26th August. Not 'alf.
Posted by: ChrisR_EPL on 26 August 2018
Having a coffee in town, the phone lit up with a message and there across the now active screen was the date - August 26th. Sounds familiar I thought, and it is.
Saturday August 26th 1978, Alan Freeman's final Saturday Rock Show on Radio 1 ['and in stereo on VHF'], a majestic bombastic celebration of the giants on album, requested by you the music lovers.
The 2 x cassettes of that show were a fixture in my next three cars till I lost them, until old Fluff died a few years ago and I managed to source another copy by tortuous means. But they educated me musically in a way that no other show or exposure to music has since. John Martin, Sandy Denny, Dylan, Bill Nelson, Lone Star, BBC Sessions produced by Jeff Griffin; Smetna, Elgar, Sibelius. All starting points for ever more tangential journeys that still go on today through Tidal and lucky cd finds in charity shops.
Dear old Fluff, what a presenter. Thanks. 40 years since The Saturday Show finished. Blimey.
*the follow-up late night R1 shows in the late 80s on don't count. 73-78 was the one.