Saturday Club (BBC Radio)

Saturday Club was an influential BBC Radio programme in Britain, broadcast on the Light Programme and later Radio 1 between 1957 and 1969. It was one of the earliest – and for several years almost the only – radio programme in the country to broadcast pop music. For most of its history it was presented by Brian Matthew.

The programme began after a suggestion by producer Jimmy Grant. He initially proposed a modest series called Skiffle Session, featuring two or three singers with a skiffle group. At first, BBC management was unsure that there should be a radio show specifically for teenagers, but auditions were held for musicians including Chas McDevitt, and a weekly programme was agreed. As Saturday Skiffle Club, it was first broadcast on 1 June 1957. It had a budget of £55 per week, and newsreader Brian Matthew as announcer. Cliff Richard failed an audition for the programme and was not used, but early regular performers included McDevitt, the Vipers Skiffle Group, Johnny Duncan and his Bluegrass Boys, and George Melly and his Bubbling Over Four. The budget was increased on occasions when Lonnie Donegan, the top skiffle star of the time, performed. Although the experimental programme was successful, management was concerned about the high proportion of American songs performed, and also about the use of songs with religious themes.

In October 1958, the programme was extended to two hours, from 10 am to 12 noon on Saturday mornings. The word "skiffle" was dropped from the title, its budget was increased, and a wider range of performers began to appear. These included Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Chris Barber, Humphrey Lyttelton, Marty Wilde, Terry Dene, Vince Taylor, Johnny Kidd, Michael Holliday, Bert Weedon and Clinton Ford. Brian Matthew relaxed his style, and often started the show saying "Hello my ole mateys." The show consisted mainly of pre-recorded "live" performances, because of "needle time" restrictions on the number of records that could be played by the BBC. Most programmes had four live acts and only contained around six record requests and three new releases. The theme music was "Saturday Jump", which was written by Jimmy Grant (under his pseudonym of Eddie James) and performed by Ted Heath.

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