Last chance to hear Brian Matthew on the radio this morning

He has been away from the Sounds of the Sixties programme for a while following a fall at home. He's back for a one off, farewell tour of his career on this morning's 8-10 slot. After that, presumably, he's retired. Well, he is 88!

Really sorry about this and Saturday mornings will not be the same any more. In a twist to the story they have brought Tony Blackburn back (again) to do the show, but changed it to a 6am start.

 

And there he goes, playing out with the Shadows "Foot Tapper" - his signature tune for 27 years of the programme. He did announce though that he will be back, doing something else, some time in the near future.

None of this will mean anything to the younger element on here but his easy presentation style and distinctive voice will be missed.

 

Didn't he want come come back full time again but against his wishes they basically sacked him? Weird are BBC. Look at how over the years they have got rid of so many radio guys for being too old like Jimmy Young, Tony Blackburn etc. They got shut of Chris Moyles for being too old when his Radio 1 breakfast show was close to catching up Terry Wogan on Radio 2 yet it was a rubbish excuse when to this day Scott Mills is still there who's a very similar age to Moyles.

Then again it's from a corporation that's not had a female weekday daytime full time presenter since the late 1980s. They can say people get jobs down to merit but when all day it's middle aged white men of a particular age group Chris Evans, Ken Bruce, Jeremy Vine, Steve Wright and Simon Mayo all day long it doesn't look good.

 

Thank Your Lucky Stars, Saturday Club. He took over Sounds of the Sixties from Keith Fordyce I believe (another superb broadcaster).

His longevity stands as testament to his quality as a broadcaster.

 

Yes I believe he did want to come back but they probably used his home accident as an excuse to get rid of him. As you say, the BBC are good at getting rid of people when they are still popular. What a pity they can't get rid of people like Chris Evans who makes my flesh creep when I inadvertently switch on Radio Two during his slot.

I've started listening to Radio Six at that time now - no hysterical chat, decent music.

I'm glad that Tony Blackburn has been chosen to take over from Brian Matthew - just disappointed that they have shunted the time to 6am instead of 8. He might be a bit cheesy and have rubbed the corporation up the wrong way from time to time, but he is one of those superlative broadcasters that should be allowed to get behind a mic until he says he has had enough. He was the Radio One voice on my tranny ear piece while I was doing my paper round in the late sixties. Part of my history, as well as millions of others.

 

Wonder if Arnold's still alive.

 

Yes, I'm sure he had him on now and then when he was doing the Pick of the Pops Saturday lunchtime show.

Old boy must be over fifty now so what is that in dog years - 200 or more?