Friday 18 August 2017


Having written FM Spot last week as an abbreviation for THE FRIDAY MUSIC SPOT I realised this could indicate some sort of radio station - as in Capital FM or Classic FM etc.
Frequency Modulation (FM) isn't new technology (invented in the 1930s in America - the tragic story of its birth is told here > https://www.damninteresting.com/the-tragic-birth-of-fm-radio/). Consequently FM radio was slow to emerge through the late 50s and 60s but being better suited to high fidelity music than AM broadcasts were, it finally took off and by the 1970s in the US it had arrived.
It became popular in the UK and the rest of world during this time but in one case, BBC Radio 1, it would be 1987 before it was allocated an FM frequency. Up until this time the station only shared evenings and weekend FM airtime with Radio 2, meaning during the week no daytime 'Wonderful Radio 1" FM transmissions. (More on this in the coming weeks).

Which about brings me to… I was listening to BBC Radio 6 at the weekend (strictly speaking a digital station and not on an FM frequency, but let's not split signals here). On came the song 'Summer Breeze' by the Isley Brothers, their version of the Seals & Crofts number from 1973. But would it be the superb LP version or the single, issued as an A side: 'Summer Breeze (Part 1)' and a B side '(Part 2)'. Would the radio play the full version or just the shorter single 'A' side? As it faded on 3 minutes I realised I wouldn't be enjoying the last 2 minutes of the full version, where Ernie Isley unleashes a guitar solo, that is one of my all time favourite solos, of all time.  But today we can!  And here it is…


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