Sunday 13/05/2012

By Mike Wallbank, 13-May-2012 14:00:00

Could Have Told You So (Halo James)
Heaven Must Have Sent You (The Elgins)
If She Knew What She Wants (The Bangles)
Cheery Tunes with a sing-a-long quality
(I Don't Know Why) But I Do (Clarence 'Frogman' Henry)
Red Balloon (Callow La Vita) (Raymond Froggatt)
... 'th'original version of the song which was a big '60s hit
for the Dave Clark Five
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You Are My Love (Liverpool Express)
Free Ride (Edgar Winter Group)
... '70s turntable hit - their only UK chart success was
the classic rock instrumental Frankenstein
Newsround Tameside ~ 26 years ago: May 1986
Bad Boy (Miami Sound Machine)
Your Latest Trick (Dire Straits)
Marlene On The Wall (Suzanne Vega)
Spirit In The Sky (Doctor & The Medics)
Just Say No (Grange Hill Cast)
The Greatest Love Of All (Whitney Houston)
-----------------------------
The Captain of Your Ship (Reparata & The Delrons)
I'll Never Find Another You (The Seekers)
Could It Be I'm Falling In Love (The Detroit Spinners)
Cheery Tunes ~ Absolutely Lyricless
... with the exception of one spoken word - the title of the track,
in each case - but both still qualifying as instrumentals -
from the early '60s and late '50s respectively
Wipeout (The Surfaris)
Tequila (The Champs)
-----------------------------
Life (Des'ree)
Flying High (Morgan)
Reflections ~ 39 years ago: May 1973
One And One Is One (Medicine Head)
Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole Oak Tree (Dawn)
... or to be precise, Dawn featuring Tony Orlando,
with the year's top-selling single in the UK and US
Giving It All Away (Roger Daltrey)
Broken Down Angel (Nazareth)
And I Love You So (Perry Como)
Good Grief Christina (Chicory Tip)
-----------------------------
SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)

Read more...
Sunday 06/05/2012

By Mike Wallbank, 06-May-2012 14:00:00

Walking In Rhythm (The Blackbyrds)
Elenore (The Turtles)
Young At Heart (The Bluebells)
... '80s Top 10-er which made it to No.1
when reissued in the first of our featured years
Cheery Tunes with a sing-a-long quality
Delaware (Perry Como)
.. from 1960, a roll-call of US cities, packed with with every possible
play on words imaginable, set to a marching beat
Pickin' A Chicken (Eve Boswell)
... going back even further - way back to the mid '50s
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Breakaway (Gallagher & Lyle)
Together We Are Beautiful (Fern Kinney)
Newsround Tameside ~ 19 years ago: Spring 1993
Who Do You Think You Are? (Saint Etienne)
Is It Like Today (World Party)
Cats In The Cradle (Ugly Kid Joe)
These Are The Days Of Our Lives (Queen with George Michael & Lisa Stansfield)
I Can't Help Falling In Love With You (UB40)
Express (Dina Carroll)
-----------------------------
Ding-A-Dong (Teach-In)
... Eurovision winner for the Netherlands in '75 - our entry
that year was Let Me The One - a rare vocal outing for
The Shadows, which finished second
(You're) The Voice (John Farnham)
Another Saturday Night (Sam Cooke)
Cheery Tunes ~ Absolutely Lyricless
... today's instrumentals are, or have been
radio station theme tunes:
Theme One (Cozy Powell)
... late '70s version of the epic piece of music composed
by George Martin for the opening of BBC Radio 1
in September 1967
Cinco de Mayo (Herb Alpert)
... B side of the '60s hit Spanish Flea, theme tune of
Radio Starlion, the hospital radio service for the
patients of Stepping Hill Hospital, Stockport,
which celebrates 35 years on air later this month
-----------------------------
Pilot of The Airwaves (Charlie Dore)
Our Lips Are Sealed (Fun Boy Three)
Reflections ~ 49 years ago: May 1963
Do You Want To Know A Secret? (Billy J Kramer & The Dakotas)
From Me To You (The Beatles)
Say I Won't Be There (The Springfields)
The Folk Singer (Tommy Roe)
He's So Fine (The Chiffons)
When Will You Say I Love You (Billy Fury)
Let's Turkey Trot (Little Eva)
Lucky Lips (Cliff Richard & The Shadows)
-----------------------------
SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti

