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Old 8th May 2020, 11:21 pm   #41
Richard_FM
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

I've seen quite a few clips on Facebook of period radios tuned into it.

A lot of those old songs sound great on a wooden bodied valve radio.
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Old 8th May 2020, 11:37 pm   #42
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Busiest day ever on our Facebook group with lots of videos and photos. https://www.facebook.com/groups/59466401554/

The notice on this website should disappear automatically at midnight.

Let's hope Absolute Radio do something like this again for some other historic anniversary. Today has been excellent and they should be congratulated.
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Old 8th May 2020, 11:49 pm   #43
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Techman View Post
...I've actually got most of the records on 78s that they've been playing. Juke Box Saturday Night - Glenn Miller, wasn't the original, but still good (or maybe even better) all the same. You may be surprised that I also enjoy on occasion, listening to Rock, Metal, Punk, Electronic Dance etc. etc. There's nothing narrow minded about my musical tastes!
I wonder how many of us on here have this eclectic taste? I, for one, if asked what music I'm into have to reply with just "anything that's good!"
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Old 8th May 2020, 11:52 pm   #44
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

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Let's hope Absolute Radio do something like this again for some other historic anniversary. Today has been excellent and they should be congratulated.
VJ day next, assuming the same level of interest in the media. I caught at least one interview where the person couldn't remember the VE celebrations as he was busy elsewhere!
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Old 9th May 2020, 12:04 am   #45
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

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VJ day next, assuming the same level of interest in the media. I caught at least one interview where the person couldn't remember the VE celebrations as he was busy elsewhere!
Was that the gentleman who recalled feeling more wistful and reflective than pleased, because he'd been on 3wks leave and was about to head back to the Far East ? That must have been a real wrench, knowing that Europe was at peace finally yet still having to go and fight and possibly die in order to secure overall world peace.
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Old 9th May 2020, 4:17 am   #46
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

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Quote:
Originally Posted by AC/HL View Post
VJ day next, assuming the same level of interest in the media. I caught at least one interview where the person couldn't remember the VE celebrations as he was busy elsewhere!
Was that the gentleman who recalled feeling more wistful and reflective than pleased, because he'd been on 3wks leave and was about to head back to the Far East ? That must have been a real wrench, knowing that Europe was at peace finally yet still having to go and fight and possibly die in order to secure overall world peace.
Those are sentiments SWMBO would agree with. She's been wearing her late father's Burma Star (on the right side of course) all day.
He spoke little about his RAF experience in the Far East, he did say how he admired and felt protected by the real professional solders out there, the Gurkha Rifles.
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Old 9th May 2020, 7:11 am   #47
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

I cheated and had a quick listen with my RSP1A and LZ1AQ loop. Signals a bit weak and in and out and the audio certainly didn't sound good on this new fangled digital radio. What was playing at the time was not my sort of music so I didn't linger. Do we know where the transmitter was, nobody seems to have mentioned here?

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Old 9th May 2020, 8:00 am   #48
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Isn’t it the old radio 1 transmitter at Droitwich on 1215. When I lived in Kidderminster I used to get plagued by their third harmonic near to the vmars net frequency.

Yesterday was the first time I’ve ever listened intentionally to Absolute radio.

Jim
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Old 9th May 2020, 8:52 am   #49
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

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Originally Posted by Paul Stenning View Post
Busiest day ever on our Facebook group with lots of videos and photos. https://www.facebook.com/groups/59466401554/

The notice on this website should disappear automatically at midnight.

Let's hope Absolute Radio do something like this again for some other historic anniversary. Today has been excellent and they should be congratulated.
Agreed especially under the current circumstances. Combined with the VE day commemorations it added a little bit of interest on what would have been just another day in lockdown.

Much as I have a wide musical taste old music sounds best on old radios so just a reminder there are 40's radio stations on the internet, one which I use for my radios is

https://www.radio.net/s/uk1940s

John
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Old 9th May 2020, 8:52 am   #50
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Tracofan said
Quote:
"Alas, I can't listen online as I'm outside the UK".
You could have listened using one of the Web SDR's

I enjoyed the music on a valve wireless, and liked some of the advertisements, a station I do not listen to often.

John
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Old 9th May 2020, 11:16 am   #51
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Yes, I enjoyed listening to this too. I hope this is done again to commemorate other historical events

When I was a kid my parents had a really old valve radio that was probably WW2 vintage and it would have been great if this radio was still around for this event. I ended up listening on the internet via some nice speakers to get closer to the 'full' sound of a decent vintage radio. Hearing Frank Skinner (complete with ukulele) singing a George Formby number was a bit surreal and it took me a while to work out who it was.
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Old 9th May 2020, 12:06 pm   #52
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

I listened and thought it was great! They even included some vintage-style advertisements. The sequence of 1940s music and soundbites was repeated throughout the day, with the hourly news bulletins reporting events as they happened in 1945. At 9pm, there was an up-to-date speech by the Queen, exactly 75 years since her father addressed the nation on the wireless. That was a nice extra touch.

This special broadcast spurred me on to restore a Wartime Civilian Receiver which I had acquired from a car boot sale last year. It was in rather dilapidated condition, so I kept putting it off. Finally I got it working last night, just in time to hear the special Absolute Radio 40s station. (Earlier, I had been listening on a Bush DAC90A but thought that's a bit too new.) As I heard the Wartime Civilian Receiver - working again for the first time in decades - playing the 1940s songs, news and memories from those who were there, I reflected on the family who must have gathered round that very same radio all those years ago.

