Pop Scotch '70 ( Grampian TV )

[williammcgregor]

I was looking through the NME for 1970 recently and I came across this extract dated the 25th April 1970

Grampian TV is launching a new eight-week series of "Pop Scotch '70" to be screened in May, June and July.
So far booked are John Mayall, Fotheringay, Matthew's Southern Comfort, Blue Mink, Taste, Toe Fat, Renaissance,
Deep Purple, The Move, and Pentangle. Negotiations are still taking place for Canned Heat and several other groups,
director Alan wallis told the NME that each group will be featured in a 15-25 minute spot.

I was wondering if any member knows if any of this series survives? I've checked Lost Shows and IMDB but can't find anything

meanwhile, I will try and find out from STV as they may hold the answer?

please see below for some more interesting info on the show:

1) dj Keith Skues was host of Pop Scotch on Grampian TV in 1970 www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djssa.htm

2) We hear from Radio Scotland's Jack McLaughlin
I have recently discovered your site and have been enjoying catching up on old friends.
I was lucky enough to work on four Pirate Stations Ð Radio Scotland,
Britain Radio, Radio 390 and Radio 270 Ð though on 270 I used the name Steve Taylor!

I may be able to help you with some of your missing jocks. Kathy Spence and I were great friends during our time on Radio Scotland.
She co-hosted the Radio Scotland Club with Stuart Henry from the studios in Cranworth Street Glasgow.
In the mid 1970s I was host of a TV series on Grampian Television called Pop Scotch.
We had some really top names of the day including The Move, The Moody Blues, Desmond Dekker, Johnny Nash etc.
I was asked by the producer to find a co-presenter and I immediately thought of Kathy.
We worked happily together for a couple of series before the producer left to return to London
and dear old Grampian reverted to more traditional music.

3) Jack McLaughlin
Jack McLaughlin (aka Yak MacFisheries, aka The Laird of Cowcaddens) had been a pirate DJ on Radio Scotland,
Britain Radio, Radio 390 and Radio 270 (under the name Steve Taylor).
He went legit and was with the original team at Radio Clyde and also worked as an announcer/presenter on Grampian Television and STV (Pop Scotch,
Thingummyjig and Junior Try for Ten) and on BBC Radio 2 as announcer and presenter of Folk 74 and Folk 75.
Moved to Capital Radio and then Radio Victory where by 1977 he was Head of Programmes and News.
Later established Radio Scotland Worldwide Ltd, an internet broadcast company.



4) EXTRACT FROM BEV BEVAN'S DIARY
May, 1970
The Move's new single , "Brontosaurus", selling well and in the UK top ten.
Plugged it with appearances on BBC Top of the pops and Grampian TV's "Pop Scotch".

[Deleted]

Presumably these don't exist (?).

[Deleted]

Very doubtful they exist. Deep Purple fans have known about their Scottish trip for decades and I'm sure have seen an entry about such a TV date. If it still existed, Purple fans would have had copies of it or gotten it released like they have with almost all their vintage TV performances. The fact nothing from this has ever surfaced of Deep Purple's appearance leads me to presume strongly it no longer exists.

[Deleted]

Yes. I know very little about Grampian archives, although - being one of the smaller ITV companies - I expect them to be quite slim.

[williammcgregor]

Thanks guys

I found some more info on the show from the NME 6th June 1970

Running order of guests in Grampian TV's "Pop Scotch '70" includes Cat Stevens, Matthews Southern Comfort, and Trader Horne tonight Friday,
Blue Mink, and Taste (June 12th) Renaissance and Toe Fat (June 19th) and The Move and Manfred Man Chapter III (June 26th)
Subsequent quests include Deep Purple, Pentangle, Chicken Shack and Alan Price & Friends, further bookings are still being made.


It's sad that it appears nothing survives? but you never know.

[John Green]

More on Cathy Spence here: www.offshoreradio.co.uk/djssa.htm

[SydV]

An episode breakdown of "Pop Scotch '70" would look like this (the 1970 series was only shown in the Grampian region).....

Show 1 - Grampian Friday 29th May 1970, 6:30-7:00pm
Show 2 - Grampian Friday 6th June 1970, 6:30-7:00pm (Trader Horne, Matthews Southern Comfort, Cat Stevens)
Show 3 - Grampian Friday 12th June 1970, 7:00-7:30pm (Taste, Blue Mink)
Show 4 - Grampian Friday 19th June 1970, 6:30-7:00pm (Renaissance, Toe Fat)
Show 5 - Grampian Friday 26th June 1970, 6:30-7:00pm (The Move, Manfred Mann Chapter III)
Show 6 - Grampian Friday 3rd July 1970, 6:30-7:00pm
Show 7 - Grampian Friday 10th July 1970, 6:30-7:00pm
Show 8 - Grampian Friday 17th July 1970, 6:30-7:00pm

Acts appearing on unknown 1970 editions - Deep Purple, John Mayall, Pentangle, Chicken Shack, Fotheringay and Alan Price, Canned Heat only a possibility. Given the acts involved, I'd expect these were live performances rather than mimed and I'd guess there was no audience.

Edit: Should also add that this series would have gone out in black & white, Grampian didn't make the switch to colour until 1971.

