SEE YOU BACK AFTER THE BREAK!

ByANDY FLEMING, Webmaster

Thanks are due to Neil Siddaway who has contacted the Metro Radio 261MW 97VHF Tribute website again with another couple of montages of commercial breaks.

So once again, it's time to delve into the anals of north east broadcasting nostalgia for another snapshot of social and economic history from a late seventies perspective on Metro Radio. Neil of Middlesbrough in Teesside has lovingly taped programmes, jingles and commercial breaks from the station and most importantly has kept them all this time and has indeed built up a superb audio archive.

Please enjoy these latest recordings, that are nearly forty years and thanks once again to Neil, of whom we're heavily indebted.

Metro Radio Commercials 25
Metro Job Time; Yorkie; Starks DIY, Shiney Row. (Bobby Thompson); Weetabix; Patterson Ford. (How Can We Help You); Cowies, Sunderland; Ross's Beetroot; H.G.Block & Son; The Journal; Green Shield Stamps; 1978; 5 mins 12 secs.


Metro Radio Commercials 26
Octopus Books; Wallsend Service Station, (Merry Christmas); Keep On Trucking, Promo; Elvis 40 Greatest Hits; Christmas Cards; Harp Lager; Metcalfe's Radios (Merry Christmas); Golden Rail Holidays; Corbett & Company; Tom Thumb Cigars; Carlsberg Special Brew; ; 1979; 5 mins 40 secs.

Metro Radio Commercials 27

Fine Fare Department Store, Peterlee; On The Road, Weekly Car Guide; Fine Fare Superstore, Stanley; Heaven Can Wait Film. (1978); Nurodol, Pain Killer; Top Rank Club. (Pat Coombes); Student Rail Card. (Noel Edmonds); Esso Tyres; PER Employment News. (Redvers Kyle); La Dolce Vita; 1978; 5 mins 24 secs.

More of Neil's fantastic archive of commercials and jingles is available on Time for a Commercial Break page. 

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AFTER THE NEWS AT 9, THE MID-MORNING SHOW WITH DAVE BURROWS!

ByANDY FLEMING

Time once again for another programme in our series of fixes of nostalgia and journeys back through the decades to listen to Metro Radio in the late seventies. Once again we are indebted to Neil Siddaway of Middlesbrough for these absolutely fantastic recordings. I'm sure that I'm not the only one who can reminisce with these superb recordings via our musical time machine. If the twenty first century all seems a bit too complicated and hectic, then it's time to bookmark our Programme Downloads page, and use it as a little piece of seventies magic, if not tranquillity and peace for even more programmes!

Dave Burrows, presenter of Metro
Radio's mid-morning programme
in the late seventies.

It's a couple of minutes past nine on the morning of Monday September 18, 1978, and musically Abba's Summer Night City and David Essex's Oh What a Circus were in the charts.

Picture the scene; you're in the kitchen having a nice cup of Nescafe and your transistor radio is tuned to Metro Radio on 261. It's time for the daily Dave Burrows' Morning Show, a fantastic mix of chart music, oldies, recipes, tips and local information.

This is the point in the day when you can catch up with local what's on information, who's having a coffee morning or the latest up to date market prices for fruit, vegetables and meat. And the prices reveal just how inflation has had an effect on prices over four decades!

The Dave Burrows Show was preceded by Bill's Steel's Breakfast Show, and followed by Steve King's programme, the first hour of which featured The Mid-day Music Explosion.

So relax, settle back and let us take you on another nostalgic trip back to 1978, this time your presenter is Dave Burrows, courtesy of Neil Siddaway.

The Morning Show, presented by Dave Burrows. Air date: September 18, 1978. Duration: 58 minutes.



Once again, the rest of our ever expanding programme archive is available at the Metro Radio 261MW 97VHF Tribute website's Programme Downloads page.

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KEEPING THE SHAREHOLDERS HAPPY WITH 3 BUMPER COMMERCIAL BREAKS!

ByANDY FLEMING, Webmaster

Once again, many thanks are due to Neil Siddaway who has contacted the Metro Radio 261MW 97VHF Tribute website again with three mega montages of commercial breaks.

So we're once again about to embark in our magical time travel machine on a journey of north east broadcasting history, and take another look at some snapshots of social and economic history from a late seventies perspective on Metro Radio. Neil of Middlesbrough in Teesside has lovingly taped programmes, jingles and commercial breaks from the station and most importantly has kept them all this time and has indeed built up a superb audio archive.

