The Old Grey Whistle Test

The Old Grey Whistle Test
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Created by	Rowan Ayers
Presented by	Richard Williams, Ian Whitcomb, Bob Harris, Anne Nightingale, Andy Kershaw, David Hepworth, Mark Ellen, Richard Skinner and Ro Newton
Country of origin	United Kingdom
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mike Appleton
Release
Original network	BBC2
Original release	21 September 1971 – 1 January 1988

The Old Grey Whistle Test (usually abbreviated to Whistle Test or OGWT) was a British television music show.

It was commissioned by David Attenborough and aired on BBC2 from 1971 to 1988. It took over the BBC2 late night slot from Disco 2, which ran between September 1970 and July 1971, while continuing to feature non-chart music. The show was devised by BBC producer Rowan Ayers. The original producer, involved in an executive capacity throughout the show's entire history, was Michael Appleton. According to presenter Bob Harris, the programme derived its name from a Tin Pan Alley phrase from years before. When they got the first pressing of a record they would play it to people they called the old greys - doormen in grey suits. Any song they could remember and whistle, having heard it just once or twice, had passed the old grey whistle test.

The show's focus on "serious" rock music, rather than chart hits covered on BBC1 by Top of the Pops, was emphasised by a lack of showbiz glitter: bands would often perform their songs in front of either the bare studio walls or plain wooden boards (actually the backs of set walls from other programmes filmed in the same studio). As with many BBC productions, this was (initially at least) as much a matter of money as of style; other late night shows of the time, having only 'minority' appeal, also had to be content with spartan sets. Another factor was that the programme was originally produced in a studio at BBC Television Centre in west London known as "Pres B", which had been originally designed for shooting little more than in-vision continuity. The studio was only 32 by 22 feet (10 m × 7 m) which left little room for a set once the cameras and band were in.

The original opening credits were played over a naked dancing woman painted in green to Santana's Jingo. When Richard Williams was replaced by 'Whispering' Bob Harris, the series' opening titles theme was changed to the now more famous animation of a male figure made up of stars (known as the 'Star Kicker') dancing. The programme's title music, with its harmonica theme, was a track called "Stone Fox Chase" by a Nashville band, Area Code 615.

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