My mother was 11 on VE day 1945. She's starting to lose her memory and didn't remember a lot about the day itself, other than that a big bonfire was lit on St. Giles Hill in Winchester where she lived at the time. She recalled that the smoke made the moon appear blue. (By coincidence, there was a full moon last night.) She did hear a few of the 1940s songs played on Absolute Radio 40s and remembered those, commenting that they were American.

Sadly there couldn't be any street parties or similar celebrations this time due to coronavirus restrictions, but the Absolute Radio broadcast helped to make up for that. Well done!
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Old 8th May 2021, 10:10 am   #53
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Thread reopened at Stuart R's request.
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Old 8th May 2021, 10:20 am   #54
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

Thanks Graham, is it really a year ago that we spent a sunny Friday listening to some great 1940s hits on our classic radios?

Absolute Radio's pop-up station that commemorated the 75th Anniversary of VE Day was enjoyed by many users of this Forum and the associated Facebook page. Members were posting photos and videos of their vintage sets playing merrily away in gardens and driveways, some at outdoor street parties. It really did cheer people up in the strange days of Lockdown.

Quite a few of us had left some positive comments about the broadcast, so the next day I thought I'd offer Absolute Radio a quick bit of feedback via their website's Contact Us button -

“Just letting you know that your Pop-Up Absolute 40s Day was well-received by a number of Vintage Radio Enthusiasts around the UK. Great to hear hits of the 40s, Alan Dedicoat's news updates plus re-styled advertising and jingles. Congratulations to all involved. We're hoping you'll do it again sometime before the 1215kHz transmitters are all switched off! Please take a look and listen here....”

I included links to this thread and the Facebook page and thought that would be the end of it.

A few days later, I had a reply from Dan Wright, Production Director at Magic & Absolute Radio, who has kindly given permission for me to share his thoughts here -

“Sorry we took so long getting back to you - thank you so much for sending those links. The videos of the vintage radios playing our station, particularly the ones from the period, were actually quite moving for me - but it was probably at least partly the result of the massive amount of work done in a short period of time to get it all on air! I circulated the site to the team who all pass on their thanks for posting that thread.

The response to the day was overwhelming; ultimately, although it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun to put together and shows how a good idea can 'catch on' very quickly. We know from our streaming figures that it was massively popular, and the listening increased throughout the day as word of mouth spread.

It was lovely to see the result of our work playing on those beautiful radios, and I'm currently only just managing to resist the temptation to hunt down one for myself. My 1988 Grundig Music Boy counts as vintage, right?”


I'm ashamed to say it's taken me the whole year to get back in touch with Dan. He tells me that Absolute Radio 40s has been nominated in five categories at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards. The winners will be announced later this month, let's hope they do well.

I also sent Dan a link for www.retrotechuk.com, in case he really does want to acquire an older vintage radio. His Grundig radio features in their twitter feed along with an interesting comment about the emptiness of the AM bands from radio historian, David Lloyd.

https://twitter.com/hashtag/AbsoluteRadio40s

Enjoy your weekend – shame the weather isn't as good as last year.

SR.
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Old 8th May 2021, 3:06 pm   #55
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

That's fantastic to see such a positive response to the station, I do hope it does well in the awards!

It really was a nice feature, and on such a lovely sunny day too, I watched my little few seconds of video of my Ekco AC86 playing in the garden last year just the other day, it really did brighten up lockdown just a little bit! I don't think I'll be doing the same today, I'm in the workshop watching the rain dribble down the window, but the AC86 is playing away merrily! I'm testing my freshly built MiniMod with it

Maybe they could put together a little montage of everybody's video's of their old radio's playing and put it on their website! I'll happily contribute my few seconds worth!

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Old 8th May 2021, 4:49 pm   #56
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

This reminded me to tidy up (ie: rename and store in a sensible location) the recordings I made of Absolute 40s last year. Unfortunately I only have from around 4.30pm onwards.

I realise that copyright is probably going to be an issue, but did anyone manage to record more (particularly the morning / early afternoon as I don't have that). It would be nice to have the full day's worth.
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Old 8th May 2021, 6:24 pm   #57
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

It was on a 4 hour loop, so if you managed to record 4 hours worth, you probably have all of it!

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Old 8th May 2021, 6:49 pm   #58
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

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It was on a 4 hour loop, so if you managed to record 4 hours worth, you probably have all of it!
That's good to know - I definitely have more than four hours (from 5pm to 11pm), although I don't have all of the news broadcasts as they changed by the hour (understandably).
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Old 8th May 2021, 10:18 pm   #59
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

I got 4 hours too so everything apart from all the news bulletins.
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Old 3rd Jun 2021, 9:46 am   #60
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Default Re: Absolute Radio 40’s.

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I'm ashamed to say it's taken me the whole year to get back in touch with Dan. He tells me that Absolute Radio 40s has been nominated in five categories at the Audio and Radio Industry Awards. The winners will be announced later this month, let's hope they do well.
The Audio and Radio Industry Awards 2021 winners have been announced, and Absolute Radio 40s won three awards (a gold, a silver and a bronze):

Quote:
THE CREATIVE INNOVATION AWARD supported by AIM

GOLD WINNER
ABSOLUTE RADIO 40S
TBI Media for Absolute Radio

THE 2020 SPECIAL AWARD (supporting audiences during Coronavirus)

SILVER
ABSOLUTE RADIO 40S
TBI Media for Absolute Radio

BEST STATION SOUND

BRONZE
ABSOLUTE RADIO 40S
Absolute Radio Production
The full winners lists can be found on the RadioToday website.

Here's hoping this success encourages similar things in the future...
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