Tommy Vance’s final Friday Rock Show from BBC Radio 1 is to be re-broadcast this Christmas on national DAB station TeamRock.
The programme, last broadcast on Radio 1 in March 1993 was thought to be lost by The BBC, however, John Myers, Chairman of TeamRock unearthed a copy and approached The BBC for the rights to broadcast the programme. A unique deal was struck between The BBC and TeamRock Radio and a slightly edited version of the programme will be aired on the last Friday in December, 27th at 10pm, the same time as the Tommy Vance ‘Friday Rock Show’ was first aired over 35 years ago.
Tommy Vance was a huge champion of rock music before his death in 2005. His regular shows on UK Radio brought rock music to millions of fans and greatly contributed to making household names of some of the biggest rock stars in the world today.
The programme is co hosted by Claire Sturgess who was later to take over the show. It features some of Tommy’s favourite songs including tracks from the Little Angels Jam album and a cover of Gimme Shelter, which they recorded for the ‘Putting Our House In Order’ Shelter Album. There are also interviews with Van Halen stars Sammy Hagar and Alex Van Halen.
John Myers, Chairman of TeamRock told RadioToday: “We are delighted to have come to an agreement with The BBC to transmit this programme. It was a complicated deal to achieve but I hope it will be the start of a longer working relationship with the corporation.
“We expect to announce further collaborations with the BBC in the near future. I’m also delighted that Tommy’s former producer, Tony Wilson, who provided the recording, has agreed to edit and produce the programme for TeamRock Radio.
Moose, Head of Radio at TeamRock Radio said: “Tommy Vance is a rock god to any rock fan in the UK. This is a great opportunity to re-live the great Tommy Vance and we are thrilled to have his show on the air.”
John Moran, BBC Radio Head of Business Affairs, said: “We are pleased to be working with TeamRock to begin to unlock the BBC radio archive for further broadcast through new partnerships with commercial radio. The digital rebroadcast of this programme shows how gems from the archive can still reach new audiences.”
RadioCentre also welcomes the development, with Linda Smith, CEO saying: “We have argued for a long time that the BBC should unlock some of its great content through partnerships with commercial broadcasters. This deal sets an important precedent and I look forward to the BBC doing similar deals with other radio stations”.
