15 July 1974

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  • July 22, 2008 at 7:44 pm #6517
    LenGroat

      It's been so long… that no one really bothers, and even I missed the date….

      but it was 34 years ago we launched Metro Radio (Metropolitan Broadcasting!) .. Don Dwyer from OZ.. and then I did the first 'Groat Market' at 9am …

      but of course it did not 'wake up and L I V E…' until September…. when the first PAMS package arrived..

      http://www.4shared.com/file/56191286/260494c9/Scatter.html

      THAT shook up the north east !!

      (from the Music's on Us Series 44 – original lyric 'W – ABCeee – the Most Music's on Us!)

      those were the 'Good old Days'…

      Len

      July 22, 2008 at 8:19 pm #60644
      IainJohnston
      Member

        Len – I've still got a tape of some of that Metro PAMS lying around somewhere – would you be OK if I post some/all of it as a montage? (and before Mr Barras beats me to it?!?!!!)

        July 22, 2008 at 10:38 pm #60648
        radio_bloke
        Member

          That “Scatter” cut was the jingle that got me hooked to this hobby all those years ago! would be great to hear some more

          July 22, 2008 at 10:42 pm #60649
          LenGroat


            ….of course!

            What a strange time that was… I had to 'cherry pick' what Radio 1 and 2 had not bought ~ but at EXACTLY the same time JAM was starting….

            I still think 'Sold Rock 1 & 2' were very under rated (much it Chris Kershaw's musical genius…) and of course Philly Story was just INCREDIBLE… and WWWE ……

            Len

            July 22, 2008 at 10:57 pm #60650
            radio_bloke
            Member

              Philly Story???????? that one must have past me by!!!

              July 22, 2008 at 11:17 pm #60652
              radio_bloke
              Member

                Ah…..look and you will find!!!!

                Not the same without…. “northeast nintey nine one bee bee” (grin)

                http://jinglemad.com/e107_files/public/1216768625_11954_FT63551_wfil_philadelphia_story-pams.mp3 filename:wfil_philadelphia_story-pams.mp3

                July 23, 2008 at 2:43 am #60654
                Barras

                  LenGroat wrote:
                  It's been so long… that no one really bothers, and even I missed the date….

                  but it was 34 years ago we launched Metro Radio (Metropolitan Broadcasting!) .. Don Dwyer from OZ.. and then I did the first 'Groat Market' at 9am …

                  but of course it did not 'wake up and L I V E…' until September…. when the first PAMS package arrived..

                  http://www.4shared.com/file/56191286/260494c9/Scatter.html

                  THAT shook up the north east !!

                  (from the Music's on Us Series 44 – original lyric 'W – ABCeee – the Most Music's on Us!)

                  those were the 'Good old Days'…

                  Len

                  Len,

                  I didn`t forget !

                  A couple of years ago there`s a post from me somewhere on Jingle Mad about the birth of Metro Radio in July and whether the Metro Radio of today would even mention any celebrations on-the-air……..of course, they didn`t.

                  Also a few years back, a friend of mine who I worked with at Suncity 103.4 was doing weekends at Metro Radio and I was in the Swan House building with him during the weekend before Metro`s birthday – I had taken some CDs of launch airchecks & jingles for the management at the time (hoping they might playout some of the old audio but no-one was interested) – when talking with some people there, they weren`t even aware that it was Metro`s birthday – I did try Len !

                  Sorry to bore regular readers of Jingle Mad as I have posted about the PAMS package several times, however, allow me to say again – that was the first package of jingles I dubbed at a radio station in the production room. I was in my teens at the time and still at school and it was such a thrill to be at Metro Radio in Swalwell, listening and recording jingles. Doubt he`ll be reading this but thanks to Tom Dodds (technical operator at Metro in the 1970s) for helping me record the Metro Radio jingles – recorded onto good ole fashioned cassette tape !

                  Can I give a plug to this excellent website about Metro Radio, here`s the history page…

                  http://www.northeastradio.co.uk/Metro_Radio_The_Station.html

                  Guess who donated all these presenter photgraphs…(me !)

                  http://www.northeastradio.co.uk/Metro_Radio_Presenters.html

                  PUBLISHER/EDITOR: Andy Fleming
                  CREDITS: Rod Lucas, John Foster, Mark Page, David Barras, Brian Lister, Craig Andrews, Brian Anderson, Les Gunn, Brian Clough, Steve Dinsdale, Philip Dack, Liz Pearce. Thanks also to Northeast Press Ltd., for permission to use the libraries of both the Hartlepool Mail and Sunderland Echo

