VISION ON SOUND EPISODE 1

VISION ON SOUND EPISODE ONE (TX 111020 - 19:00 UK)

VISION ON SOUND - ADVENTURES IN TWENTIETH CENTURY TELEVISION... AND BEYOND...!

Where the television of the past… …becomes the conversation of the present.

Join us as we take a nostalgic journey through the television vaults, and my guests and I investigate, discover, enjoy, and chat about a whole world of televisual delights, with some occasional nonsense thrown in from time-to-time.

So, how did I end up here, presenting my own hour-long radio show on an independent radio station based in Manchesterford?

Well, on one quiet afternoon, I happened to spot a FACEBOOK post PAUL RIPLEY from FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL about suggesting ideas and presenters for new shows and I half-jokingly replied that I’d love to collaborate on a show about old television sometime and, instead of either ignoring me or dismissing the idea as completely ridiculous as I expected, he said he loved the idea and we should talk.

Things to note about me: I ALWAYS expect the worst.

I mean, despite being a long term contributor to podcasts such as ROUND THE ARCHIVES, ROUND THE ARCHIVES IN CONVERSATION, and THE SHY LIFE PODCAST, as well as co-hosting the AN A TO Z OF UK TV DRAMA podcast (go on, look them up – they’re all worth a listen), I’d never got around to creating that solo project as I worried that just me droning on might be a little dry for most people’s tastes.

But having the opportunity to mix it up a little and contact people who actually know stuff about the topics I wanted to talk about…

This was, as THE LOVE BOAT used to tell us, exciting and new.

At least for me.

Anyway, having decided that this was an actual possibility (and spending A LOT of time trying to talk myself out of this frankly quite ridiculous notion that I could present a radio show), I ventured into the big city for the first time in a while (there’s been this global pandemic thing going on, don’cha know?) and visited the socially distanced and rather unpopulated studio, located, as it is, next to the offices of STARBURST MAGAZINE.

Well this already made me happy because STARBURST was a big part of my world when I was growing up, and several boxes of old copies – along with its sister publication back then TV ZONE – still take up far too much room in my tiny little home.

To cut a long story a little shorter than it might otherwise have been, after a couple of weeks of nearly learning how to handle the studio equipment (the jury is still out as to whether I really know how to, and the learning curve remains extraordinarily steep), and failing to think of lots of questions that it would have been terribly useful to ask, between us we decided that there might be a show to be made, and then all I had to do was go away and make one.

So, despite several sleepless nights editing like crazy, or lying awake terrifying myself that I really, really couldn’t do this thing, whilst simultaneously trying to create some interesting and appropriate graphics to promote the show, I somehow managed put a PILOT episode together and that, dear listener (because I already know that there was one) is what forms the basis of EPISODE ONE of this brand new show we call VISION ON SOUND.

Well, I like it.

It seemed to sum up talking about something visual in an audio medium rather neatly, I thought. It’s actually a TV engineering thing, you know, but I (of course) blagged the reference from my perennial favourite QUATERMASS AND THE PIT.

First broadcast on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL at 19:00 on October 11 2020

In the first edition of VISION ON SOUND we visit THE STREETS OF SAN FRANCISCO, I talk about my own memories of growing up watching television in the 1970s, I interview ANDY PRIESTNER about writing DVD notes and guide books about classic TV series like SURVIVORS, SECRET ARMY, and TENKO, and there's a brief tribute to Diana Rigg.

PLEASE NOTE - For Copyright reasons, musical content has to be removed for the podcast edition. All the spoken word content remains as it was in the broadcast version. Hopefully this won't spoil your enjoyment of the show.

https://anchor.fm/visiononsound

https://anchor.fm/visiononsound/episodes/VISION-ON-SOUND-EPISODE-ONE---TX-OCTOBER-11-2020-ekuaiu

"It's mostly the same as the broadcast edition. Mostly..."

Ah yes, that small matter of “musical content...” Happily, Paul at FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL did manage to supply me with an appropriate theme tune and several musical stings to break up the show, so I’m hoping you will become very familiar with those as we travel along together on this journey.

Let’s hope you’re with us long enough to get thoroughly sick of hearing them, eh?

Oh, and if you listen on transmission (currently SUNDAY EVENING AT 7:00PM in the UK on FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL Channel 1) you do get the show as nature intended, with all of those tunes neatly slotted into our natterings.

Part of what I’m hoping to achieve with this show is to build some kind of community that enjoys chatting about old television and television in general in the same respectful manner that the other Arts (with a capital A) get discussed. Happily, several of my friends have already agreed to be interviewed and, in a world where content is king, that has been a great help, and I hope you will enjoy their contributions as and when they appear in programmes.

Certainly, the PILOT was greatly improved by having ANDY along for the ride, as well as WARREN CUMMINGS (no relation) who did the Diana Rigg tribute.

And a chat during a walk alongside a local canal led to my old pal SANDY McGREGOR agreeing to join me in the studio for at least a few editions, and I think that you’ll agree that his contributions to keeping the conversation flowing are a great help in future weeks.

When I first pitched the show, whilst half an hour seemed like it might be too short to really get into the conversation, two hours seemed like it would be an eternity to fill, so it came as quite a surprise to find that, once I had someone there with me to talk to, an hour seemed to simply flow by, so that proves the value of a good co-host.

Ideally, however, to take the burden off my co-presenters (rather than them feeling obliged to turn up every week for a thing which – unlike me - they never asked to be doing) I’d like to create a sort of rota of a few of them – perhaps four-weekly - to keep things fresh.

So, if you feel you might be a good fit, and feel able to turn up in the studio on a weekday recording session, do let me know.

Well, you never know.

If you don’t ask…

Equally, new suggestions and contact details for possible guests to interview are always welcome. You can email the show at vos@fabradiointernational.com or contact me via the Twitter feed @VisionOnSound1 and we’ll see what we can sort out.

I’m not quite “studio confident” enough yet to make the show a live broadcast (perhaps we will, one day), so I do a great deal of recording in advance, so things are pretty flexible when it comes to interview times, although slightly less so for studio sessions, but dates and times can always be arranged.

As ever, thanks to PAUL RIPLEY and everyone at FAB RADIO INTERNATIONAL for this opportunity, and thanks to you all for taking an interest.

Now, if only I can find the time to watch some actual television…

Take care.

Martin A W Holmes (131020)

Please note: This is a zero budget production. I do it for the love of it (and - I convince myself - to try and find some purpose in this otherwise professionally inactive life I'm leading). I make no actual income out of this.