Read more...
Sunday 29/04/2012

By Mike Wallbank, 29-Apr-2012 14:00:00

Wedding Bells (Godley and Creme)
Wherewithal (Clifford T Ward)
Shiny Happy People (REM)
Cheery Tunes with a sing-a-long quality
... from the early '60s but with '70s Osmonds connections
I'm Gonna Knock On Your Door (Eddie Hodges)
... covered by Little Jimmy in '74
Why (Anthony Newley)
... Donny's version from '72 was his third solo hit
-----------------------------
Right By Your Side (Eurythmics)
Swing Low Sweet Chariot (Eric Clapton)
Newsround Tameside ~ 21 years ago: Spring 1991
Sit Down (James)
Promise Me (Beverley Craven)
Long Train Running (Bananarama)
The Whole Of The Moon (The Waterboys)
... first made the Top 30 in '85, but a much bigger hit
second time around
The Shoop Shoop Song [It's In His Kiss] (Cher)
Get The Message (Electronic)
-----------------------------
Girl Don't Come (Sandie Shaw)
This House Is Where Your Love Stands (Big Sound Authority)
... championed by Paul Weller - but this northern soul-like
toe-tapper was their only hit ('85)
It Don't Come Easy (Ringo Starr)
Cheery Tunes ~ Absolutely Lyricless
... today's instrumentals are classic '60s
TV themes which were also Top 10 hits
Hit Or Miss (John Barry Seven)
... the theme from Juke Box Jury
Theme from Z Cars (Johnny Keating)
-----------------------------
It's My Party (Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin)
Yesterday Man (Chris Andrews)
Reflections ~ 41 years ago: Spring 1971
Rosetta (Fame and Price Together)
Malt And Barley Blues (McGuiness Flint)
I'm Gonna Run Away From You (Tami Lynn)
My Brother Jake (Free)
Double Barrel (Dave and Ansil Collins)
Knock Three Times (Dawn)
If Not For You (Olivia Newton-John)
Funny Funny (The Sweet)
-----------------------------
SHOW THEME:
Rhapsody In Blue (Rick Wakeman)
from the album Rhapsodies (A&M Records, 1979)
written by George Gershwin, arranged by Tony Visconti

Read more...

Peep into the past - spanning the decades...
posing at primary school, modelling the latest
hip and trendy eyewear in the late '60s...
fast forward to the summer of '75 with
Bay City Rollers' hair... and onwards
into the '80s with HUGE saucer-sized specs. newsreading and presenting shows on
Heartbeat Radio (later known as 8 Towns Radio)
at Tameside Hospital

Music played... complete track listing

Vintage Newsround Tameside

The Newsround Tameside archive is a regular feature of The Show That Forgot - carefully preserved from 'a previous life' long ago...
The original Newsround Tameside was a weekly feature on the local hospital radio station -sadly now defunct - which broadcast to the patients and staff at Tameside General Hospital. The station was officially launched in 1983 as Heartbeat Radio, but later adopted the name 8 Towns Radio.
I am proud to say that I was there at the start, training a team of volunteers to compile and read the hourly news bulletins. I read the news on the station's very first day on air, Saturday 22 October 1983.
That same weekend, I presented the first edition of Newsround Tameside, compiled from the week's local papers. The 15-minute round-up evolved into a feature within my own weekly show which ran for 10 years, from February 1984 until early 1994.

Is that REALLY Rolf Harris...?

'G'day... you're tuned to
Microphone Wallbank'....
an instantly familiar voice
makes the announcement
during our back-to-back music
interludes known as
the Cheery Tunes.
And yes, it really IS the voice
of Rolf Harris himself,
recorded way back in 1986!
I was delighted to have the
opportunity to interview Rolf backstage at G-Mex
in Manchester, during a break in rehearsals at the Halle Summer Proms - he was the narrator for a performance of Peter and The Wolf.
At the time, he was presenting Rolf's Cartoon Time on TV and had just published a book on cartoon drawing, on which he scribbled his autograph in typical style!
A genuinely nice guy - I found that the man as seen on TV is exactly what you get when you meet him in real life.
Our conversation, first broadcast on 8 Towns Radio, for the patients of Tameside General Hospital, included many great memories of Rolf's early career and an impromptu rendition of the first song he ever performed - complete with customary, improvised sound effects and the unforgettable title...

Seven Beers With The Wrong Woman !!!