Part VIII - NIGHT FLIGHT.

Written by ROBBIE BARISH.

 

WBAI was the most influential voice of the so-called counter-culture in New York, providing an outlet for a broad spectrum of artistic and political viewpoints.

In early September I traveled to London, primarily to find myself a place to live.

 

While there, I decided to stop in at the offices of
Capital Radio, which at that time were located on Piccadilly. With a WBAI staff ID card as my entrance ticket, I soon found myself in the company of management people who were all very much my contemporaries. I was invited to come back during the first week in October to the new broadcasting facility on Euston Road. There I would meet the Programme Controller, Michael Bukht and receive a formal interview to see if any of my experience would be of use to the new radio station. I was sincerely hoping that I could supplement my own resources with a modest paycheck from Capital!

 

I moved to London in early October and, after setting up my new digs and officially registering as an internal student at the University of London, I made an appointment with Michael Bukht. What was of most interest to him was my experience with overnight radio programming. Up to that time, the BBC had always turned off their transmitters at an hour close to that when the Underground trains stopped working.

 

Capital was going to be on the air twenty-four hours a day and there was not a strong consensus as to what type of programming should be heard in those overnight hours. Added to this uncertainty was the simple fact that the station was subject to “needle time” restrictions, arrangements with the musicians union that limited the amount of recorded music that could be played (except for so-called library music of the sort heard in lifts) and as well required that a certain amount of money be made available to musicians who would actually perform “live” or in recorded sessions for later broadcast.

 

During my interview with Michael Bukht, I was allowed to spend a few minutes privately (and separately) with both Sarah Ward and Sean Kelly, the two presenters who had been selected to be the overnight talent on the station.  When I went back to Michael after talking with both Sean and Sarah, he asked me my impression of them. After telling him what I thought, he said: “you’ve figured out in minutes what has taken me a month to understand about each of them. You’re hired!” So, yes, I then became a paid staff member, but one who wasn’t around during the week making me a mystery to many of the other Capital employees!
 
Because I was completely committed to my research activities, expected by the Institute of Cancer Research to stay within the usual three-year time frame for obtaining a Ph.D. degree, I was only assigned by Michael Bukht to take the Sunday-morning midnight to 6 AM slot on Capital and produce live music that would be presented by Sarah Ward. And that’s how Saturday Night Flight was born. Later, Sarah moved to a more hospitable time slot, and I was given the presenter duties for the program, as well as retaining production responsibilities.
 
So far this letter has been nothing more than an autobiographical summary of how a fairly straight-laced twenty-seven year old physicist from New York City was put in charge of six hours of weekly live music performance in London, in a time slot where there was no competing radio programming.  What we in the States call: “100% share.”

As producer, I decided that I would go outside of the “normal” pop music sources that could be heard during the day on Capital. I wanted a mix of folk, blues, jazz, rock and “other” interesting things. I also was not averse to finding groups or individuals who I though might “make it” someday if given an opportunity to appear on the program. 

Appended to this letter is a complete list of performers who were heard on Saturday Night Flight, many of them going the whole six hours! But let me name a few now who might still have some interesting things to say about their appearances with either Sarah or me (or both of us).

 

Neil Innes, Zoot Money, Peter Frampton, Paul Carrack, Al Stewart, Ginger Baker, Mary Hopkin, Richard Digance, Roy Harper, Graham Collier, Stan Tracey, John Taylor, Labi Sifre, Tim Rice, Annie Haslam, Tom Paxton, Stan Webb, and Ian Whitcomb. 

 

Unfortunately, it’s too late to talk with Brownie McGee and Sonny Terry, Alexis Korner, Long John Baldry, John B. Spencer, Mike Patto, Susannah McCorkle and many others who have passed away in the intervening years. And, yes, there were specials including a couple of “Nights of Horror” with actors, producers, directors, writers and musicians from the Hammer horror films.

Let me tell you what was also unique about the program, which was reviewed by Time Out Magazine as “one of the most audacious and original shows on British radio.” Quite simply, it was presented in what in the United States in general and at WBAI in particular was called “free-form.” Unlike sessions produced and heard on the BBC, I never required the performers to provide, in advance, any indication of what they would be doing. I would tell them if there was to be a commercial break scheduled at a particular time and also make them aware that there would be three minutes at the top of the hour when the news was read. They could otherwise fill the six hours any way they wanted to. Usually, for folk performers, I would have several arranged in a circle in the studio and they would trade sets as individuals or jam together as they wished.  Sometimes, when there were jazz or rock sessions, other musicians who finished their gigs at London venues would simply come up to the radio station and join in the live session with their friends.

 

I also circulated a memo to the entire Capital staff inviting any employee who had an interest in radio production to submit a demo to me for airing on my show. That’s how Mike Childs, who was helping Roy Spredbury carry around snacks for “prime time” guests, got to do a movie review that eventually allowed him to present similar film reviews on other programmes and, ultimately, become a full producer at the station, a position he held for twenty years.

If I took phone calls from listeners, I insisted that the calls were never screened prior to going on the air live. Every other program at Capital (and for all I know everywhere else at that time) had its phone calls selected by a screener who would decide that the caller was suitable for air. Since I took calls as they came, I may have been the first person on British radio to dispose of callers who bothered me. I did so in what was certainly a less civil manner than was generally used.
One night, after a particularly rowdy session, with Boz Burrell, Mike Patto, Mel Collins, Zoot Money, Ginger Baker and others who, that night, called themselves “Dick and the Fireman” I received an irate phone call from then Managing Director John Whitney. After an upper-level management discussion about the program it was decided that it could no longer be aired live and that I would no longer be the presenter, being replaced by regular “front line” disk jockeys at Capital. Soon the program died, and with it so did my career on British radio. It just wasn’t the same, taping a highly controlled program that had to be edited to make it “squeaky-clean” for the higher-ups at Capital. I finished up my doctorate in early 1976 and returned to New York radio for an additional ten years or so. 

