krasteff's channel

This channel is dedicated to the BBC World Service Radio team of DJ's in the 80's. Presenters like John Peel, Sarah Ward, Paul Burnett, DLT, Andy Peebles, Simon Mayo and many others, had a big impact on pop music.
John Peel presented a weekly half-hour show, only having time to play 7 or 8 tracks, rarely 6 or 9, depending on tracks' duration.
Probably not too many people know that unlike his Radio 1 show, it was not until 1987 when J.Peel started featuring artists from outside of the UK in the World Service show. Before the start of a BBC WS programme the announcements usually sounded like "...And now with his selection of new music from the BRITISH rock scene, here is John Peel". He would also feature artists from Australia, Ireland or Jamaica, like SPK, Dead Can Dance, Zerra I or Mad Professor, the majority of which were based in the UK and were part of the british rock scene. Obviously the mission of J. Peel's World Service show before 1987 was to introduce british artists to the world audience, although this fact is never mentioned. Thus, the first decade or so of the World Service show was totally british. This period of time approximately corresponds to the british punk/ new wave era.
Another less well-known fact is that J.Peel never played recordings from his "Peel Sessions" on BBC World Service before 1987, probably because he had to play a session of 4 tracks in full. Only after a given session appeared on record was he able to play individual tracks. This practice began in 1987 with 'Strange Fruit' releases. One of the rare exceptions is the Sept. 1985 flexi by The Nightingales, featuring session tracks.
The uploaded recordings from BBC WS are taken from original tapes. Shortwave radio fans may find these documents interesting too.

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