Second Side Up Radio Show

[cheifwhat]

I'm curious if anyone has heard of it? It was basically some guy who started recording a radio show on tape from the 70s. If anyone is interested.

[Flower]

Never heard of it in the States but it's not surprising reading this ...

http://www.radiosurvivor.com/2017/05/04 ... our-slack/


Radio on Tape: from ‘Second Side Up’ to ‘The Hour of Slack’


For 40 years Mark Talbot hosted his UK-based radio show “Second Side Up.” On cassette. Only on cassette.

At its peak the show had 40 listeners, but duplicating that many tapes became too big of a financial drain on the DJ, so he scaled back.

I learned about “Second Side Up” from the Australian podcast “This Is About,” presented by producer David Waters, who discovered the show when Talbot listed the tapes for sale online. He contacted the cassette DJ to learn this utterly captivating, and very human, story. Waters also produced a slightly longer audio documentary for BBC Radio 3.

[cheifwhat]

That's the one. One of the guys who made the radio documentary gave the tapes away on Gumtree and i got them. If anyone is interested let me know.

[Charlie O.]

The actual tapes??

[Charlie O.]

I just finished the BBC doc and I really enjoyed it, but I suspect that's enough for me.

[Rorschach]

I'm curious if anyone has heard of it? It was basically some guy who started recording a radio show on tape from the 70s. If anyone is interested.

Chiefwhat!!!!!!!!!

An original doyen!!!

Blimey, sir. It's been a while.

[cheifwhat]

I'm curious if anyone has heard of it? It was basically some guy who started recording a radio show on tape from the 70s. If anyone is interested.

Chiefwhat!!!!!!!!!

An original doyen!!!

Blimey, sir. It's been a while.

You're still here?! I thought you flounced before me?

Good to see you.

And yes. I think they are the actual tapes. About 50 of them.

[Charlie O.]

I'd hate for something to happen to them.

If I took them, though, it would be tantamount to throwing them away. They'd go into storage, probably until my survivors come acoss them and wonder what the hell I was doing with them, and throw them away.

I can't help but think that that guy's gonna wish he hadn't got rid of them someday.

[cheifwhat]

I can't help but think that that guy's gonna wish he hadn't got rid of them someday.

He was giving them away with the expectation that they'd be taped over. I was looking at the picture to see what was on them when I noticed they were all called 'second side up' so I googled the title and said I'd be curious to hear them. So the guy gave them to me instead of some other guy who had already claimed them.

[Charlie O.]

That's somehow both hilarious and sad.

[cheifwhat]

As a final chapter to this post. A couple of weeks ago, the guy who game me the tapes called and asked if I'd sell him back the tapes as Mark had contacted him and was quite cross that he had just given the tapes away without asking him first.
As far as I'm concerned, they're Mark's tapes so i agreed to meet up and gave them back to him.
We had a nice chat. Turns out Mark did get to work for BBC radio in Bristol for a while and is now retired but in good health aside from a gammy back. From an early age he was interested in tapes and worked in a shop(?) Where he had access and learned how to fix cassette decks and reel to reel and other music equipment from that time and later. So he bought hight quality tape players and mixing equipment that people thought broken and fixed them. That's why the sound quality and mixing is so good on his show.

He's a nice guy. Told him about BCB. So hopefully he'll be along.

[Charlie O.]

Cheers, I love a happy ending!