 

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Saturday Night Flight 

 

Date                    Performers

 

17 Nov 73               Dave Ellis

24 Nov 73               Martin Winsor, Redd Sullivan (of the Troubadour Folk Club)

1 Nov 73                Ed Welch

8 Dec 73                Ian Harwood

15 Dec 73               Kokomo and Graham Bond

22 Dec 73               Neil Innes, Andy Roberts, Zoot Money

29 Dec 73               Raggy Farmer and Richard Newman

5 Jan 74                Ian Whitcomb, Chris Ellis, Tim Rice

12 Jan 74               Nic Jones

19 Jan 74               Ian Whitcomb, Chris Ellis, Tim Rice (back by popular demand)

26 Jan 74               Roger Williamson, Frank McConnell, Opray and Petersen

2 Feb 74                Kokomo

9 Feb 74                Thamesis

16 Feb 74               Alexis Korner, John Baldry, Brian Knight, Geoff Bradford

23 Feb 74               Stan Tracey + 11 musicians

2 March 74              Tom Paxton, Ian Hunt

9 March 74              Joy Hyman, Tim Walker

16 March 74             Horror Night (Peter Cushing, Kevin Francis, James Bernard, etc.)

23 March 74             Philip Goodhand-Tate

30 March 74             Folk Night (Cliff Aungier, Gerry Lochran, Simon Prager, etc.)

6 April 74              Willie and Reina

13 April 74             Decameron

20 April 74             Gyroscope (Gordon Beck’s Trio)

27 April 74             Ace (First-ever performance of “How Long has this Been Goin On”)

4 May 74                New Deal String Band

11 May 74               Mary Hopkin and Tony Visconti

18 May 74               Medicine Head

25 May 74               Dick Sudhalter’s Band with Susannah McCorkle

1 June 74               Wizz Jones, Richard Digance

8 June 74               McGuiness Flint

15 June 74              Halcyon

22 June 74              East, Silver Dancer, Wooden Lion

29 June 74              Roy Harper

6 July 74               Graham Collier Music

13 July 74              Ian Whitcomb

20 July 74              Tribute to Duke Ellington (Norma Winstone, Adelaide Hall, John Taylor Sextet, etc.)

27 July 74              Starry Eyed and Laughing

3 August 74             Gonzalez

10 August 74            Nick Pickett, Nigel Cameron, Raggy Farmer

17 August 74            Major Surgery (Tony Marsh, Mike Osborne, Evan Parker, etc.)

24 Aug 74               “Carnivale” with Davaracks, Arawack, and Metro Steel Band

31 Aug 74               Mike Garrick Sextet

7 Sept 74               Strange Fruit and Peter Bellamy

14 Sept 74              SNAFU (Bobby Harrison, Colin Gibson, Mick Moody, etc.)

21 Sept 74              Decameron (Johnny Coppin, Mike Silver, etc.)

28 Sept 74              Highway (Paul Rodgers, Paul Kossoff, Andy Fraser, Simon Kirke)

5 Oct 74                Dave Willis Quintet

12 Oct 74               Folk Night (Geoff Bradford, Brian Knight, Johnny Joyce, David Blosse, etc.)

19 Oct 74               New Deal String Band

26 Oct 74               Fran McGillivray and Mike Burke, Geoff Bradford, etc.

2 Nov 74                Isipingo (Harry Miller, Marc Chang, Mike Osborne, Malcom Griffiths, Keith Tippet, etc.)

9 Nov                   Dave Ellis, Frank McConnell

16 Nov 74               Paz (Geoff Castle, Frank Holder, Martin Shaw, etc.)

23 Nov 74               Alexis Korner, Peter Frampton, John Siomas, etc.

30 Nov 74               John Taylor sextet

7 Dec 74                New Deal String Band, Jack Warshaw Terry Yarnell, Sandra Kerr, John Faulkner.

14 Dec 74               Kokomo

21 Dec 74               Steve Tilston, Strange Fruit, Cliff Aungier

28 Dec 74               Dick and the Firemen

4 Jan 75                Rag Night: Neville Dickie and Keith Nichols

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from this point, all programs were taped for later airplay:

 

11Jan 75                Wizz Jones, Bonnie Dobson, Jim Reynolds

18 Jan 75               Alan Bown’s “No Surrender”

25 Jan 75               Jubiaba, Dave Ellis

1 Feb 75                Steve Tilston, Jenny Beeching, Nic Jones

8 Feb 75                Stan Webb Band, Johnny Joyce

15 Feb 75               Dave Willis Quintet

22 Feb 75               Renaissance with Annie Haslam

1 March 75              Al Stewart, Marian Segal

8 March 75              Horror Night II

15 March 75             Ram John Holder

22 March 75             Kevin Coyne and live feed from Sydney Australia

5 April 75              Decameron and Jack Hudson

12 April 75             Long John Baldry, Fran McGillivray and Mike Burke

19 April 75             Graham Collier Music

26 April 75             Labi Sifre, Bonnie Dobson, Glenn Cordier

3 May 75                Dave Ellis, Jim Bogdanus, Kevin Stenson, Richard Newman

10 May 75               Rough Alley, Frank McConnell

17 May 75               Rocky Rhodes Show

24 May 75               Brownie McGee, Sonny Terry, Gerry Lochran, John Baldry, Cliff Aungier, Simon Prager, Steve Rye

 

- and a couple of other shows that certainly couldn’t compete with this last one!