David Jacobs retiring [latest: 1926-2013 RIP]

[gurnemanz]

Many memories of this versatile broadcaster from my childhood and youth - Top of the Pops, Juke Box Jury, Any Questions, Housewives' Choice, Jazz Club, What's My Line? among others. And, of course, Radio Luxembourg (on tranny under bedclothes). I must confess I didn't know he was still working. His last appearance is on Aug 4th.

[salymap]

I too thought he had retired long ago. What stamina to keep going to 87.


All the best to him

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I too thought he had retired long ago. What stamina to keep going to 87.


All the best to him

"Liver cancer and Parkinson's Disease" and he still intends to continue broadcasting "from time to time"! Splendid chap.

[french frank]

Presumably, his programme will be replaced by a twenty-something playing modern pop. Not my personal taste, but Radio 2 has already axed Melodies for You and Your Hundred Best Tunes. No wonder Radio 3 is 'gearing up' for more f*lm music. Yes, what a civilised broadcaster David Jacobs has been. For me, must watch of the week was Juke Box Jury: only disc I remember was Dominic Behan (brother of Brendan) singing 'Liverpool Lou'. I think they voted it a miss - and it was. (But I bought it anyway.)

[Tony Halstead]

"Liver cancer and Parkinson's Disease" and he still intends to continue broadcasting "from time to time"! Splendid chap.

I will never forget his astonishing contribution(s) to 'Journey into Space' - which became such a powerful influence on my childhood that I ended up being a member of the 'Junior Astronomical Society' and the Manchester Astronomical Society in the 1950s, my personal highlight being a visit to Patrick Moore's house and observatory when I was about 15!
Many thanks, David Jacobs.

[antongould]

I too thought he had retired long ago. What stamina to keep going to 87.


All the best to him

Of course someone 4 days younger is still going.......

[Flosshilde]

I must confess I didn't know he was still working.

I'm surprised he's still alive, let alone working. He's one of those people that belong to my childhood, seeing him on Juke Box Jury

[salymap]

I will never forget his astonishing contribution(s) to 'Journey into Space' - which became such a powerful influence on my childhood that I ended up being a member of the 'Junior Astronomical Society' and the Manchester Astronomical Society in the 1950s, my personal highlight being a visit to Patrick Moore's house and observatory when I was about 15!
Many thanks, David Jacobs.

I suppose I was the wrong sex and nearly grown up but I really loved 'Journey into Space'.

[Stillhomewardbound]

David 'Hello there' Jacobs is the last link I retain to my days when I was a student at the BBC Radio 2 Academy of Fine Popular Music.

For me it was the ultimate Open University, celebrating strands of musical science that were coming to the end of their day.

My favourite academic on the faculty was Prof. Benny Green whose knowledge of the American Songbook was supreme. We marvelled not only at the breadth of his learning, but also smiled inwardly at the curmudgeonly verdicts he could pronounce, ever the questioning autodidact.

Then there was the Emeritus Professor of Sounds Easy, Dr.Alan Dell. A somewhat more refined figure than BG, but still, one who loved this genre of music with a passion.

They were programmed back to back on a Sunday afternoon between 2 & 4pm and reigned for some fifteen years.

My introduction to them had been by my father who ruled the radio dial in those days, but once I want to university, I became master of the dial.

Not only did I listen to these unseen voices religiously but I also recorded their broadcasts which were then listened to, repeatedly and beyond, across the weeks. I still have some of those cassettes and cherish them as one would delicate parchments of a neglected text.

And let's not forget my other learned tutors to whom I still raise a glass over thirty years later: Peter Clayton (R2 Sounds of Jazz & JRR on R3), Alexis Korner ... and, indeed, David Jacobs.

Thems was the genuine gentlefolk of Jazz and Easy Listening (hateful expression, my apologies) and I truly miss them still.

But what did this disparate collective of Senior Common Room eccentrics most have in common?

Well, only the love of taking twelve or thirteen recordings into a radio studio and sharing them, not with millions of listeners, but with a single friend.

Yes, of course, they were aware of the larger audience, but they spoke through the studio microphone as if they were exchanging confidentialities with the person next to them at the bar.

