BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Record Requests hits 50

First broadcast on 12 December 1964 with Humphrey Lyttelton in the chair, it has become the longest running jazz show in radio history and has seen a number of presenters over the years, including Ken Sykora, Steve Race, Peter Clayton, Charles Fox and Geoffrey Smith, who hosted the programme for over 20 years until 2012 when Shipton became the new presenter.

The special anniversary edition will feature a history of the programme, including excerpts from previous presenters shows, listener’s memories and a guest appearance by Geoffrey Smith. Shipton, who also writes for Jazzwise, prepared the programme with help from the National Sound Archive at the British Library where he was able to listen to many old episodes, some of which he heard when he was growing up.

“What I have learned from the postcards, letters and emails that come in every week is that I was not alone,” he says on his BBC radio blog. “There were listeners all over the county sharing this sense of discovery, and in the recent feature I have been running on the programme about how people first discovered jazz, many a listener has recalled it being through a track heard for the first time on JRR.”

– Jon Newey

For more info and to listen to the show go to www.bbc.co.uk