Just A Minute

Hello Mark,

JAM was commissioned to support the new Radio 4 service in 1967, but it was only in 1973 that R4 became a stereo channel.

It really depends where and when the recording was made. Certainly the earlier tape machines would have been mono and when the new Studer B62s came in they would have been fitted with stereo tape heads from the start. But many studios did not have full stereo ability until the mid-70s. However I would speculate that the JAM recoding venues would have been a priority.

The Playhouse Theatre and other non-BBC locations would have been handled by Radio Outside Broadcasts department and they always had a hochpoch of equipment so early days would have been what they could get, as new equipment was installed in the main studios the old equipment would be handed down to Radio OBs.

At the BBC "owned" locations they had/have dedicated wiring and production cubicle with permanent equipment (tape machines and sound desk etc.) I would have expected that by 1972 that most (?) JAM would have been recorded in stereo. However if the surviving programme copies are originals or mono copies that come back from international distributions is anyone's guess.

The one good point is that NP would often/always (?) include the location in his introduction of the programme.

The pages below with pictures might be of interest to readers of this email.

"The Paris" on Lower Regent Street was home to JAM for a long time: http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/outsidestds/paris.htm

The Concert Hall (now called Radio Theatre) within Broadcasting House :http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/concerthall/ch.htm

...and more recent images: http://www.orbitalsound.co.uk/pressarticle.asp?AID=208

More general images from the early days at BH: http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/bh67/bh67_1.htm

On tape machines: http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/tapes/btr2.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_a_Minute

Badger. (former BBC engineer)