I recall being in the index room of the record library at Egton House once when I spied one of my heros, Peter Clayton. I really did worship that man and it was fully fifteen minutes before I could place myself next to him amongst the long, narrow drawers and attempt a casual conversation.

My gambit was to canvass his opinion on the newly launched Jazz FM. Well, I was shocked. Firstly, he actually spoke to me, but secondly, I discovered that one of radio's most natural and relaxed of broadcasters was, in person, a most shy and diffident personality.

Now, I'm not saying that our David ever suffered from shyness, but he's an enduring example of the style of broadcaster who has only ever an audience of 1!

Why values like that disappear I simply do not know but every time I turn on the television I see a presenter speaking to an autocue, or on radio I can hear the new voices speaking to their scripts on the green, beize table. They build in the 'lift' to suggest spontaneity, but we can tell its a fraud.

Oh, lordy, how well it worked when broadcasters spoke TO people, rather than AT them.


SMcK.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh, lordy, how well it worked when broadcasters spoke TO people, rather than AT them.

Beautifully put, Shwb.

[pilamenon]

Sorry to see him go but he has sounded rather frail of late so I'm not surprised. I often have his late night programme on to round off the weekend - fits the bill perfectly. Hopefully, they'll replace him with someone like Desmond Carrington, as Sunday evening does seem to be the last bastion of the old-style Radio 2. Also remember him doing a popular classical show 20 years or so ago on Sunday nights which my Dad used to love - the scherzo from Beethoven 7 was the theme music.

[amateur51]

David 'Hello there' Jacobs is the last link I retain to my days when I was a student at the BBC Radio 2 Academy of Fine Popular Music.

For me it was the ultimate Open University, celebrating strands of musical science that were coming to the end of their day.

My favourite academic on the faculty was Prof. Benny Green whose knowledge of the American Songbook was supreme. We marvelled not only at the breadth of his learning, but also smiled inwardly at the curmudgeonly verdicts he could pronounce, ever the questioning autodidact.

Then there was the Emeritus Professor of Sounds Easy, Dr.Alan Dell. A somewhat more refined figure than BG, but still, one who loved this genre of music with a passion.

They were programmed back to back on a Sunday afternoon between 2 & 4pm and reigned for some fifteen years.

My introduction to them had been by my father who ruled the radio dial in those days, but once I want to university, I became master of the dial.

Not only did I listen to these unseen voices religiously but I also recorded their broadcasts which were then listened to, repeatedly and beyond, across the weeks. I still have some of those cassettes and cherish them as one would delicate parchments of a neglected text.

And let's not forget my other learned tutors to whom I still raise a glass over thirty years later: Peter Clayton (R2 Sounds of Jazz & JRR on R3), Alexis Korner ... and, indeed, David Jacobs.

Thems was the genuine gentlefolk of Jazz and Easy Listening (hateful expression, my apologies) and I truly miss them still.

But what did this disparate collective of Senior Common Room eccentrics most have in common?

Well, only the love of taking twelve or thirteen recordings into a radio studio and sharing them, not with millions of listeners, but with a single friend.

Yes, of course, they were aware of the larger audience, but they spoke through the studio microphone as if they were exchanging confidentialities with the person next to them at the bar.

I recall being in the index room of the record library at Egton House once when I spied one of my heros, Peter Clayton. I really did worship that man and it was fully fifteen minutes before I could place myself next to him amongst the long, narrow drawers and attempt a casual conversation.

My gambit was to canvass his opinion on the newly launched Jazz FM. Well, I was shocked. Firstly, he actually spoke to me, but secondly, I discovered that one of radio's most natural and relaxed of broadcasters was, in person, a most shy and diffident personality.

Now, I'm not saying that our David ever suffered from shyness, but he's an enduring example of the style of broadcaster who has only ever an audience of 1!

Why values like that disappear I simply do not know but every time I turn on the television I see a presenter speaking to an autocue, or on radio I can hear the new voices speaking to their scripts on the green, beize table. They build in the 'lift' to suggest spontaneity, but we can tell its a fraud.

Oh, lordy, how well it worked when broadcasters spoke TO people, rather than AT them.


SMcK.

