DISQUS

MarlboroTestMonkey7 · 1 year ago

During the weekend I was reading Alan Moore's Watchmen and there's a bit about some types of faces you don't see any more. Bluebells is kind of that too. Inflection? Phrasing? Style? It's gone.

TFF rules, btw.

jabartlett · 1 year ago

When I was program director and morning jock at a Top 40 station in an Illinois college town during the 80s, we ran "Rock Over London." In that place, at that time, it passed for cultural-affairs programming. I hoped it would make me hip by osmosis.

Trista · 1 year ago

Rock Over London saved a young woman in rural NE Florida in the 80's! I especially love Cath, which I would never have heard without ROL. It also exponentially increased my street cred to even know about any of those bands and listening to it brought me smack back to 1983 this afternoon. Cheers, mate!

eddie_w · 1 year ago

I am also one of those old ROL fans out in the world. I loved that show, following it from high school in the mid 80s all the way past grad school in the mid 90s. Like you, it sparked a keen interest in British popular music that still continues today. Towards the end of the show's run, I used to tape the program so I could play it and enjoy it on the long drives I had to make at my first job. Was very sad to see it end back then, so thanks a bunch for the fun trip down memory lane! Never heard why the show ended...any good story there, or had it just worn out its welcome by then?

JonCummings · 1 year ago

I actually looked for such information but couldn't come up with it. A couple possibilities: Graham Dene switched jobs in 1993, from the UK pop station Capital FM to the then-brand new, and more adult-oriented, Virgin radio. Also in the early '90s, radio network/syndicator Westwood One seems to have shifted priorities a bit -- Dr. Demento's show also was dropped at about the same time as ROL. Finally, American radio really put up a wall during the '90s that kept British acts from breaking here, so it's possible that ROL just fell victim to programming trends.

I'm just talking out my ass, though. If anybody has other crackpot theories--or maybe even facts--I'm happy to stand corrected.

Don W. · 10 months ago

Sorry, gotta chime in here (I don't even know if anyone will read it, but here goes).

ROL, in the early 90s, actually split into two shows - Graham Dene went to a show called UK chart attack, which featured club and dance music, and ROL was taken over by venerable UK journalist Paul Sexton. The two shows ran weekly for about 4 years, until their demise in the mid-nineties.

While I worked for ROL, we got into a bit of trouble with US record companies, because we'd include songs in the show that were slated for release by American companies and they'd get upset that we were rolling out their new stuff before they got a chance to. The worst instance was when we played 'I've Been Thinking About You' by Londonbeat about a month before A&M released the album in the US. The Cease and Desist hammer fell hard on us that week.

And another reason why ROL went away was because we were always trying to get the show on stations whose syndication time was full up with Casey Casem and Shadow Stevens' syndicated shows. It was hard work getting ROL onto even a small station, but while I was there we hit our all-time high ove over 200 stations across the US.

TheDamnDirtyApe · 8 months ago

Thanks for the history lesson. I never had the pleasure of hearing the program on the radio. However, about 8 years ago I was searching e-bay for something and I ran across this guy selling a CD with an artist I actively collect, so I bought it. So happens this was an official release of UK Chart Attack program from 1991, complete with all the US Army and Dentine adverts. I was intrigued and asked if he had any more. After all was said and done I had taken 30 of these programs off his hands. Each came in a paper sleeve with a xerox copy of the program schedule. These 30 discs hold a special place in my 3,000+ CD collection. Quirky, fun and I love Sally Stratton with those Naughty Bits!

Don W. · 10 months ago

That was a pleasure to read. I actually worked stateside for ROL in the late 80s and early 90s, and went Googling for what was out there on the web about the show.

Maggie · 10 months ago

I LOVED Rock Over London!! It introduced me to soooo many bands I still love today. I also used to tape it and also wrote down the Top 10 (or was it 5?) songs of the week. It made me feel so cool that I knew about bands before anyone else in my podunk little CA town.

Josh · 9 months ago

I listened to ROL in the early/mid 1990's... was introduced to the likes of the Boo Radleys, Lush, Ride, Salad, Superfurryanimals, Charlatans, Fluffy (I think), so many others than no one else in eastern PA knew of at the time. Probaly even heard Oasis there first. Still love some of those bands, and I actually think I may have some recorded cassette tapes of Paul Sexton on ROL! I am 34 now. Ah, those were the days.

dorisferzetti · 4 weeks ago

I too am a Rock over London fan of the early 80's....I used to listen to them on my huge walkman on Sunday night in bed, because it was 11:00 pm and a school night! My friend and I would talk all day about the new music we heard the night before....bands that noone else knew about! King, Marillion, Strawberry Switchblade...etc! I am still an English band fan today.....and Rock over London kicked it off! Thanks for the memories!