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: 01/12/2009

01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Sarah Kennedy, 01/12/2009

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: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Wake Up to Wogan, 01/12/2009

Terry Wogan with music and chat. Includes Pause for Thought.

Ken Bruce

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

Ken Bruce: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Ken Bruce, 01/12/2009

Sharon Corr chooses two songs on Tracks of My Years.

Music collides with listeners' amusing texts and emails. On Tracks of My Years, Sharon Corr picks songs by Bronski Beat and Neil Young.

Ken Bruce flies in the face of conformity and presents a radio show completely different to any other: Music, a quiz, your texts and emails, more music and some travel bulletins. On Tracks Of My Years Sharon Corr picks 'Smalltown Boy' by Bronski Beat and Neil Young's 'Old Man'.

Jeremy Vine

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

Jeremy Vine: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Jeremy Vine, 01/12/2009

Jeremy discusses the "mansion tax" amendments, dangerous dogs, superlorries and cashiers.

Jeremy discusses the "mansion tax" amendments, whether you should report dangerous dogs, the safety of superlorries and cashiers who are too attentive.

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: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Steve Wright in the Afternoon, 01/12/2009

Will Self, the Non-Stop Oldies, showbiz news and brain-busting Factoids!

Steve Wright chats to author Will Self and holidays expert Paul Evans, and brings you brain-busting Factoids and the Non-Stop Oldies.

Steve Wright chats to Will Self and Paul Evans the holidays expert, and brings you brain-busting Factoids, the non stop Oldies, the national and international news from the world of entertainment, and the best music from across the globe.

Steve Wright

Chris Evans

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

Chris Evans: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Chris Evans, 01/12/2009

Chris sheds some light on the world of candles and warming whiskey.

As Advent begins, Chris sheds some light on the waxy world of candles. And he gets warmed up with a tasting of some of the top whiskeys of 2009.

As Advent is upon us, Chris sheds some light on the waxy world of candles. And we get warmed up with a tasting of some of the top whiskeys of 2009.

Desmond Carrington: The Music Goes Round

Desmond Carrington dips into classics from all musical genres

Desmond Carrington dips into classics from all musical genres from the 1920s to the present day

Desmond Carrington: The Music Goes Round: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Desmond Carrington: The Music Goes Round, 01/12/2009

Desmond is boldly going into space with a science fiction theme.

Desmond shares some good tunes, some unexpected ones and a few you may never have heard before. He goes boldly into space with a science fiction theme.

Desmond shares some good tunes, some unexpected ones and a few you may never have heard before. This week he's boldly going into space, with a science fiction theme.

Desmond Carrington

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: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 6 Music - The Radcliffe & Maconie Show, 01/12/2009

Mark and Stuart have live music from folk collective Bellowhead.

Mark and Stuart have live music from Bellowhead, the foot-stomping folk collective led by Jon Boden and John Spiers.

Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie

English folk-inspired 11-member act Bellowhead perform a live set.

The Organist Entertains

Nigel Ogden presents a programme of popular organ recordings

Nigel Ogden presents a programme of popular organ recordings, including pipe and electronic organs

The Organist Entertains: 01/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - The Organist Entertains, 01/12/2009

Nigel Ogden presents a programme of popular organ recordings.

Nigel Ogden with entertaining pieces from the organ world. Music to lift the spirits with contributions from the pen of Barry Manilow, and a party piece from the archives.

With the last leaves of Autumn falling and the chill of winter taking hold, tonight's programme brings music to lift the spirits with contributions from the pen of Barry Manilow, a party piece from the archives, and the magnificent sounds of the Compton at the ABC in Plymouth.

Nigel Ogden With The Organist Entertains.

He's Not The Messiah, He's A Very Naughty Boy

BBC Radio 2 - He's Not The Messiah, He's A Very Naughty Boy

Comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar celebrates Monty Python's The Life of Brian.

Comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar celebrates Monty Python's The Life of Brian, looking at the film's origins, the shoot in Tunisia and its controversial afterlife.

When Monty Python's Life Of Brian was released in 1979, it was denounced by many around the world as blasphemous - and was an instant box office smash. Thirty years later it is regularly voted one of the funniest films ever, topping a Radio Times poll only last month.

Comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar celebrates this anarchic British classic, looking at the film's origins, the shoot in Tunisia, and its controversial afterlife. The Python film is an absurdist take on the story of Christ, where a man called Brian (played by Graham Chapman) is mistaken for the Messiah and attempts to escape the attentions of his devoted followers. It is a deft satire on religious intolerance which brilliantly lampooned Biblical epics like Ben Hur. 

George Harrison stepped in with the money, setting up Handmade films to get it made, because he wanted to see the film. And it gave us many unforgettable scenes and peerless lines: John Cleese's Roman Legionnaire correcting Brian's Latin graffiti; "What have the Romans ever done for us?", "Welease Woger" and the singalong crucifixion finale.