You've summed up an era and a valuable style very nicely there shb - many thanks

[cloughie]

Sorry to see him go but he has sounded rather frail of late so I'm not surprised. I often have his late night programme on to round off the weekend - fits the bill perfectly. Hopefully, they'll replace him with someone like Desmond Carrington, as Sunday evening does seem to be the last bastion of the old-style Radio 2. Also remember him doing a popular classical show 20 years or so ago on Sunday nights which my Dad used to love - the scherzo from Beethoven 7 was the theme music.

Was this Melodies for You - he used the Waldo de Los Rios Beethoven 7 and when Richard Baker took over the programme replaced it with a straight version.

[pilamenon]

Was this Melodies for You - he used the Waldo de Los Rios Beethoven 7 and when Richard Baker took over the programme replaced it with a straight version.

That sounds like it. Didn't know the difference in those days between a Waldo symphony and a straight one!

[cloughie]

David 'Hello there' Jacobs is the last link I retain to my days when I was a student at the BBC Radio 2 Academy of Fine Popular Music.

For me it was the ultimate Open University, celebrating strands of musical science that were coming to the end of their day.

My favourite academic on the faculty was Prof. Benny Green whose knowledge of the American Songbook was supreme. We marvelled not only at the breadth of his learning, but also smiled inwardly at the curmudgeonly verdicts he could pronounce, ever the questioning autodidact.
Then there was the Emeritus Professor of Sounds Easy, Dr.Alan Dell. A somewhat more refined figure than BG, but still, one who loved this genre of music with a passion.

They were programmed back to back on a Sunday afternoon between 2 & 4pm and reigned for some fifteen years.

My introduction to them had been by my father who ruled the radio dial in those days, but once I want to university, I became master of the dial.

Not only did I listen to these unseen voices religiously but I also recorded their broadcasts which were then listened to, repeatedly and beyond, across the weeks. I still have some of those cassettes and cherish them as one would delicate parchments of a neglected text.

And let's not forget my other learned tutors to whom I still raise a glass over thirty years later: Peter Clayton (R2 Sounds of Jazz & JRR on R3), Alexis Korner ... and, indeed, David Jacobs.

Thems was the genuine gentlefolk of Jazz and Easy Listening (hateful expression, my apologies) and I truly miss them still.

But what did this disparate collective of Senior Common Room eccentrics most have in common?

Well, only the love of taking twelve or thirteen recordings into a radio studio and sharing them, not with millions of listeners, but with a single friend.

Yes, of course, they were aware of the larger audience, but they spoke through the studio microphone as if they were exchanging confidentialities with the person next to them at the bar.

I recall being in the index room of the record library at Egton House once when I spied one of my heros, Peter Clayton. I really did worship that man and it was fully fifteen minutes before I could place myself next to him amongst the long, narrow drawers and attempt a casual conversation.

My gambit was to canvass his opinion on the newly launched Jazz FM. Well, I was shocked. Firstly, he actually spoke to me, but secondly, I discovered that one of radio's most natural and relaxed of broadcasters was, in person, a most shy and diffident personality.

Now, I'm not saying that our David ever suffered from shyness, but he's an enduring example of the style of broadcaster who has only ever an audience of 1!

Why values like that disappear I simply do not know but every time I turn on the television I see a presenter speaking to an autocue, or on radio I can hear the new voices speaking to their scripts on the green, beize table. They build in the 'lift' to suggest spontaneity, but we can tell its a fraud.

Oh, lordy, how well it worked when broadcasters spoke TO people, rather than AT them.


SMcK.

From the days before R2 was dumbed down to R1.5! and they used more knowledgeable presenters then. I remember not before Benny Green died - on one of his programmes he played a Barbra Streisand track, from one of her 1960s albums and said words to the effect that he thought she was pretty good in the days when she sang proper songs. Thankfully she returned them with the Broadway album in the 80s inc a stunning version of 'Something's Coming' from West Side Story. I hope that 'DJ your DJ' will be replaced by someone worthy of the slot! Incidentally, Pete Murray, also 87 now, who was a champion of similar fare to DJ was dismissed by the BBC (R2) in the 80s because his style was too old-fashioned! When did the dumbing down start?