Hi Dean,
Sorry for the delay in replying.
BBC Worldwide are not set up to handle listener enquiries, so there is no obvious point of contact. And they run at least part of their operation in Bristol, not London, so an enquiry that lands on some BBC desk in London will tend not to reach Worldwide.
Also, they do not seem to have a computerised list of their holdings, in the way that Sound Archives does for its holdings. Most ex-BBC Enterprises discs which Worldwide has inherited are listed in the BBC Enterprises 'Variety Catalogue', a printed catalogue, supplied to overseas stations in the old days, from which they could order a batch of shows. Tends to say '2 dozen episodes, Clitheroe Kid', rather than necessarily listing them individually.
My contacts were at Sound Archives, and no one there ever understood why it was Corporation policy not to merge the records of Sound Archives and Enterprises; and Sound Archives had no idea what Enterprises/Worldwide were holding. The holdings being hundreds of miles away in Bristol meant no one in London could even see the items, physically.
Transcription Services LPs do not say on the label what the original broadcast date is. The label will say something like 'Just A Minute - 2 Shows' and then there will be a number that represents the index number of this LP in the Variety catalogue.
No way could you look at the item and tell which episodes are on it. You would have to play it, and then look at a fan-derived index, because BBC do not catalogue the series by First Subject; and although Sound Archives might be able to research back through paper records of the Transcription dept to identify the original source, Worldwide do not have those resources, certainly not in Bristol. So, in general, even Worldwide do NOT know which episodes they are storing.
BBC will not be interested in our opinion that there are 11 missing - lost - shows.
BBC will take the view that any shows held outside the BBC are 'lost', and that ABC accordingly hold 200+ lost shows. BBC will not be able to budget to digitally restore such a huge number of recordings. That would only be feasible with episodes from a series that sells well on CD, i.e. if the project was self-financing.
I can't see an obvious next move. Basically, no one except BBC Worldwide themselves know what they're holding. And in most cases, for the reasons explained, even Worldwide don't know what they're holding! They will likely know only that they hold, say, 3 dozen LPs from series such-and-such.
If you would like to make an enquiry, I suggest you do not direct it to BBC, but in the first instance contact instead one of the fan researchers who have current contacts at useful points inside the BBC. I suggest the most likely places you might try are
http://wipednews.com or
http://www.missing-episodes.com (or email to
mark@... ), or
http://www.wiped.wordpress.comBest wishes,
Stephen
Stephen Poppitt
Jimmy Clitheroe - The Kid Himself
http://www.JimmyClitheroe.co.uk
To: just-a-minute@...
From: dbedford@...
Date: Wed, 18 Apr 2012 13:03:39 +1200
Subject: Re: [just-a-minute] Missing JAMs
hi again
we are really talking only about these 11 “missing” shows. We are not talking about 200 shows.
We can be absolutely sure the ABC doesn’t have them, as in the past 12 years they have run through all their early shows three, maybe four times and have never played these. They have responded to people asking about these missing shows saying they are playing all the shows they have. I think there is no point at all making any requests of them.
Is there any point, in your opinion, in contacting BBC Worldwide? Or does the last para below mean you think there isn’t? I think at least some of the group would be happy just to know if they do still exist.
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 11:51 AM
Subject: RE: [just-a-minute] Missing JAMs
Contacting sound archives is a waste of time, I too tried that already and was simply ignored. my contacts at radio 4 extra have investigated in any case, so I already know that s.a. only hold 3 editions of jam from before 1980.
If bbc have any recordings, it will be BBC Worldwide who have them, held as 25 min LP recordings. But if Worldwide have them, they are not 'lost'. If not, they stil are NOT lost, because ABC have them.
So we are really talking about money: the cost of digital conversion and' restoration, but bbc are facing budget cuts. ironically, if ABC had only one or 2 editions it might be affordable, but the cost per LP multiplied by 200 is not.