|
Top
of the Pops first aired on 1 January, 1964 at 6.36 from
a converted church in Manchester and was introduced by
Jimmy Saville Originally it was only commissioned for
six shows, but the show has survived for 40 plus years
and some 2000 editions
since then.
The first show opened with The Rolling Stones, who were
at number 13 in the chart with 'I Wanna Be Your Man'.
Also on the show were:
Dusty Springfield : 'I Only Want to be With You'
The Dave Clark Five : Glad All Over'
The Hollies : 'Stay'
The Swinging Blue Jeans : 'The Hippy Hippy Shake'.
Being in an age before the big budget video there were
also filmed inserts by Cliff Richard & The Shadows
and Freddie & The Dreamers. The Beatles also
appeared via video playing that week's number one
I Want to Hold Your Hand'
Top
of the Pops presenters
The 1970's and 1980's are considered by many to be the
hey-day by many of the show. The shows presenters were
Radio One DJ's and there was a real sense of fun about
the show and the music it presented. With a lack of
videos the show would rely on a dance troupe to groove
along to the latest hits. The first were The Go-Jo, then
the ever popular Pan's People, latter replaced by Ruby
Flipper, Legs and Co and finally Zoo. By 1980 music
videos were being produced and the dance troupe had had
its day.
The show entered a lull in the early-90's. The show was
re-launched with a new look and theme music. The Radio
One DJ's were replaced by a team of presenters. However,
this re-launch was unpopular and rating fell.
By the mid 90's the show was revived again with a change
in producer and guest hosts helped pull the show out of
a rating slump.
The late '90s saw the charismatic Chris Cowey take
charge in the role of Executive Producer. And with him
came a strong sense of branding, live performances and a
purpose of direction. This also saw the launch of Top Of
The Pops CD's. These were compilation albums of current
chart hits. Plus, TOTP2 was launched. Originally showing
a mix of archive material and clips of that weeks show
along with pop trivia (Later seasons concentrated on the
TOTP archive).
During the late 90's another spin-off show was added to
the branding of the show Top Of The Pops Plus. TOTP
Plus was in the same vein as MTV's TRL on the cable TV
station UK Play (Later Play UK). This show was also
aired on a Sunday Morning on BBC2. The final spin off
arrived in 2002 with TOTP Saturday presented by Fearne
cotton and Simon Grant (BBC1 11:00). A show aimed at a
pure teen audience and drafted in by the BBC to rival
ITV1's CD:UK. The show features chart acts, skits and a
question and answer session.
In August 2003, Andi Peters took over from Cowey as the
show's producer. A new-look show was launched (Friday 28
November 2003). The new look of the show included a new
logo and theme tune, plus the introduction of news
features. Andi says, "Part of what I want to do on
TOTP is make it feel like a music magazine. So you take
away something from it, not just song after song after
song." The BBC had also recruited Tim Kash from MTV
to present the show.
Unfortunately the show was unable to regain it's major
popularity and stuck on a Friday opposite one of the
UK's biggest soaps (Coronation Street), ratings still
declined and on 29 November, 2004 the BBC announced that
the show was to move from it's original home on BBC 1 to
BBC 2 and be merged with it's archive sister show
Top Of The Pops 2.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4051231.stm
Tim Kash left the show on August 27 2004 and is now
presented by TOTP Saturday presenter Fearne Cotton and
Reggie Yates.
The corporation said the new show "aims to appeal
to a diverse audience of music lovers". BBC Two
controller Roly Keating added : "It's an exciting
new era for Top of the Pops. We want to make it bigger
and better so that it becomes the ultimate pop music
show for music lovers of every generation."
THE
BBC
December
27, 2004
Top
of the Pops has began to lose ratings. So to save the
BBC money, they are moving TOTP to BBC2 but thats not
the only change... its new slot will be on Sunday
night.
Madison
Avenue
- Presenter/Performer [2000]
Richard
Bacon - Presenter [2003-]
Simon
Bates - Presenter [1977-1988]
Colin
Berry - Presenter [1980]
Tony
Blackburn - Presenter [1967-1984]
Richard
Blackwood - Presenter [2000-2001]
Liz
Bonnin - Presenter [2002-]
Jakki
Brambles - Presenter [1989-1991]
Bruno
Brookes - Presenter [1986-1990]
Nicky
Campbell - Presenter [1983-1988]
Sarah
Cawood - Presenter [1997, 2002-]
Fearne
Coton - Presenter [2003-]
Fearne
Cotton - Presenter
Craig
David - Presenter/Performer
Tony
Dortie - Presenter 90's
Noel
Edmonds - Host [1970-1989]
Alan
Freeman - Presenters [1964 - 1970]
Mark
Goodier - Presenter [1994-1996]
Stuart
Henry - Presenters [1968 - 1969]
Tim
Kash - Presenter (2003-)
Emma
Ledden - Presenter [2001]
Simon
Mayo - Presenter [1988-1999]
Pete
Murray - Presenter {1964 - 1970}
Jimmy
Savile - Presenter [1964]
Lisa
Snowdon - Presenter [2002-]
Dave
Lee Travis - Presenter [1972-1976, 1980-1984]
Tommy
Vance - Presenter [1978-1983]
Hanna
Verboom - Host
Steve
Wright (XIII) - Presenter [1982-1996]
Reggie
Yates - Presenter
Andi
Peters -
Executive Producer
Categories:
Pop
music
MUSIC
INDEX A - Z
New
energy drinks for adventure capitalists
Solar
Red | Solar
Crush | Solar
Cola | Solar
Citrus | Solar
Spice
|
