Pick of the Pops
| Genre | Music, Talk |
|---|---|
| Running time | 2 hours |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language(s) | English |
| Home station |
BBC Light Programme (1955–1967) BBC Radio 1 (1967–1972, 1989–1992) Capital Radio (1982–1988) Capital Gold (1994–1997) BBC Radio 2 (1997 onwards) |
| Hosted by | Paul Gambaccini |
| Produced by | Phil Swern |
| Narrated by | Paul Gambaccini |
| Recording studio | Wogan House, London |
| Air dates | since 1955 |
| Audio format | 88–91 FM, DAB digital radio, TV and online |
| Opening theme | At The Sign of The Swinging Cymbal by Brass Incorporated |
| Website | [1] |
Pick of the Pops is a BBC Radio programme, originally based on the Top 20 UK singles chart and first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1955. It transferred to BBC Radio 1 (simulcast on BBC Radio 2) from 1967. Its last edition in its original format was on 24 September 1972.
Initially the show did not feature the charts, but in September 1957 Alan Dell introduced the format of running through the charts of the week, playing the top tens from various music papers plus entries to top 20s. This was around 11 pm on Sundays.
David Jacobs brought the first averaged BBC Top 20 to the helm on 29 March 1958 (on a Saturday). Alan Freeman took over in September 1961, but finally took the show to a regular Sunday slot at 4 pm on 7 January 1962. The show moved to 4.30 pm on 27 August 1967. When Radio One began, the show moved to the 5–7 pm slot on 1 October 1967, until its demise on 24 September 1972. The Top 20 continued to be broadcast at 6pm on Sunday as part of "Solid Gold Sixty", a three-hour programme presented by Tom Browne. From March 1974, the Top 20 was broadcast as a stand-alone programme from 6pm.
Freeman, who presented the longest and whose name is probably most closely associated with Pick of the Pops, had been a radio announcer in Melbourne, Australia. Freeman arrived in Britain in 1957 and joined the Light Programme in 1961 to present Records Around Five. That same year he replaced David Jacobs for Pick of the Pops, which was then part of a Saturday-evening programme called Trad Tavern, after traditional jazz which had a following at the time. Pick of the Pops became a separate programme in January 1962, broadcast late on Sunday afternoons. It was produced by Derek Chinnery.
Denys Jones (producer 1961–72) and Freeman split the programme into four: chart newcomers, new releases, LPs and the Top 10. (By the time Radio One started in 1967, the Top 20 was played in full.)
The programme attracted a large audience as the BBC had restrictions on "needle time" and could play relatively few commercially available recordings each week.
Freeman continued with the show when it moved to Radio 1 and stayed until the programme ended in September 1972.
Freeman revived Pick of the Pops on the local London station, Capital Radio, from 1982 to the end of 1988 as Pick of the Pops – Take Two, combining the new chart (Top 15s compiled successively by Record Business, the NME and MRIB) with a chart from the past. In 1989, Freeman returned to Radio 1 on Sunday lunchtimes, where the show featured three past charts each week, and was produced by Phil Swern from 1989–March 1992 and for the rest of 1992 by Sue Foster. Freeman's final programme, at the end of 1992, stated that he would never present it again, and signed off with the Beatles' "The End".
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