BBC Radio 2 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Light Programme.

BBC Radio 2

Sarah Kennedy

The show for early risers - Pause for Thought, Swing Time, Showtune,& entertainment news.

The show for Dawn Patrollers with Pause for Thought, Swing Time, the Showtune,& entertainment news.

The show for Dawn Patrollers with news, Pause for Thought, Swing Time, the Showtune, your comments, travel and entertainment news.

Sarah Kennedy: 02/11/2009

02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Sarah Kennedy, 02/11/2009

On the Dawn Patrol. With a review of the newspapers and Pause for Thought.

Amazing music. Played by an amazing line up.

Radio 2: Amazing music. Played by an amazing line-up. The home of great music, entertainment and documentaries

Wake Up to Wogan

Terry Wogan's regular morning broadcast, featuring music, news and chat

Wake Up to Wogan: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Wake Up to Wogan, 02/11/2009

Terry Wogan and the team with the news, sport, travel and music.

Terry Wogan with the latest news, sport and travel, mixed in with a selection of breakfast-time music.

Ken Bruce

The best in music every weekday with Ken Bruce, with live sessions.

Ken Bruce: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Ken Bruce, 02/11/2009

Bonnie Tyler chooses her Tracks of My Years and Album of the Week is from Robbie Williams.

Bonnie Tyler chooses her Tracks of My Years and the Album of the Week is from Robbie Williams. Plus the PopMaster pop quiz.

Romance is in the air when we play our daily Love Song at 10:15. Plus there's all the usual wonderment - the Record Of The Week, PopMaster, an Album Of The Week from Robbie Williams and Tracks Of My Years from Bonnie Tyler.

With Bonnie Tyler in Tracks of My Years, plus a week-long spotlight on Robbie Williams's new album.

Jeremy Vine

Jeremy Vine and guests discuss the news headlines and talk to the people making them

Jeremy Vine: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Jeremy Vine, 02/11/2009

Jeremy discusses David Nutt, Sir Ian Blair, bedtime stories and wearing poppies.

Jeremy discusses the sacking of David Nutt, Sir Ian Blair's criticism of the idea of electing police officials, bedtime stories and wearing poppies.

Jeremy discusses the sacking of David Nutt, Sir Ian Blair's criticism of the idea of electing police officials, Bedtime Stories and wearing poppies.

With a week-long listeners' poll to determine the best all-time bedtime story, with the result revealed on Friday. Joining Jeremy all week is ex-children's laureate Michael Rosen.

Steve Wright in the Afternoon

Steve Wright's afternoon show with special guests, music and a host of other features

Steve Wright in the Afternoon: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Steve Wright in the Afternoon, 02/11/2009

Dame Shirley Bassey, Factoids, astrological predictions and the Non-Stop Oldies.

Steve Wright digs out fascinating Factoids, plays the Non-Stop Oldies, talks to Dame Shirley Bassey and the actor John Simm, and has horoscope predictions.

Steve Wright digs out the most fascinating Factoids and hears the latest pearls of wisdom from The Old Woman. He also talks to Dame Shirley Bassey and Life On Mars actor John Simm, and has your horoscope predictions with Russell Grant ... and the non stop Oldies too!

Steve Wright

Chris Evans

Chris Evans' drivetime slot, with laughter-inducing chat and music

Chris Evans: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Chris Evans, 02/11/2009

Can we navigate around our emotions? Chris discovers if you really can map your moods.

Chris puts his feet up and talks reclining chairs with the managing director of La-Z-Boy UK. And he investigates whether we can really map moods and navigate around our emotions.

The Blues Show with Paul Jones

The weekly dose of rhythm and blues tunes from Paul Jones.

The weekly dose of rhythm and blues tunes from Paul Jones, combining classics, new releases, sessions and occasional interviews.

Paul Jones

The Blues Show with Paul Jones: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - The Blues Show with Paul Jones, 02/11/2009

Classic blues tracks and new releases, plus an interview and session with Ian Siegal.

The Radcliffe & Maconie Show

BBC Radio 6 Music

A late-night mix of live sessions, celebrity guests and listener interaction

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie with a late-night mix of live sessions, celebrity guests and listener interaction

The Radcliffe and Maconie Show

The Radcliffe & Maconie Show: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 6 Music - The Radcliffe & Maconie Show, 02/11/2009

Mark and Stuart are joined by John 'Johnny Rotten' Lydon.

Mark and Stuart are joined by John 'Johnny Rotten' Lydon, who has reformed Public Image Limited with original members Lu Edmonds and Bruce Smith.

Mark and Stuart are joined by John "Johnny Rotten" Lydon, who has re-formed Public Image Limited (PiL) with original members Lu Edmonds and Bruce Smith, for the band's first live shows in 17 years.

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie

Featuring former Sex Pistol John Lydon (aka Johnny Rotten), who has re-formed his post-punk act Public Image Ltd for a UK tour.

(My week by Stuart Maconie : p36)

Big Band Special

The very best big band music, from the 1930s to the present day

Big Band Special: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Big Band Special, 02/11/2009

Clare Teal presents the BBC Big Band in session with conductor and arranger Sammy Nestico.

Clare Teal presents the BBC Big Band in session with big band conductor and arranger Sammy Nestico.

Clare Teal presents another chance to hear the BBC Big Band in session with legendary big band conductor and arranger Sammy Nestico. Recorded in August of 2008, tonight's session features music by Bert Kaempfert, Fletcher Henderson as well as Sammy's own compositions.

Best known for his work with Count Basie from 1967 to 1984, Sammy's arranging and conducting credits include working with Sarah Vaughan, Barbra Streisand, Phil Collins and Frank Sinatra.

