Decktician Logs, Vol 2 (i): Peel on Radio Luxembourg, Jan-June 1972

[ken]

Following extensive email Q and As with Decktician, I have now got as far as I can with trying to make sense of the astonishing discovery at one end of Vol 2 of his Peel listening logs / exercise books - 23 complete or incomplete show track listings for Peel's short-lived late night show on Radio Luxembourg, STENHOUSEMUIR 2 COWDENBEATH 2, from late January to end June 1972, 1-2am on Friday nights / Saturday mornings. Wow!

I know some of you will be as excited as I am about this discovery of data about an almost entirely undocumented period in Peel's career. So I have posted the zip folder of the six page scans and my explanatory notes here on the mailing list's "files" section.

All the context is explained in my notes there, but briefly, we can definitely date the first show listed, and therefore almost certainly date the last show - because as you will see, decktician knew and logged it as Peel's last show for the station.

What we cannot be certain of are some of the individual show broadcast dates within the sequence for complicated reasons I have explained in my notes... and of course I have no other data to compare this with...

... and this is where you come in, if you are familiar with the period.

If you can help Steve and Steve at the Wiki confirming the tracks (some are hard to pin down, most easy), and release dates, this may well help confirm or suggest the actual sequence of the listings

I am unaware if an official Radio Luxembourg / RTL archive exists anywhere, and even if there is one, I find it unlikely it would have preserved Peel's running orders and scripts! Also, at the moment, we cannot be certain of the broadcast arrangements that then existed for his show. However, looking through some of the 208 magazines, and memorabilia from this period on various fan sites, it seems most likely to me that Peel pre-recorded these shows at Luxembourg's then newish/revamped London offices and studios, probably a few days (not more than a week?) before broadcast date, to allow time for the tapes to be transported to the Duchy for actual broadcast: given his other commitments, I do not see how Peel would have had the time to travel to Luxembourg to put them out live. but I could be wrong. I will try to contact both the Selwoods and Sheila to see if they have any such memories, though I think it unlikely they will.

AND before you ask: sorry, Dectician is certain he never attempted to tape these shows, given the appalling late night reception, so they will NOT be turning up on the tapes now with Rocker and the rippers. Shame - but just to have the track listings about which so little is documented officially is discovery enough.

All our thanks to decktician!

ken