                  A belated happy birthday to Metro Radio,

                  David Barras

                  July 23, 2008 at 2:59 pm #60667
                  IainJohnston
                  Member

                    Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you…

                    The 1974 PAMS of Dallas Composite for Metro Radio, Newcastle!

                    http://www.4shared.com/file/56281228/80a70a5a/PAMS-Metro.html

                    (and some character called “Len Groat” seems to be mentioned several times in it! )

                    July 23, 2008 at 3:03 pm #60668
                    IainJohnston
                    Member

                      And by pure coincidence, the following PAMS of Dallas 1975 Composite may sound incredibly similar

                      http://www.4shared.com/file/56280118/117080a5/PAMS-Orwell.html

                      (Harry Rowell being the “common influence” Len???)

                      July 23, 2008 at 6:24 pm #60673
                      Barras

                        Fantastic jingles, well I would say that wouldn`t I……………..this jingle melarky is becoming like a game of snooker, you potted the black before me Wixy !

                        Barras

                        July 23, 2008 at 8:16 pm #60675
                        upsweep
                        Member

                          Wixy1360 wrote:
                          Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you…

                          The 1974 PAMS of Dallas Composite for Metro Radio, Newcastle!

                          http://www.4shared.com/file/56281228/80a70a5a/PAMS-Metro.html

                          (and some character called “Len Groat” seems to be mentioned several times in it! )

                          Thanx Iain , both those offering great – thanx for sharing

                          July 24, 2008 at 2:58 pm #60692
                          LenGroat

                            Hi Iain and David

                            Thanks for the '1974 PAMS of Dallas Composite for Metro' and your comments

                            A few points of interest ~ the cut order is as on the master tape. When we first played the tape (the Friday before the Monday they were launched) I freaked, as the lyric on cut one should have been 'On 261 Metro Radio' but they had sung 'More Solid Rock' at the beginning! (It never got resung…)

                            When we first heard the tape even the jocks were shocked at how AMERICAN it was, so goodness knows what the Geordies thought of it !? (It helped turn the station around so I guess it was a necessary shock )

                            There were NO other mixes ~ an instrumental version of the '13 KOL' song would have bene nice to start with… but we forget that it was Jon who introduced the idea of free part mixes/alternates.

                            However, all the cuts from my Series 18 sono onwards are actually the second PAMS package from 1975, an 'add on'. We were unhappy about the vocals on some of these but PAMS would not change them.

                            Radio Orwell ~ the reason their package was so similar in cut choice to Metro's was because an Australian, John Wellington (who was com prod at Metro) left to set up Orwell and copied it from the package I'd put together. The 1975 Orwell package clearly did not have the same vocalists available in 1974, and it was not long after this that PAMS (sadly) sank.

                            Harry Rowell moved from Metro to Orwell, and our 'meeting all the people in the North East' cut was to have had 'it's the Harry Rowell show' at the front. This was never sung but it was too late to amend the lyric.

                            I sorted the Metro packages over the phone with the (late) Fred Hardy, who I eventually met at JAM after we sang some of the (Metro) Pams cuts for GEM at TM in Dallas which was in the old Pepper Tanner studios!

                            Final point of interest ~ I've never heard the Philly Story cuts like that before: the slow 'hitbound' is not on the demo, nor the 'clean' news jingle, and I'd never heard the Dr Don Rose namecheck before ~ he was just an amazing dj….

                            Aren't jingles interesting AND complicated!

                            July 24, 2008 at 6:12 pm #60696
                            IainJohnston
                            Member

                              Thanks for filling-in all the history bits Len. Always interesting to get the “inside” info!

                              (I had a tiny minimum-size block of £100-worth of shares in the original Orwell as a station – NOT the “Voice of Ipswich” shell – so maybe technically I contributed towards buying those PAMS cuts!)

                              The Philly Story items ARE accurate – all the “slogan” cuts had fast & slow endings, as well as just ending on the WFIL call letters; I still have the remnants of a tape dubbed for me by WFIL in the early 70's with extracts from those “air versions” on it. And Doctor Don Rose and Joe Niagara (ex-WLS possibly) were “big names” in Philadelphia radio in those days.

                              (PS – some JMers may doubt all my “stories” about e.g. dubs recorded for me by station X or Y many years ago – but its all completely true, as in the early 1970s thats EXACTLY how I collected jingles! – and I can name at least THREE “not quite so young either” JM Members who can remember swapping tape dubs with me – and who probably still have them in their attics!)

                              Finally – Len – do you want a non-file-compressed copy of either of the items above?

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