Enjoy these advertisements and if you have any material you would like to share via the Metro Radio 261MW 97VHF Tribute Website, no matter what the quality (we have ways of digitally cleaning it up!), then please don't hesitate this friendly historical website. We are starting to gain thousands of visitors many of whom are listeners and former presenters, and any material you possess I'm sure would bring nostalgic memories flooding back!

Submitting material couldn't be easier either via e-mail attachment, a free file hosting service or by post. To submit audio visual material and/or your memories or for inquiries, please contact the site here. 

Many thanks,
Andy.

Metro Radio Commercials 22
Len Groat. Various; John Denver Live At The London Palladium Album; Motor Cycle Racing Films At The People's Theatre; Death Race 2,000 Film; Tropical Ryslip, Paperback Book; Michael Parrish; Murray Mints. (Ad One); Just Jeans, Grainger Street, Newcastle; Murray Mints. (Ad Two); Metropopolis; Giles Squire, Show Closing; Big Phil Promo; 1974/75; 6 mins 27 secs.

Metro Radio Commercials 23
Big Phil intro; Mr Quilp, Film; Scottish & Newcastle, Merry Christmas; Sombrero Club, Chester Le Street; Compliments of the Season; Guinness, Christmas;
Prontaprint, Happy Christmas; North Eastern COOP, Goodbye '75 Sale; Maxwell's, Tynemouth; Guinness, New Year; Keep On Trucking, Promo; Guinness, Ad 3; Babycham; Gallagher & Lyle at The City Hall; Bellway Homes; Farnon's Sale; Hunting Lambert Travel; 1975; 7 mins 04 secs.

Metro Radio Commercials 24
Bridges Intro, with Alan "Fluff" Freeman; Northern Gas. The specialists; Schweppes Challenge Mile, Gateshead Stadium; Suite Centres, Newcastle & Sunderland; Roy's Two Rooms, Newcastle; Turners Photography; Kojak Shades, Sunglasses; Hotpoint Service Pledge; Metro Sports Quiz Final; Wrigley's Spearmint Gum; Shepard's of Gateshead; Joplings, Sunderland; 4-7-11, (Ad 1); Airport Way Filling Station; Complan; Only The Beginning, Album. Minories; Maxwell's of Tynemouth; Father's Day Cards; Juicy Fruit Gum; Minories, Lower Hire Charges; Waterloo House Sale; 4-7-11, (Ad 2); 1976; 10 mins 03 secs.

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KEVIN ROWNTREE: A LISTENER'S TRIBUTE

The late Kevin Rowntree, Head of Metro Radio News.

ByANDY FLEMING

It is with great sadness that the Metro Radio 261MW 97VHF Tribute website reports, via former Metro Radio presenter and Chief Announcer at Tyne Tees Television Bill Steel, the very sad news that Kevin Rowntree has passed away.

 Kevin worked at Tyne Tees Television and later became Head of News at Metro Radio in the 1970s. Visitors may also remember his always popular shows on BBC Radio Newcastle. His hobby was bee-keeping and apparently he was always arriving at Metro with a large throbbing nose where he'd been stung!

Speaking personally as a listener, I used to thoroughly enjoy listening to his Metro Phone-In each weekday between 2 and 3pm when I was on holiday as a teenager. Some of the callers did make him irate and they were admittedly annoying to say the least! He didn't take fools gladly, and I have a recording somewhere where he ended the show early with some music because of the poor quality of the calls. And that was it; he was the ultimate professional in journalism. It was a great show and I've always loved current affairs and politics, but sadly, as a sixteen year old I never quite summoned up the courage to phone in and talk to him!

His Special Report and Metro Documentary on a Friday evening were unique and of exceptional quality with some fascinating and engaging subjects under the spotlight. From a listener's point of view it all sounded the epitome of professionalism.

Like all of the presenters at Metro, he made you feel valued and you almost felt like a personal friend. I had the pleasure of meeting many of the presenters on my many guided tours of the station (I got away with so many because I was always bringing yet another friend!).

Simply put, from this listeners point of view Kevin brought hours of informative listening pleasure.

RIP Kevin, and thanks.

Audio Tribute

Kevin Rowntree. Trailer for Metro Radio's Special Report: North East Suffragettes, 1978. Duration: 43 secs.




The Afternoon Metro Phone-In with Kevin Rowntree, Theme music. Courtesy of Neil Siddaway of Middlesbrough, Teesside.

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