BBC Radio 1 & 2 - David Hamilton Show - 1977
From 1975 to 1977, DJ "Diddy" David Hamilton enjoyed a massive audience with his Radio 1 afternoon show (which had begun in 1973) also simulcast on Radio 2.
This was the sound of music radio across the UK's factories, offices, shops and homes and a welcome daytime opportunity to catch a Radio 1 show on FM. It was also the perfect vehicle for demonstrating that brand new Ferguson stereo music centre in branches of Rumbelows and Comet throughout the land.
Regular features on the show included "The Tea-break" or "Tea at Three" where a listener would choose a collection of hits from the same artist to be played straight after the 3 o'clock news, "David's Daily Dolly" where a female listener would be nominated for a special mention (!), "Mystery Star Competition" with 3 clues given out during the course of the show and "David Hamilton's Hotshot" which was David's record of the week and spawned an LP of best-sellers sometime around 1976. As Radio 2's network included the 1500m long wave transmitter at that time, you would also hear the odd gale warning for shipping!
As you'll hear, by late 1977 the BBC had the budget to provide a separate programme on Radio 1 from Radio 2. David Hamilton moved to Radio 2 (initially keeping the same time-slot of 2 to 4.30pm), scheduled against his long-time friend, Tony Blackburn, on Radio 1.
The backing track you'll hear running under David for the Radio 1 clips is the Trammps "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart". Other backing tracks used from 1976 included Jesse Green's instrumental (B-side) version of "Nice 'n' Slow".
David's move to Radio 2 would also mean he came off the roster to host "Top of the Pops" on BBC 1. In fact, he'd actually hosted his final edition back in January of 1977, having appeared far more regularly during 1976.
This sequence of clips includes;
1) Sep 1977 - Radio 1: lead into the Tea at 3 - The Carpenters
2) Sep 21st 1977: Start of the show incl. mention of the forthcoming split of Radio 1 & 2's afternoon programmes
3) Oct/Nov 1977: David's last show on Radio 1, leading in to DLT's Drivetime picking up with his show at 4.30pm (poor quality taped off 247m medium wave)
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4) Nov/Dec 1977: David's first show on Radio 2. It would be some weeks before David got a proper Radio 2-style name-check jingle! In fact, to start with, the show sounded little different under the Radio 2 production team...
The following year (1978), I had the privilege of being able to go and meet David and watch his Radio 2 show go out live from Broadcasting House. He was as friendly and encouraging as I could have hoped for and helped foster a love of radio which would lead me into a 20-year broadcasting career... but that's another story!
For more David Hamilton clips from his days at Radio 1 and Radio 2, check out my playlist: • BBC Radio 1 - David Hamilton jingle - 1976
Thanks for watching - and listening! :)