When TOTP was launched on January 1st, 1964, it went on to become one of the BBC’s most popular shows with over 6 million viewers tuning in to its Thursday night show. Now with many mourning its loss, it seems a helping hand from the US may finally bring it back.
By Ian Woolley
Top Of The Pops studio
Since former Radio One DJ and broadcaster Mike Read launched the Heritage Chart, seems many of the artists’ music he’s championed are about to reach the US and beyond.
“In all essence, Mike’s chart show is the new Top Of The Pops says Rockefellar’s publicist and partner Barry Tomes.
By chance, they bumped into each other after many years whilst filming their respective TV shows in Brighton. One of the American presenters in the studio had seen The Chart Show on local TV in the hotel where he was staying at the time. Barry says “I know a lot of people my age still yearn for Top Of The Pops, Pans People, etc”.
The latest Heritage Chart
Mike Read had been doing the show on his radio station for the last two years since Covid and being no stranger to the original popular BBC music show, a lot of people in the industry wanted to bring it back. Today, his Sunday 5 pm two-hour show goes out to about 17 radio stations around the world every Sunday evening. Championed on Latest TV in Brighton, the Spanish station XPTV One put out the show to the thousands of ex-pats living there and they loved it.
When the original TOTP was filmed, US artists would be filmed in the BBC studios in Los Angeles.
US-based Rockefella TV CEO Alex Garcia tells me “Music has been in no man’s land for the last three decades in my opinion. The incentive is not there to write music like it was between the 50s and 90s because music can now be downloaded for free. However, there are a lot of people that write great songs. Anyone can write songs and start at the same place as Bruce Springsteen, with the same process at a home studio.”
“The only difference now is people who were around in the 1950s to the early 1990s have a legacy.”
“Back then artists went through a marketing and touring process paid for by a label. You had to physically go to a store and buy a single or album. Because of the internet, all of that is gone. Though people are trying to find ways to get their music out there, it is a lot more difficult now to become famous because everything is now fragmented and over-saturated.”
Recently Tomes chatted with Midge Ure about this subject as he was at one time not playing his old hits with his current band at the time. “I told Midge it’s your heritage and at the moment you are a creative artist and you are worried that none of your new music will get played. When reality kicks in that it definitely won’t get played, you will use your old hits to keep the interest in you. Then you can introduce the new music to your new audience which is exactly going on with other heritage artists,” said Barry.
“The Heritage Chart is a great example of getting music back into the limelight,” says Alex. Producing The Monica Price Show where she has many musical artists on her late-night chat show, the guys at Rockefella decided to use these artists to put together this new music show in the same format as TOTP.
The Vapors recording for the Chart Show
Recently, the Chart TV show reached 50 TV episodes and exciting plans are ahead as Barry Tomes tells me. “The chart will also be available shortly on Amazon Prime and will be shown in the US, UK, Japan, and New Zealand. It continues to go from strength to strength and everyone will see some shows and concerts this Summer under the Heritage Chart Brand”, he tells me.
Last word from Barry “music grew from the decades of the 60s,70s, and 80s in my opinion. Media fragmented it after that time and I hope my small contribution to making this work brings us back together once a week around the dinner table where we are all talking about the same things and wearing our favorite bands’ tee-shirt.”
“I’m as enthusiastic today as I was when I bought “Hot Love” by T.Rex for 32p which I’ve still got!”
Seems some things are worth keeping!
Many of our Beat readers will be hoping that their vision of reviving something we all grew up with will come to our screens soon. We’ll keep you updated.
The Heritage Chart (every Sunday from 5 – 7 pm) and Chart Show airs on Brighton’s TV channel – 24/7 on Channel 7 & Virgin 159 & online at www.thelatest.co.uk