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.

On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott
<newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>
> 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.
--
Tciao for Now!

On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:40:47 +0000, Scott
<newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

>On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott
><newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>> 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.
>
>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.

On 08/02/2024 13:43, Scott wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:40:47 +0000, Scott
> <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott
>> <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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.
>>
>> 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.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

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

In message <ifm9si5nnf66thdiu1600h3ud53kgr0o3d@4ax.com> at Thu, 8 Feb
2024 13:43:46, Scott <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> writes
[]
>I just wondered if anyone here had any recordings.

Just curious - why, was he a relative or something?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Science fiction is escape into reality - Arthur C Clarke

On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 00:05:20 +0000, nickodell49@yahoo.ca (nick) wrote:

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

On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 01:40:02 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
wrote:

>In message <ifm9si5nnf66thdiu1600h3ud53kgr0o3d@4ax.com> at Thu, 8 Feb
>2024 13:43:46, Scott <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> writes
>[]
>>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.

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

In message <3jvbsildgudhf37f2fotg48q8o5gh1jqhn@4ax.com> at Fri, 9 Feb
2024 10:30:09, Scott <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> writes
>On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 01:40:02 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver" <G6JPG@255soft.uk>
>wrote:
>
>>In message <ifm9si5nnf66thdiu1600h3ud53kgr0o3d@4ax.com> at Thu, 8 Feb
>>2024 13:43:46, Scott <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> writes
>>[]
>>>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 ...
>
>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.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

"EARTH is 98% full. Please delete anybody you can." - Fortunes file

On Fri, 9 Feb 2024 12:33:44 +0000, JMB99 <mb@nospam.net> wrote:

>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.

On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott
<newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:

> 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!

On 10/02/2024 15:44, Paul Ratcliffe wrote:
> On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott
> <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> 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 ?)

In message <l494q9Ftj3iU4@mid.individual.net> at Wed, 28 Feb 2024
16:20:25, Mark Carver <mark@invalid.com> writes
>On 10/02/2024 15:44, Paul Ratcliffe wrote:
[snipped]
Ah, so it's _not_ just me who's seeing posts from earlier this month
coming up again!
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

I finally got my head together, and my body fell apart.

On Wed, 28 Feb 2024 16:20:25 +0000, Mark Carver <mark@invalid.com>
wrote:

>On 10/02/2024 15:44, Paul Ratcliffe wrote:
>> On Thu, 08 Feb 2024 13:30:18 +0000, Scott
>> <newsgroups@gefion.myzen.co.uk> wrote:
>>
>>> 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.