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ARTICLE
I’m armed with my A4 lined notepad and four-colour retractable Bic pen (remember those?). For each track Tommy announces, I write down the chart position (black) and the artist and title (blue). I also add an icon at the side in either red or yellow, depending on whether the song has moved up or down, or is a non-mover or new entry.
Back then this was my weekly ritual. And as well as the Bic pen, I also had a pencil that I used to edit the chart I was recording on a C90 tape cassette. In those days Radio 1 broadcast on medium wave (MW) and the quality was acceptable but not great. It would be another 10 years before I could enjoy the charts in glorious FM quality.
This ritual continued through the 1980s before I finally stopped plotting the charts in the mid-90s. Over those years the chart was counted down by Simon Bates (who took over briefly when Tommy Vance stepped down), Richard Skinner, Bruno Brookes and Mark Goodier. Of course, each host brought their own magic touch to the chart show.
Tommy Vance – what a voice! – hosted the show in a stern, regimented style. Richard Skinner was light and airy in his delivery. But it was Brookes and Goodier who I associate most with the Radio 1 chart show.
Bruno Brookes was the pin-up boy of Radio 1, alongside Gary Davies, and his presentation was always on-point and enhanced by those wonderful jingles he would fire-in to perfection.
Mark Goodier took over the show in 1990 and during his two spells as host amassed over seven years in the seat and remains the longest-serving presenter to host the show. For me, he will always be the voice of the Radio 1 chart show. His faultless presentation was a joy to the ear and for a generation he was ‘the voice of the charts’. Super-slick in his delivery, he didn’t deviate from that during his whole time as the chart show host – even when other radio stations started broadcasting a top 40 countdown using a zoo-format to attract a younger audience (more on that later).
The early days of plotting the charts was for fun, but when I formed my mobile disco in 1985 it became a vital tool that helped me fill the gaps in my collection when new entries came along each week. Any records I couldn’t afford to buy were replaced by my crackly, distorted, medium-wave recordings on cheap tape cassettes bought from the local market.
I’m not proud of doing that, but when you’re 14 years old you view the world in a different way – needs must! When my disco bookings picked up, I was able to buy more records and ditch the tape cassettes. This was a step forward for me as a DJ, not to mention a huge bonus to my audiences and their ears!
The charts were hugely influential on the music I purchased for my DJ work, especially during the 80s when I would only buy and play tracks from the Top 40. It wasn’t until the 90s that I started receiving new releases and advance promos. But even though I had them in my collection, I would rarely play them. I was performing mainstream events and my audiences were only interested in the tracks they’d heard on the likes of BBC Radio 1 and Top of the Pops.
I housed the entire UK Top 40 in white card sleeves with the numbers 1-40 in the top right corner. This ensured I had every track, and I would move them to their respective sleeve number depending on that week’s chart. This was a practice I soon stopped after noticing that the card sleeves may have looked good, but they scratched my records in a way only a scouring pad could match.
The ritual of listening to the charts and buying records made things very interesting for the UK Top 40. If you wanted to hear a song, you waited patiently for the radio to play it or went out and bought it. There was no internet. No Spotify. No digital platforms on which to seek out and listen to your favourite songs. If you ever bought Smash Hits or Number One magazine in the 80s, I’m sure many of you remember the adverts giving you the option to listen to songs down the phone – can you imagine that these days?!
Record sales alone influenced the charts and made things very interesting when the chart countdown came around on a Sunday afternoon. It was exciting to hear the host present the countdown because there was always a healthy balance of climbers, fallers and new entries and it was the latter that I was mainly interested in for my DJ work.
Record sales were strong in the 80s and early-90s and radio and TV exposure often...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
You’ll also get full interactive access to this and the last year of magazines via the Pro Mobile Magazine App which is available from both the Apple App Store and Android PlayStore
Back then this was my weekly ritual. And as well as the Bic pen, I also had a pencil that I used to edit the chart I was recording on a C90 tape cassette. In those days Radio 1 broadcast on medium wave (MW) and the quality was acceptable but not great. It would be another 10 years before I could enjoy the charts in glorious FM quality.
This ritual continued through the 1980s before I finally stopped plotting the charts in the mid-90s. Over those years the chart was counted down by Simon Bates (who took over briefly when Tommy Vance stepped down), Richard Skinner, Bruno Brookes and Mark Goodier. Of course, each host brought their own magic touch to the chart show.
Tommy Vance – what a voice! – hosted the show in a stern, regimented style. Richard Skinner was light and airy in his delivery. But it was Brookes and Goodier who I associate most with the Radio 1 chart show.
Bruno Brookes was the pin-up boy of Radio 1, alongside Gary Davies, and his presentation was always on-point and enhanced by those wonderful jingles he would fire-in to perfection.
Mark Goodier took over the show in 1990 and during his two spells as host amassed over seven years in the seat and remains the longest-serving presenter to host the show. For me, he will always be the voice of the Radio 1 chart show. His faultless presentation was a joy to the ear and for a generation he was ‘the voice of the charts’. Super-slick in his delivery, he didn’t deviate from that during his whole time as the chart show host – even when other radio stations started broadcasting a top 40 countdown using a zoo-format to attract a younger audience (more on that later).
The early days of plotting the charts was for fun, but when I formed my mobile disco in 1985 it became a vital tool that helped me fill the gaps in my collection when new entries came along each week. Any records I couldn’t afford to buy were replaced by my crackly, distorted, medium-wave recordings on cheap tape cassettes bought from the local market.
I’m not proud of doing that, but when you’re 14 years old you view the world in a different way – needs must! When my disco bookings picked up, I was able to buy more records and ditch the tape cassettes. This was a step forward for me as a DJ, not to mention a huge bonus to my audiences and their ears!
The charts were hugely influential on the music I purchased for my DJ work, especially during the 80s when I would only buy and play tracks from the Top 40. It wasn’t until the 90s that I started receiving new releases and advance promos. But even though I had them in my collection, I would rarely play them. I was performing mainstream events and my audiences were only interested in the tracks they’d heard on the likes of BBC Radio 1 and Top of the Pops.
I housed the entire UK Top 40 in white card sleeves with the numbers 1-40 in the top right corner. This ensured I had every track, and I would move them to their respective sleeve number depending on that week’s chart. This was a practice I soon stopped after noticing that the card sleeves may have looked good, but they scratched my records in a way only a scouring pad could match.
The ritual of listening to the charts and buying records made things very interesting for the UK Top 40. If you wanted to hear a song, you waited patiently for the radio to play it or went out and bought it. There was no internet. No Spotify. No digital platforms on which to seek out and listen to your favourite songs. If you ever bought Smash Hits or Number One magazine in the 80s, I’m sure many of you remember the adverts giving you the option to listen to songs down the phone – can you imagine that these days?!
Record sales alone influenced the charts and made things very interesting when the chart countdown came around on a Sunday afternoon. It was exciting to hear the host present the countdown because there was always a healthy balance of climbers, fallers and new entries and it was the latter that I was mainly interested in for my DJ work.
Record sales were strong in the 80s and early-90s and radio and TV exposure often...
To read the full article, you’ll need to have a physical copy of the magazine which you can sign up for here for 6 issues delivered to your door from just £16!
https://store.promobile.online/products/pro-mobile-magazine-6-issue-1-year-subscription
You’ll also get full interactive access to this and the last year of magazines via the Pro Mobile Magazine App which is available from both the Apple App Store and Android PlayStore
The full review can be found in Pro Mobile Issue 119, Pages 64-68.
