Radio WM Christmas Show 1986

1986 Radio WM Christmas Show Alex Theatre PS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From from Pete Simpkin, no reproduction without permission.

This photo is of the Radio WM Christmas Show from 1986, at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham. The show was a unique shared show with Regional TV who also recorded it.

Included in the photo, left to right are: Roy Wood, Steve Woodhall, Maggy Whitehouse, Gyn Freeman, Mary Lloyd, Ed Doolan, Malc Stent, Kay Alexander, David Stevens, ?, Maggie Nelson, Soraya Patrick, Pete Simpkin, John Love, ?.

Thanks to Pete Simpkin for sharing the photo, and adding the information.

Good Morning in Berlin

Copyright Sue Robinson, no reproduction without permission.

‘Good Morning with Anne and Nick’ did a live outside broadcast from Berlin, to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall in Nov 1994.  The show was transmitted from the Radisson Hotel in Berlin.  The presenters included Anne Diamond, Nick Owen, Will Hanrahan, Tania Bryer, and Jeni Barnett.

The photos include: Sue Robinson, Sangeeta Modha, Katie Wright, Will Hanrahan, Nick Owen, Nick Thorogood, Marco, Steve Pierson.

The furniture for the broadcast was delivered to the hotel – but it was flat-packed, which meant that the first job was to literally build the set!

 

The following comments were left on the Pebble Mill Facebook Group:

Conal O’Donnell: ‘The Doolan programme did a show out of the former GDR studios in Liepzig a year after the wall came down .Strangely we still had a sort of old style communist minder with us who got terribly drunk over dinner & talked endlessly about the ghastliness of the fallen regime. Ashen faced & hung over the next morning he approached in tears begging us not to repeat anything he’d said the night before “it could ruin my career”(!)It was apparent that the old cultural cringe at saying anything remotely controversial was very much still there.Impressed too at our free wheeling ” anything goes” broadcasting style were the former GDR broadcasters who watched the show go out in some awe.A pleasant reminder of a time when the BBC was regarded as a free speech beacon to the world not a Saville style cess pit..’

Katie Wright (now Cooper): ‘God…memories! Yes it was the 5th Anniversary. The furniture arriving ‘flat’ was unbelievable but in the way of Pebble Mill folk, everyone just got on with building the stuff. I’m amazed it lasted the two hours…there were a lot of bits left over?! It was a great show with some very moving memories from Andrew Sachs. Then we all had to pile onto a rather ancient chartered aircraft to get back in time for the next day’s show……’

Ed Doolan – Radio WM photo card

Ed Doolan

Copyright resides with the original holder, no reproduction without permission.

Thanks to Stuart Gandy for making this Radio WM photo card of Ed Doolan available.

Ed Doolan was born in Sydney, Australia, and spent ten years working as a school teacher, before taking up broadcasting, originally in German.  He started with Radio WM at BBC Pebble Mill in 1982, and began his consumer show in 1988.  He was awarded an MBE in 1998, and was the first person to be awarded Honorary Degrees by Birmingham City University, University of Birmingham and Aston University!

Andrew Langstone makes the following comment about working for Radio WM:

“I did some stints of work experience during university vacations with BBC Radio WM (as it was then) assisting on the mid-morning ‘206 Team’ with Gyn Freeman and Stuart Roper. Production team was Phil Horner, and Bill Morris who went on to big things at Broadcasting House in London – I think he’s now left the BBC and is involved in the opening of The Olympics next year. The 206 team shared an office with Ed and also Malc and Rosie of ‘The Barmaids Arms’! Happy memories indeed!”

Tim Manning makes the following comment:

“I was Ed’s first producer when he joined BBC Radio WM from BRMB. It was an important and slightly nervous moment for the then senior management (Manager John Pickles and Programme Organiser Jeremy Robinson) as it was important both for the future of the re-launched station and morale that Ed’s show worked. Some longer-term members of staff weren’t entirely comfortable about his high-profile arrival from commercial radio and the new emphasis on personalities. Ed was nervous too, as moving was a risk for him and he needed to convince an audience which wasn’t just Birmingham, but we spent a few weeks before he went live settling ourselves in and recording some shows, and when he did hit the airwaves, we had a great time. I moved on to very different things, but the years have since proved that Radio WM turned out to be the perfect home for Ed.”

Pebble Mill Open Day – brochure from Stuart Gandy

Copyright resides with the original holder. No reproduction without permission.

This brochure was produced for a Pebble Mill Open Day, probably from the late 1980s or 1990.  The building would open its doors to the public, and showcase the productions made there.  Live studio shows would be staged throughout the day, and in fact proved a great training opportunity for staff to try out new skills like multi camera directing.

Thanks to Stuart Gandy for keeping this brochure safe over the years, and for making it available – and it’s been signed by Ed Doolan!