from Channel4.
>
> - Koen.


maybe you're right, but to the best of my knowledge C4 originated it. was just emphasising that it wasnt from the BBC.


KSIE wrote >
I was right about one thing: I should have kept my mouth shut!

Thanks for all the info Gazza!

not at all. Thats what these places are for, after all.

lamemodem2 Wrote:
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> Does anyone know why it was called The Old Gray
> Whistle Test? I always imagined there was a good
> story/reason for that name.


see here :

[www.bbc.co.uk]

The reason so much Beatles stuff is still available is because fans taped it.

When the BBC first said they would release a BBC Beatles sessions collection they put out an appeal to fill the (wiped) gaps in their archive. One guy came forward with a near complete set of the BBC recordings. The guy wanted money but the BBC wouldn't pay as they had the copyright on the material, by now some one else had come forward with a similar collection of recordings who would let them use the recordings for free.

Before the release of the Beatles At The Beeb 2CD from an unknown source there were 18 CDs released of these recordings, probably sourced from the original guy.

lamemodem2 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Does anyone know why it was called The Old Gray
> Whistle Test? I always imagined there was a good
> story/reason for that name.

The story which I heard a long time ago was something to with either BBC radio or Television. I believe late at night when they had the cleaners in (the cleaners usualy being old and gray) they would play the latest pop releases across the tannoy / PA system. If the cleaners whistled along with the song then they reckoned that was a good omen that the song would become a hit.

This became knowen as "The Old Gray Whistle Test".

I think that is the story....either that or I dreamt it!




I think I've bust a button on my trousers....

Skelly - see the link I posted above. It basically tells the same story.

"The BBC had a habit for many years of wiping tapes of old shows for storage purposes. Not just for music either. They obviously had at the time no concept of the long time value of this material for archive purposes. The Stones appeared on TOTP probably about 20-30 times between 1964 and 1971 - there are performances of only 5 of those songs still in their vaults and when theres some kind of retro show, they recycle the same ones (the clips of LSTNT and Brown sugar from '67 and '71 dont even come from the original broadcasts but from those year's Xmas specials where the clips were actually rerun). Similarly, most of the band's radio broadcasts are lost too"

Hearing these kind of facts makes a grown man cry..

- Doxa

The BBC also co-produced some great "Arena" TV documentaries on top artists around the world, also on the Stones. For example 25 x 5!

How could fans have taped the Beatles material. This was before VHS/BETA or even cassettes. Would they have had a reel to reel tape system and hold a microphone near the tv speaker? I think the sound quality would have been poor doing it by this method.

the recordings he was referring to were radio broadcasts, not TV