Contributors include the film's director Terry Jones; producer John Goldstone; Carol Cleveland; and Sonia Jones, who sang the title song. We hear Michael Palin recall the moment of inspiration in a Paris bar; Terry Gilliam talks about his fantasy space ship animation; John Cleese remembers the pain of being "crucified" in Tunisia; Carol Cleveland recalls working with Spike Milligan (he made a cameo appearance as a prophet); and Eric Idle remembers the less then enthusiastic response to Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life.

He's Not the Messiah, He's a Very Naughty Boy

Comedian Sanjeev Bhaskar (The Kumars at No 42) celebrates Monty Python's Life of Brian, which was released in Britain 30 years ago last month and regularly scores high among the best of all comedy films. Directed by Terry Jones, the clever, anarchic and blasphemous religious satire stars Graham Chapman (1941-89) as a man called Brian who is mistaken for Christ. Armed with anecdotes and fantastic recollections are surviving Monty Python members Terry Jones, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, with further input by producer John Goldstone, and Carol Cleveland, who discusses acting with Spike Milligan in his cameo role.

That Western Swing Thing

That Western Swing Thing: Episode 4

Episode 4

BBC Radio 2 - That Western Swing Thing, Episode 4

Looking at the importance of radio in western swing's success.

Ray Benson looks at the importance of radio in western swing's success and the genre's heyday in the 1940s, including the different sound developed by Hollywood's Spade Cooley.

In the 1930s, when the urban dance halls of America were ringing to the swing sounds of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie, a unique form of dance music was taking hold in the rural South West. Exposed to big band influences through the radio, rural string bands took jazz and big band music and adapted it for their traditional instruments. Country fiddles, banjos and steel guitars played alongside horns, drums and pianos. Also feeding into this music were the diverse cultural influences prevalent in 1930s Texas and Oklahoma.  This was an area filled with the sounds of different communities. Czech and German polka, Mexican mariachi, Cajun and blues were all part of the soundtrack of the Southwest and bled into this new style of music, which would later become known as 'Western Swing'. It was a sound which was to become the lifeblood of the Texan dancehall for the next twenty years, and provide America with a musician regarded by many as 'the best band leader of all time' - Bob Wills.

In this five part series Ray Benson, the founder and lead singer of Grammy winning Western Swing band 'Asleep at the Wheel' charts the history and development of this music. He celebrates the people who created, developed and refined the Western Swing sound, and joins some of the players, enthusiasts and fans who are keeping this unique part of America's musical history alive for the next generation.

The series features contributions from Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett  and The Hot Club of Cowtown plus former members of 'Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys' Johnny Gimble, Herb Remington, Bobby Koefer, Louise Rowe and Leon Rausch.

The fourth part of the series focuses on the importance of radio to the success of Western Swing, and the music's heyday in the 1940s. The programme traces the development of the Bob Wills sound throughout this decade, and his move to the West Coast and Hollywood. He also looks at the impact of band leader Spade Cooley on the Western swing movement in California. Donnell Clyde Cooley, nicknamed Spade for his impressive poker skills, spent his early years in Hollywood as Roy Rogers stunt double by day and fiddler with local bands by night.  He was recruited into the Venice Pier house band, and was soon fronting his own Western swing outfit which was much slicker in approach than the Texas Playboys, often with trained orchestral musicians playing written arrangements. Spade and his orchestra had a string of top ten country hits including his theme song Shame on You, and his success soon transferred to the big and small screens with roles in Hollywood Westerns and a hugely successful TV variety show throughout the 1950s. But his story was to have a dramatic Hollywood ending, and not a happy one. Ray Benson along with music historians  and musicians from that era talk about the rise and fall of the man who proclaimed himself 'King of Western Swing'.

Ray Benson charts the history and development of Western Swing music

Founder and lead singer of Grammy-winning band Asleep at the Wheel Ray Benson charts the history and development of Western Swing music

4/5. Asleep at the Wheel frontman Ray Benson continues tracing the history of Western swing, exploring radio's role in its success and the genre's 1940s heyday, which coincided with the development of the Bob Wills sound. Plus a look at the shift to 
Hollywood and the West Coast, and the rise and fall of bandleader, poker star and Hollywood personality Donnell Clyde "Spade" Cooley.

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: 02/12/2009

02/12/2009

BBC Radio 2 - Janice Long, 02/12/2009

Janice catches up with Pete and Al from D:Ream who pick some of their favourite records.

Janice catches up with Pete and Al from D:Ream, who pick some of their favourite records. Plus: rare tracks, remixes and unusual cover versions in Tunes Of The Unexpected.

Janice catches up with Pete and Al from D:Ream who pick some of their favourite records. Plus rare tracks, remixes and unusual cover versions in Tunes Of The Unexpected.

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Chris Evans

Chris Evans

01/12/2009

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