For
the first seventy years
of its existence, the BBC
regularly featured
keyboard soloists in
their own programmes -
pianists, organists and
accordionists all
contributed to the rich
fabric of programmes that
constituted the old
'Light Programme' which
became 'Radio Two' in
1967.
This
was really a turning
point in broadcasting as
personality fronted
programmes of pop music
interspersed with
celebrity interviews
began to replace studio
broadcasts by light
orchestras, dance bands
and, in fact, much of the
'live' output.
Pianists
had been used to fill the
odd fifteen minute
periods of airtime since
the earliest days of
broadcasting and from the
fifties onwards, these
broadcasts often went
under the title 'Piano
Playtime' (sometimes
several in a week) and
they consisted of light
or popular music
performed by one of the
countless pianists who
were household names in
their day - some of them
bandleaders such as Felix
King,
Jack
Nathan,
George
Scott-Wood,
Ian
Stewart
and Cecil
Norman.
A
full list of performers
would be exhaustive but
names such as Steve Race,
Ronnie Aldrich, Sidney
Bright, Alan Clare,
Johnny Pearson would
often appear.
The
programmes would usually
be introduced by a
continuity announcer -
although one or two of
the more articulate
pianists such as Ian
Stewart and Felix King
would sometimes be
allowed to do their own
presentation.
In
later years most of these
keyboard interludes would
be entitled 'At the
Piano'.
Sadly
such programmes ceased to
be broadcast in the
mid-nineties and pianists
on radio seem to be a
thing of the past.
Listen
to 'At the Piano -
William Davies'
as broadcast in 1985
Listen
to Piano Playtime played
by Cecil Norman
as broadcast on the BBC
Light Programme at
11.15am on 31st July
1953.
|