[SydV]

Looks as though "Pop Scotch '70" was actually the 2nd series of two. The first series was broadcast in 1969 (April, May & June) and this was probably the series hosted by Jack McLaughlin and Cathy Spence, with Jack miss-remembering it as being mid-70's rather than 1969. The original series was probably more pop/top 40 orientated with The Tremeloes and Marmalade being the guests on show 2 (29th April 1969) and Jack mentioning Desmond Dekker (who had "Israelites" in the charts that spring) and Johnny Nash (who charted with both "You Got Soul" and "Cupid" around that time also).

[Deleted]

We've lost so many of our UK pop and pop culture shows, it's truly shocking. When you dig beneath the surface, you realise there was so much more to it than just the big series (e.g. TOTP, RSG, OGWT etc.): The Beat Room, Gadzooks, A Whole Scene Going, Colour Me Pop, Disco 2, Once More With Felix, Pop Scotch, Discs A Go Go, Time For Blackburn, Oh Boy, So It Goes, Lift Off, Jazz Scene and all the rest. Some are barely known about!

[Liam Joseph]

Yes Mike Hugg is a very talented guy - he also did one of the great TV theme tunes for Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads.

That 1970 Pop Scotch line-up looked good, I'd love to have seen the Trader Horne, Taste, Matthews Southern Comfort and Renaissance performances. Judy Dyble of Trader Horne reminisced about appearing on this show: "One nice memory of Trader Horne. Appearing on a Grampian TV music programme along with Cat Stevens amongst others. The flight back from Aberdeen was delayed by fog, so Jack and I listened to ‘Tea for the Tillerman’ being virtually written in front of our ears, and singing along with it. That was magical."

[Liam Joseph]

Jul 26, 2013 13:16:20 GMT @laurencepiper said:

We've lost so many of our UK pop and pop culture shows, it's truly shocking. When you dig beneath the surface, you realise there was so much more to it than just the big series (e.g. TOTP, RSG, OGWT etc.): The Beat Room, Gadzooks, A Whole Scene Going, Colour Me Pop, Disco 2, Once More With Felix, Pop Scotch, Discs A Go Go, Time For Blackburn, Oh Boy, So It Goes, Lift Off and all the rest. Some are barely known about!

You've made me all depressed now Laurence! When you look at the acts that were on Colour Me Pop and Disco 2 it's particularly heartbreaking - pretty much the cream of UK underground rock from that era and virtually all gone.

[Deleted]

Yes, sorry about that, Liam! I could cry about the lack of vision with TV archives sometimes. Colour Me Pop would actually be one of my most desired recoveries of all music series. We have to rely so heavily on much better preserved overseas shows to fill in the gaps for so many of our own British acts as well.

[Deleted]

Jul 26, 2013 13:16:20 GMT @laurencepiper said:

We've lost so many of our UK pop and pop culture shows, it's truly shocking. When you dig beneath the surface, you realise there was so much more to it than just the big series (e.g. TOTP, RSG, OGWT etc.): The Beat Room, Gadzooks, A Whole Scene Going, Colour Me Pop, Disco 2, Once More With Felix, Pop Scotch, Discs A Go Go, Time For Blackburn, Oh Boy, So It Goes, Lift Off, Jazz Scene and all the rest. Some are barely known about!

When one looks at the bigger Worldwide picture, the UK committed the worst cultural vandalism. Given what little is actually left kinda implies that pop music was trivial yet it was hugely important and given tons of TV time since there were all the arts, kids and variety shows as well which would have pop spots and even they're generally decimated. I find it unfair and incomprehensible that Granada archived every episode of "Coronation Street" but massacred "Lift Off!" and the many other pop shows they produced during the 60's to the mid 70's. Even chat shows - "Dee Time" featured one or two pop acts performing every week in his show... oh dear... the BBC only kept one complete edition and one near complete with some random snippets from long lost shows. Eamonn Andrews, David Frost... again, featured regular pop acts and they're badly represented in the archives. Shocking to think that pop music was deemed so disposable.

Yet German and - as has been proved in recent years - French TV kept a good grip on their archives helping to fill a great many gaps. Sure, we may not have any UK footage of Manfred Mann Chapter Three (for example) but at least some exists thanks to French TV to give us an idea of what they looked like in action. You can also tell they took pop music VERY seriously to the degree of not just giving it much coverage but actually bothering to archive it.

[williammcgregor]

Jul 26, 2013 13:25:40 GMT Liam Joseph said:

Yes Mike Hugg is a very talented guy - he also did one of the great TV theme tunes for Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads.

That 1970 Pop Scotch line-up looked good, I'd love to have seen the Trader Horne, Taste, Matthews Southern Comfort and Renaissance performances. Judy Dyble of Trader Horne reminisced about appearing on this show: "One nice memory of Trader Horne. Appearing on a Grampian TV music programme along with Cat Stevens amongst others. The flight back from Aberdeen was delayed by fog, so Jack and I listened to ‘Tea for the Tillerman’ being virtually written in front of our ears, and singing along with it. That was magical."

Liam, Thank you for the above interesting info concerning Judy Dyble of Trader Horne appearing on Pop Scotch etc ; can I ask you the source of this info? as I am very much into building up a bibliography of pop music, especially of the 60's and early 70's. Thanks William.

[John Green]

judydyble.com/content/4th-band-%E2%80%93-trader-horne-%E2%80%93-1969