bhowells

Am i right in saying that the sponsored programmes on Radio Luxemburg in the fifties and sixties were very short. I am sure that when I started to listen regurarly in the early sevetnies the sponsored programmes had largely disapeared but I remember hearing sponsored programmes on RTE radio in Ireland in the seventies and their programmes only lasted fifteen minutes which was very annoying as they only played half a song.

Earl B I think you may be able to give us some info about the Luxy sponsored programmes, if you would be so kind.

narabdela

I remember listening to "Dan Dare" on Luxemburg in the fifties. The programs did indeed last fifteen minutes and were sponsored by either Horlicks or Ovaltine. I can't remember which.

earlb

Thanks bhowells. A lot of programmes were half hour slots and some of these were indeed divided into quarter hour slots. You would then have an announcer saying something like "The last quarter of an hour was brought to you by Park Drive etc: and the next quarter of an hour is brought to you by Flawless beauty cream. Usually The Decca and EMI shows were sponsored by themselves. Alongside these there were sponsored quarter hour shows. If you want to hear an example click on 208 It was Great Radio Luxembourg - Home
then select 'Sounds' from the top menu which'll open up a juke box. On the juke box select 'Tony Hall. I hope that's clear.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.

bhowells

Thanks I knew I could rely on you.

bhowells

I forgot that there were spoken word programmes as well as music shows thanks for this.

Jackdaw

Lux was a bit of a haven for me when I was quite young yet had free access to the radio.
I seem to remember Take Your Pick and possibly Double your Money being on there, and also a thriller series narrated by Basil Rathbone.
Deep Heat Mentholatum Rub used to sponsor something but I remember not what.
Thinking harder, both Beecham's Powders and Beecham's Pills used to be advertised, and till this day I have no idea what the latter was supposed to remedy - the ad was a bit non-specific as I recall.
I think that one of the two afore-mentioned might have been involved with Take Your Pick - a part of which, the Yes/No interlude, used to put me on such edge that I couldn't listen to it:
You didn't say no then?
I didn't.
Are you sure?
I am.
But you didn't say yes?
No - gong!!
Shredded nerves for me by that time!
Apart from the EMI labels and Decca (DEC C-A), Pye-Nixa and Phillips-Fontana had 15 minute programmes, and it was a little predicatable because you could pretty well tell who was, or was not, going to appear in the next quarter-hour.
Also, the records in those shows were truncated to allow more to be played.
Just a shop window, really.

earlb

As an 'unofficial' historian on Radio Luxembourg I can tell you I have many 'studio quality' recordings and the earliest one I have is 'Carroll Levis Discoveries' which was broadcast on Sunday the 27th of March 1938 before an invited audience at the Odeon Leicester Square, sponsored by Quaker Oats and featuring the Van Dam Orchestra. It was broadcast from three radio stations on that date. Radio Luxembourg 10.30pm-10.45pm - - Radio Normandy 5.15pm-5.30pm - - Radio Lyons 8.30pm-8.45pm. Of course this was when Radio Luxembourg was on Long wave at 1293 metres before it moved to 208 metres in the 1950's.

I'd give my right arm to be ambidextrous.