{"id":25853,"date":"2022-11-15T14:39:17","date_gmt":"2022-11-15T13:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiotimes.com\/?p=1737903"},"modified":"2022-11-15T15:02:15","modified_gmt":"2022-11-15T14:02:15","slug":"radio-times-treasure-hunt-for-lost-tv-and-radio-gems-draws-huge-response","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/radiotimes\/rss_feed\/radio-times-treasure-hunt-for-lost-tv-and-radio-gems-draws-huge-response\/","title":{"rendered":"Radio Times Treasure Hunt for lost TV and radio gems draws huge response"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ralph Montagu\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 15 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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The Radio Times Treasure Hunt<\/a> for lost gems from our TV and radio past, which we launched in October, has sparked hundreds of responses.<\/p>\n

Steve Arnold, founder of our partner organisation, the Radio Circle<\/a>, reports: \u201cOver 80 per cent of what\u2019s being offered is radio, so we\u2019ve been very busy. The range of material is quite remarkable, from pre-war programmes on 78rpm discs to cassette recordings made in the 1990s.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team of volunteers is carefully checking each item offered against the catalogues to see if it actually is missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Steve Arnold<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Keith Wickham, the Radio Circle\u2019s restoration expert, is keen to point out that, even if a show is already present in the archives, they are careful not to discard alternative copies too quickly. Quality differences or edits in different recordings mean that a restored show can be made from a dozen or so off-air copies.<\/p>\n

Richard Harrison, the Circle\u2019s media specialist, says that much of what is coming forward is on 1\/4-inch reels that were in common use from the mid-\u201950s.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the tapes are unlabelled so we won\u2019t know what they contain until they can be played,\u201d he adds. \u201cThe number of mystery tapes runs into the hundreds so it will take a while to work through them all.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I feel a sense of anticipation every time I lace up a spool on the tape desk: it just might contain another gem, such as the Hancock\u2019s Half Hour I discovered recently.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"""\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
Richard Harrison<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

Any verified finds will be announced later in Radio Times<\/strong>, but the good news is that programmes unearthed so far include classic panel games, comedy, plays and DJ-hosted music shows, some being early examples of commercial radio.<\/p>\n

While recordings of missing TV shows are rarer, a few interesting offers have been made to us. Some are soundtracks of missing programmes (notably the BBC\u2019s commentary on the Apollo 11 Moon landing), but we\u2019ve also been offered items on film, including music performances from the late \u201960s.<\/p>

Do please continue to contact us with news of anything you unearth.<\/p>\n

Email treasurehunt@radiotimes.com<\/strong> or write (but don\u2019t send any tapes at this stage, please!) to: Treasure Hunt, Radio Times, 44 Brook Green, London W6 7BT<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Other useful links:\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n