Rock Goes to College
| Rock Goes To College | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | John Burrowes |
| Presented by | Pete Drummond |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| No. of series | 4 |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Michael Appleton |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC2 |
| Original release | 22 September 1978 – 19 March 1981 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | Jazz Goes to College |
Rock Goes to College (RGTC) was a BBC series that ran between 1978 and 1981 on British television. A variety of up-coming rock oriented bands were showcased live from small venues and broadcast simultaneously on television and radio during a 40-50 minute live performance.
It was a follow-on to the mid-1960s BBC series Jazz Goes to College.
The venues were small university, polytechnic or college halls holding a few thousand people; often tickets were given to the Students' Union to distribute for free. The bands chosen were also, in some cases, bands which did not have a mainstream following at that time although many went on to be very successful.
A BBC DJ would also be present to introduce the band for the television audience.
The original broadcasts were transmitted on television as well as Sight and Sound in Concert; a BBC initiative to provide simultaneous pictures on BBC2 and stereo radio broadcasts on BBC Radio 1, as stereo television broadcasts and receivers did not exist at the time. It allowed rock enthusiasts to enjoy the event with an improved sound quality.
Original recordings of at least some of the Rock Goes to College series still exist and some legal releases have been made available, on DVD or CD, either as the concert in its entirety or as part of a compilation. UK Gold has re-broadcast some of the programmes (in stereo on television) in 2006 as has BBC Four and UK Arena in the late 1990s.
In some cases, the radio broadcasts contained additional songs to those broadcast via the television including pre-broadcast/warm-up tracks.
Many performances have been bootlegged from the original tapes or from public television/radio broadcasts. All references to availability on DVD here refers to legally produced and sold articles.
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Wikipedia