Brass on the Wireless

My recent interview with Stuart Hall, where we discussed his involvement in Regal Zonophone and Fortress Radio, got me thinking about the presence of brass bands in mainstream media. Growing up, here in the UK, I remember two highlights of my week - Listen to the Band on Radio 2 Thursday night with Frank Renton, and (for those of us lucky enough to have grown up in the West of England) Sounds of Brass with Phillip Hunt on local radio on a Sunday. Neither of these two shows air any more, having come off the radio waves in 2018 and 2019 respectively. Whilst I understand the reasons behind doing so, I can’t help feel that both shows are a sad loss, not only to those of us involved in banding, but also as a means of reaching out to a wider audience of people not necessarily involved in banding, but who might have come across these programmes by chance.

That’s not to say that there is no brass band presence on the airwaves. It cannot be questioned that with the advent of the podcast and, possibly helped by the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been something of an online resurgence. These are great and I enjoy listening to them but unless people are engaged in the banding community, or actively searching for brass band podcasts, will they find them? I’d like to think that I’m pretty engaged but it was only while searching for podcasts while writing this blog, that I came across some that I didn’t know existed. These online shows are great and it’s brilliant to have them; it gives brass players a voice and a platform but, simply by not being on a radio’s main listing they are already at a disadvantage in terms of audience reach and are largely 'preaching to the choir'.

And that, when you think about it, is quite sad.

Whenever I write these posts (which I do for fun and to get things off my chest) I try to find the positive or solution to the problem I’m writing about. At the moment though I’m not sure a solution exists, although the idea of floating in international waters and listening to band music all day isn’t exactly unappealing. Being serious though, I think the best we can do is encourage those who podcast to keep podcasting, those that share music to keep sharing and continue to try and grow (or re-grow) audiences this way. Whether a long-term 'mainstream' solution (beyond Classic FM playing the odd track at Christmas) is attainable I don't know. Time will tell. 

I think the creation of Fortress Radio and the subsequent move to bring it under the umbrella of The Salvation Army (as Salvationist Radio) is a positive step, but it is just one step on a long journey. But as Stuart outlined in his interview, it is a lot for one person to take on and requires a lot of hard work and dedication.

So where am I going with this? It’s a good question. I don’t know but I think what I’m driving at is that we, as a movement, should continue to be proud in sharing our music, through live performances, podcasts, blogs and whatever other platforms we can. 

For now though, I’ll put my soap box away, grab a cup of tea and go listen to a band CD…