Thanks to lottery players and the Manchester Libraries Trust, we’ll be spending next year digitising and doing fun stuff with the archives of Piccadilly Radio, Manchester’s first independent radio station. Here are a few Christmas gems from the collection…
We start with ornithologist John Gooders on the birds you might see on a Christmas walk.
From the sublime to the ridiculous (not an unusual Piccadilly Radio transition!) our next clip finds sports reporter Brian Beech and features reporter Juliet Blake in the lingerie department at Kendal’s on Deansgate at Christmas in 1979. They are interviewing staff about the confused men trying to buy knickers and bras years before Father Ted faced the same fate. This one was super-sticky so it sound a bit weird.
1974’s Top Twenty radio drama series took Slade’s Merry Christmas Everybody as a jumping-off point for a kitchen sink drama about a family argument over a miner who could only afford to buy his son a second-hand bike. The grandfather blames his grandson’s disappointment on his son’s support for the union’s overtime ban.
In this clip, the Salford Jets (including Piccadilly’s very own Mike Sweeney) are interviewed at the Duke of Wellington about the difficulties of playing Christmas gigs.
The 1980 Piccadilly Radio Quiz of the Year brought together Franklin James, Susie Mathis, Venn Tracey, Bob Williamson and host Tom Tyrrell at the Stretford Trades & Labour Club for a topical quiz with Frank Laird supporting on the organ.
You can listen to over 100 Piccadilly Radio shows on the Sound + Vision pods at Manchester Central Library. If all goes to plan, this time next year you’ll be able to listen to around 2,000. Wishing you a peaceful holiday and a very Piccadilly new year!
Audio copyright Bauer Media, all rights reserved.