Tag: Radio WM

8 Years since Radio WM left Pebble Mill

Pebble Mill just before WM signed off from the building. From Andy Walters

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a Facebook conversation commemorating the departure of Radio WM from the Pebble Mill building, eight years ago.

Andy Walters: Happy 8th Anniversary of BBC WMs first broadcast from The Mailbox. Has it really been that long since we left Pebble Mill?

Brian Christopher Winter: I remember back in 2000 and 2001 about all the talk of the proposed move out of Pebble Mill. Time has flown by.

Andy Walters: I was told on my first day of work there in 2001 that they were looking at an imminent move which it turns out was over three years away. We were talking about Pebble Mill over the weekend. You couldn’t believe these days that WM had a smoking room opposite the studios at the mill! Other defunct things like a Gram Library with shelves piled high. Lines of tape machines and cart triple stacks and the lovely old BBC Designs Dept. Mk 3 desks.’

Nik Andrews: ‘I wonder if in years to come some young BBC engineer will be lamenting over the current systems used.’

Pete Simpkin: ‘Andy re the smoking at PM, just after the no smokng ban was introduced at the Mill I was the Afternoon Presenter on duty when I had to interview live a certain Peer of the Realm, as he sat down in the studio he took out a ciggy and was preparing to light it when I pointed out the new No smoking sign, he looked at me wih a ‘yes but that doesn’t mean ME does it’ and I was just about to send for managerial reinforcements when the on air disk ran out and I had to do the interview without the pre-chat. He was most unco-operative with his answers and at the end as I started to say ‘Thank you for coming in…’ he was already out of the door and runing down the corridor!’

Andy Walters: ‘I think something similar happened (and this was in the early 2000’s) with Julie Goodyear who couldn’t bear to be without a ciggy for more than a few minutes. Did nothing for Ed’s respiratory problems either.’

Gordon Astley and Children in Need

Photo from Marie Phillips, no reproduction without permission.

The photo dates from May 1993, and shows Radio WM presenter, Gordon Astley, presenting a ‘Children in Need’ cheque for the ‘Allen’s Croft Project’, right outside the front of the Pebble Mill building.

WM Frisbee – Pete Simpkin


Photo by Pete Simpkin, no reproduction without permission.

I found this frisbee in my shed recently, probably issued from Pebble Mill in the 80s, but I just can’t remember why.

Presenter Gordon Astley added the following comment on Facebook:’..radio stations should hang their heads in shame at the money wasted on giveaways..car stickers etc. never added just one listener.’

Pete replied: ‘You are right Gordon…….Stations added listeners by being out there among them, where are the great OBs that used to be mounted at Shopping Centres etc? Everything’s hidden away in bunker type studios now!’

Recording The Archers FX on a Mellotron

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Gordon Astley worked on ‘The Archers’ in the 1960s, at the BBC studio in Broad Street, Birmingham, and remembers using one of the first Mellotrons to play in the sound effects.   Apparently John Lennon had the other Mellotron which was used on ‘Strawberry Fields’.

The Mellotron looked like an electronic keyboard – it was an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard, which was developed and made in Birmingham.  It was the first sample playback keyboard for music.  Each key allowed the playing in of pre-recorded sounds.  The Mellotron had a major impact on the rock music of the 1970s.

Gordon Astley went on to present on the final series of Tiswas in 1982, and on various local radio stations, including Radio WM.

Peter Poole remembers that the Mellotron was in the Dubbing Theatre at Pebble Mill in 1976. By then it was very unreliable and little used.

Martin from Streetly Electronics, who knows about Mellotrons has added the following information: ‘The mellotron used by the BBC was one of approx. 60 SFX versions of the instrument that were loaded with 1260 sound effects from the BBC library. Hissy owls and scratchy gunfire were the trademarks but in the mid 60s it was a miracle machine for dubbing to radio and tv productions including live broadcasts. John Lennon’s instrument can be seen on our website – mellotronics.com.’

 

Radio WM diaries – Pete Simpkin

Another of those unusual artefacts from days at the Mill. These diaries were sold to the public and used as gifts over several years.  We actually had a studio/shop at 80 New Street for a while where people could ‘walk in and talk ‘ on air, and buy goodies as well!

Pete Simpkin