SOT: Gordon Sparks

[Scott]

This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon? I have written to a couple of presenters at the station,
with no success. I believe BBC policy is not to provide copies of
copyright material and in any event I assume such material will not be
retained long term.

[Scott]

On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon? I have written to a couple of presenters at the station,
with no success. I believe BBC policy is not to provide copies of
copyright material and in any event I assume such material will not be
retained long term.

Depending on the station's retention pplicy, there will have been a
station log recording of him speaking available for a while, but these
are not normally available to those outside the station and the
authorities. These were or area a legal requirement, but were or are
normally deleted after a year or so and the media re-used.

Have you asked the station management or station archivist about
these?
Presenters would have only had access to their own recordings, and may
not even be aware they exist.

[Scott]

On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:40:47 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon? I have written to a couple of presenters at the station,
with no success. I believe BBC policy is not to provide copies of
copyright material and in any event I assume such material will not be
retained long term.

Depending on the station's retention pplicy, there will have been a
station log recording of him speaking available for a while, but these
are not normally available to those outside the station and the
authorities. These were or area a legal requirement, but were or are
normally deleted after a year or so and the media re-used.

The problem is that Gordon sadly died more than a year ago. I would be
relying on material specifically retained.

Post by Scott
Have you asked the station management or station archivist about
these?
Presenters would have only had access to their own recordings, and may
not even be aware they exist.

I tried someone senior at the station a couple of times but this was
unsuccessful. I suppose you are right. I need to identify the station
manager (I doubt if there will be a dedicated archivist).

I just wondered if anyone here had any recordings.

[John Williamson]

Post by Scott
On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:40:47 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon? I have written to a couple of presenters at the station,
with no success. I believe BBC policy is not to provide copies of
copyright material and in any event I assume such material will not be
retained long term.

Depending on the station's retention pplicy, there will have been a
station log recording of him speaking available for a while, but these
are not normally available to those outside the station and the
authorities. These were or area a legal requirement, but were or are
normally deleted after a year or so and the media re-used.

The problem is that Gordon sadly died more than a year ago. I would be
relying on material specifically retained.

Post by Scott
Have you asked the station management or station archivist about
these?
Presenters would have only had access to their own recordings, and may
not even be aware they exist.

I tried someone senior at the station a couple of times but this was
unsuccessful. I suppose you are right. I need to identify the station
manager (I doubt if there will be a dedicated archivist).
I just wondered if anyone here had any recordings.

Okay, fair enough.

[nick]

Have you tried browsing the Internet Archive?
This search:
https://archive.org/details/audio?tab=collection&query=BBC+Radio+Devon&page=2
brought up at least one mention of Gordon Sparks and it's possible that a
further search might narrow down to what you are looking for.

Nick

[Scott]

Post by nick
Have you tried browsing the Internet Archive?
https://archive.org/details/audio?tab=collection&query=BBC+Radio+Devon&page=2
brought up at least one mention of Gordon Sparks and it's possible that a
further search might narrow down to what you are looking for.

Thanks. I was not aware of this and will do some searching.
Ironically, for the episode here David Sheppard was sitting in!

[J. P. Gilliver]

In message <***@4ax.com> at Thu, 8 Feb
2024 13:43:46, Scott <***@gefion.myzen.co.uk> writes
[]

Post by Scott
I just wondered if anyone here had any recordings.

Just curious - why, was he a relative or something?

[Scott]

Post by J. P. Gilliver
[]

Post by Scott
I just wondered if anyone here had any recordings.

Just curious - why, was he a relative or something?

I started listening periodically when Simon Bates joined Radio Davon
(as I liked his broadcasting style from my student days). When Simon
left, I continued listening to Gordon Sparks - mainly the Golden Hour
over breakfast - and thought he was a great broadcaster. I texted in
many times to guess the year. Now, sadly 'Sparksy' has passed away and
I would quite like one of his recordings.

Incidentally, my mum worked for BBC radio in Scotland and when I tried
there, they could only find one recording in the archive as most of
the material went out live.

[JMB99]

I presume you have listened to the ones on BBC Programme Index?

[Scott]

Post by JMB99
I presume you have listened to the ones on BBC Programme Index?

Actually, I was unaware of this. I should also look for my mum's name.
Thanks very much.

[J. P. Gilliver]

Post by Scott

Post by J. P. Gilliver
[]

Post by Scott
I just wondered if anyone here had any recordings.

Just curious - why, was he a relative or something?

I started listening periodically when Simon Bates joined Radio Davon
(as I liked his broadcasting style from my student days). When Simon
left, I continued listening to Gordon Sparks - mainly the Golden Hour
over breakfast - and thought he was a great broadcaster. I texted in
many times to guess the year. Now, sadly 'Sparksy' has passed away and
I would quite like one of his recordings.

Ah, so just a genuine fan. I know what you mean, see below ...

Post by Scott
Incidentally, my mum worked for BBC radio in Scotland and when I tried
there, they could only find one recording in the archive as most of
the material went out live.

I remember, 1960s and '70s, in Germany, BFBS Cologne had a children's -
might have been hour - with "Uncle Bill", who I remember with fondness
(we visited the station once, while he was on the air!). Among other
things, he had a series of "Bigwood" stories, about animals who lived
around a lake - rather Wind in the Willows flavour, IIRR. I often
thought they should have released them as an audiobook series or
similar. (I'm pretty sure he wrote them.) I don't remember anything else
about the prog. - probably like many kids' prog.s, with record requests,
birthday wishes, and so on.

[Paul Ratcliffe]

On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon?

I worked there for 7 weeks in 1990 and don't recall that name, so I
guess it was a while after that (and the answer is no).
It might help if you gave a date, but I suspect what you are looking
for no longer exists, if indeed it ever did.
Nothing much turns up in a search and anything that does seems to
relate to other stations.
I have just listened to the opening 10 minutes from 1983 though!

[Mark Carver]

Post by Scott
On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon?

I worked there for 7 weeks in 1990 and don't recall that name, so I
guess it was a while after that (and the answer is no).

Gordon was still at Plymouth Sound in 1990, I think he joined BBC Devon
to launch the opt out breakfast show presented from Plymouth (2005 ish
?) (rather than Exeter ?)

[J. P. Gilliver]

[snipped]
Ah, so it's _not_ just me who's seeing posts from earlier this month
coming up again!

[Scott]

Post by Mark Carver

Post by Scott
On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott

Post by Scott
This is a very long shot, but does anyone have any recordings of the
late Gordon Sparks presenting the Golden Hour (Gordon Hour) at BBC
Radio Devon?

I worked there for 7 weeks in 1990 and don't recall that name, so I
guess it was a while after that (and the answer is no).

Gordon was still at Plymouth Sound in 1990, I think he joined BBC Devon
to launch the opt out breakfast show presented from Plymouth (2005 ish
?) (rather than Exeter ?)

I thought he started presenting the sports commentary earlier, but I
cannot find any authority for this. Great broadcaster.