The BBC Big Band perform with US composer Sammy Nestico.

Jools Holland

Join Jools and his Rhythm Section as he plays tracks from his eclectic record collection.

Jools Holland: 02/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Jools Holland, 02/11/2009

Jools Holland is joined by the multi-talented composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto.

Jools Holland is joined by the multi-talented composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto. He improvises on the piano with Jools and the band.

7/13. Oscar-winning composer and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto performs. See also Friday 10pm

Benny Goodman: King of Swing

Benny Goodman: King of Swing: Episode 3

Episode 3

BBC Radio 2 - Benny Goodman: King of Swing, Episode 3

By 1936, Benny's reputation built quickly as a smash-hit jazz group featured two black men

By 1936, Benny's reputation had built quickly, as African-Americans in all branches of culture felt 'advanced' by the fact that a smash-hit jazz group featured two black men.

Curtis Stigers remembers the clarinettist and bandleader Benny Goodman in his centenary year. One of the finest clarinet players in the world, Goodman practised his art at the highest levels in both jazz and classical music. He was a bandleader who strove for, and achieved, perfection through tireless rehearsals of the various jazz ensembles he created over the decades. He was also a complex man, prone to unpredictability, who overcame an impoverished upbringing and the early death of his father to become "The King Of Swing."

In the third episode, from mid-1936, Benny's reputation has built quickly, on disc, in theatres and ballrooms, and on radio. The swing-band format was already fixed, certainly in Benny's mind: five brass, four saxes and rhythm, including his brother Harry on bass. A wonderful added attraction was his Trio, featuring Teddy Wilson on piano. His singer at the time was Helen Ward and Goodman started singing himself, and very well too, a feature that would continue throughout his commercial bandleading career. Then the vibraphone player and drummer Lionel Hampton enters the picture in California, and the Benny Goodman Quartet is born. 

African-Americans in all branches of culture did feel "advanced" by the fact that a smash-hit jazz group featured two black men. And Goodman's integration of popular music happened ten years before Jackie Robinson entered Major League Baseball. Lionel Hampton comments: "Blacks would not play in any place on the stage and motion pictures, only job you ever saw them on the screen, they were required to be maids or butlers, but they weren't nobody in baseball, football. Benny Goodman Quartet was the front door for Jackie Robinson in the major league baseball, so it was just really a heaven-sent deal to have this great group together. And you know we all thick with each other, we all like to play with each other, we all love each other, we got along and we never had a bit of racial trouble because everybody was listening to this magnificent music".

In 1938 Artie Shaw becomes more prominent with his hit recording of Begin The Beguine, a much bigger hit than anything Benny ever released, and Shaw and Goodman would remain rivals for years. Dan Morgenstern comments; "you know he [Artie Shaw] was a hit maker and that I think caused Benny to be a little miffed". Nevertheless, Benny was the more prolific recording artist, and his Carnegie Hall concert of 16 January 1938 remains one of the most famous musical events of the last century. There's long been a debate about who suggested it in the first place and we endeavour to find out more.

The series features brand new interviews with jazz critic Gary Giddins; Prof. Dan Morgenstern (of the Institute for Jazz Studies at Rutgers University); clarinettist and saxophonist Ken Peplowski; Loren Schoenberg (of the Jazz Museum in Harlem); singer Louise Tobin; Sir John Dankworth and writer John Hancock. There are also rare archive contributions from Benny Goodman himself; Peggy Lee; Buddy Greco; his daughter Rachel Goodman; boyhood friend Jim Maher; biographer Ross Firestone; record executive John Hammond; bandleaders Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson and Lionel Hampton; and the musicians Bob Wilber, Jerry Jerome, Louis Bellson, Nick Fatool, Jimmy Maxwell, Milt Bernhart and singer Helen Forrest.

Curtis Stigers celebrates the life and music of clarinettist and bandleader Benny Goodman

Curtis Stigers celebrates the life and music of the virtuoso clarinettist and bandleader Benny Goodman, who became known as the 'king of swing'

Benny Goodman:King of Swing

3/6. Curtis Stigers celebrates Benny Goodman (1909-86), perhaps the kingpin of the swing era. The story continues with Goodman's big band innovations. His own band featured two black musicians (one of whom was Lionel Hampton ), unheard of at the time. His 1938 Carnegie Hall concert is the stuff of legend, and while Goodman never achieved as big a hit as "rival" Artie Shaw 's terrific Begin the Beguine, his output was the more prolific.

Janice Long

Great music and chat, with a weekly interview and Spoken Word Session every Wednesday

Music you love, plus great guests and a weekly Spoken Word Session that you won't hear anywhere else

Janice Long: 03/11/2009

03/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Janice Long, 03/11/2009

Brett Anderson joins Janice to talk about his new solo album Slow Attack.

Brett Anderson joins Janice to talk about his new solo album Slow Attack, the follow-up to 2008's Wilderness. Plus Tunes of the Unexpected and the Record and Album of the Week.

Brett Anderson joins Janice to talk about his new solo album Slow Attack - the follow-up to 2008's Wilderness. There's also Tunes Of The Unexpected and Radio 2's Record and Album Of The Week.

Alex Lester

Weekday morning music and entertainment with Alex Lester

Alex Lester: 03/11/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Alex Lester, 03/11/2009

With conversation and music on The Best Time Of Day Show.

The Best Time of the Day Show. With Pause for Thought, Lester's Library and the Listeners' Library features.

Alex brings his own combination of music and conversation to early weekday mornings, making this The Best Time Of The Day Show. Popular features include the Listeners' Library, where you choose the music, and a double-selection from Alex's own collection in Lester's Library.

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Chris Evans

Chris Evans

02/11/2009

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