The Chip Shop, 31st March 1984

This is the only other recording I have of The Chip Shop, from another of my old cassettes...

"The Chip Shop"
Presented by Barry Norman
BBC Radio 4
Saturday, 31st March 1984, Programme 12

(11:12) I had the complete 25 minute show for a couple of years but then copied these highlights onto another tape before re-using the tape.

This weeks show reports from the 9th West Coast Computer Faire in San Francisco.  Includes a speech by Bill Gates who Barry Norman says sounds like Kermit!  Also includes talk by Andy Goldberg of Lexisoft talking about their word processor "Spellbinder", Larry Tesla of Apple talks about software that'll tell you if a piece of writing has enough impact.  Then there's a feature on the DECtalk speech synthesizer (it's the one Professor Stephen Hawking uses) with its different voices, and it can even sing!

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 [The broadcast date is a guess. The 9th West Coast Computer Faire was 22-25th March so the earliest possible date for the show would be 24th March but I feel that's too soon and 31st March is more likely.]

Radio Moscow, 19th August 1991

Radio Moscow
"The First Decision issued by the State of Emergency Committee"
19th August 1991 / 1107GMT
14.5Mhz (Approx. It was only a little radio with a not very accurate dial.)
(15 minutes)

Another one from one of my cassettes.  I recorded this on the first day of the August Putsch, a coup attempt (19-21 Aug 1991) which although short-lived is widely considered to have contributed to the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Instead of their normal programming Radio Moscow were broadcasting classical music which they'd interrupt occasionally to give this message.

More info on the coup on wikipedia.

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The Chip Shop, 14th Jan 1984

This isn't from a reel, and I didn't find it as I never lost it, but it definitely fits the category of old recordings you thought you'd never hear again.  This is from one of my older cassettes that survived not being recorded over (apart from the first few minutes) ...

"The Chip Shop"
Presented by Barry Norman
BBC Radio 4
Saturday, 14th Jan 1984, Programme 01

(22:29) Incomplete - the first 2:48 of the cassette was recorded over.

- The recording starts with a piece about teenage programmers and whether they're getting a fair deal.
- Barry Norman announces the Chip Shop takeaway service where software will be broadcast on Radio 4 late at night using a new language called Basicode, an idea started by the Dutch. He interviews Dutch broadcaster Jonathan Marks to talk about it.
- William Horsley talks about Japan's significance in the computer market & Robin Webster talks from Silicon Valley.
- Jane Bird (editor of Personal Computer World) talks about the latest news. This week talking about the launch of the Sinclair QL.
- Limerick competition.
- Tessa Shaw goes to the BBC's Radiophonic Workshop and talks to Nick [2nd name not mentioned] to find out how the shows signature tune was done.

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Incidentally I diligently recorded all the basicode programs (broadcast late at night after the shipping forecast) and sent off for the software. When the cassette arrived it included the software for a whole variety of computers including some pretty obscure ones but there was no version for one of the most popular computers the Spectrum. Since I had a Spectrum I was pretty annoyed.  I got a refund on the Basicode cassette and taped over the programs I'd been recording.  What a waste of time that was!  I have no idea if a Spectrum version was written at a later date but by then the moment had passed.

Alan Dell - A Date With The Forties

"A Date With The Forties"
BBC Light Programme, 18th September 1967, 2130-2200
Alan Dell presents half an hour of Glenn Miller.

This is followed by a minute and a half of the start of "Emery At Large" (Series 3, episode 8.)

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Mystery. Can you help?

Lucky Strike / Date With A Disc, c.1963

This one is mystery hopefully someone can solve.

The reel starts with the first ten minutes of a show called "Lucky Strike".  After ten minutes the reel was stopped and you get a further 20 minutes of the show that was being recorded over, "Date With A Disc".

- It's the same person doing both shows.
- They can't be BBC shows, the BBC don't do advertising so would never have had a show called Lucky Strike.
- There were no Independent local stations in the UK in 1963 and the only other possibility would be Radio Luxembourg but it sounds nothing like a Luxy show and I'm sure a Luxy show sponsored by Lucky Strike would mention the sponsor more than just the once at the very start.
- There was a BBC show called Date With A Disc. It was hosted at this time by Alan Dell. The man in these recordings is not Alan Dell and this show sounds nothing like Date With A Disc.  That also rules out Luxembourg who would never have copied the name of a current BBC show.

I'm pretty sure the person who recorded this worked in radio or in sound recording.

I can only think of 2 possibilities...

1. He was making these recordings for the fun of it, as a hobby.
2. He was recording them for hospital radio.

Does anyone recognise his voice?

Lucky Strike
Date With A Disc

Eric Winstone, c.1959

Eric Winstone, c.1959

Broadcast at 1pm on a Tuesday. 29 minutes into the recording there was a break for the news but unfortunately the reel was stopped there and restarted after the news.
Running time: 42:33
Complete show would have been around an hour.


Steve Martin - ??
Dennis Rowe (trumpet) - Gloria ("playing a new melody called Gloria")
Linda Shannon - A Little Bit More Romancing
Andy Weavley - A Little More Of That Old Scooby Doo
Roy Marsh Quartet - ??
?? - Midnight Cha-Cha
Steve Martin - I Know ("Steve Martin, our featured guest singer")
?? - Sleepwalk
Andy Weavley - Route 66 ("Andy has a broken wrist... he's plastered in one arm")
Linda Shannon - Broken Hearted Melody
Steve Martin - You Are In Love
?? - Private Wellington Bull
Winstone Orchestra - ??
Linda Shannon - Love Must Be Catchin' (released by Julie London in 1959)
Roy Marsh - Tuxedo Junction
Andy Weavley - Kansas City
("Andy Weavley is on the way back to his bass, and Ted Warburton on the double (bass) is on the way back to his saxophone.")
Winstone Orchestra - If I Had You

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