Pick Of The Pops

Pick Of The Pops was first broadcast on the BBC Light Programme in 1955.

Initially the show did not feature the charts, but in September 1957 Alan Dell introduced the format of running through the charts of the week, playing the top tens from various music papers plus entries to top 20s.

When Fluff replaced David Jacobs in 1961 POTP was part of a Saturday-evening programme called Trad Tavern. It became a separate programme, moving to the Sunday evening slot in January 1962.

Denys Jones (producer 1961–1972) and Fluff split the programme into four "units": chart newcomers, new releases, LPs and the Top 10. It continued, with slight changes to the format, until September 1972 when it was replaced with Solid Gold Sixty presented by Tom Browne.

Some of these shows can be heard here: Pick Of The Pops 1961 to 1972

Freeman revived Pick of the Pops on the local London station, Capital Radio, from 1982 to the end of 1988 as Pick of the Pops – Take Two, combining the new chart with a chart from the past.

In 1989, Freeman returned to Radio 1 and Pick Of The Pops was re-launched on Sunday lunchtimes, now featuring three past charts each week. The show ran for three years until 27th December 1992 - Radio Times listing this show as "For the last time ever - Alan Freeman with the Top 20 charts of the last three decades. This week: 1961, 1970 and 1982" Pick Of The Pops 1989-1992

From April 1994 to January 1997 Freeman revived the show once more on Capital Gold as Pick Of The Pops – Take Three, again featuring vintage charts this time along side other features such as "Battle Of The Giants", rock requests and competitions.

Pick of the Pops returned to the BBC as an independent production by Unique Broadcasting on Radio 2 on 5 April 1997, with Freeman now counting down two archive charts each week featuring the top 10s and what was number one in other parts of the world. Pick Of The Pops 1997-2000

External links courtesy of Pete Seaton's Chart Shows Wikia.