Ahmet Ertegun 1923 - 2006
The Turkish-born co-founder of Atlantic records, who spent most of his life working for the company and music he loved, has died in Manhatten. He had been in a coma since a fall on October 29th. Ahmet will be laid to rest in Turkey and a memorial service will be conducted in New York early in 2007. He never retired, remaining active at Atlantic until his accident.

"Ahmet never stopped working, because for him, it was never work, it was life," said Atlantic President Julie Greenwald. "He started Atlantic with a fan's enthusiasm, an independent spirit, and a deep understanding of the music."

Ahmet's passion for music began at the London Palladium in 1932, when his older brother, Nesuhi, took him to see the Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway orchestras. Ahmet co-founded Atlantic Records with Herb Abramson in 1947, at the age of 24. In the early days, he penned songs for the label's artists using the pseudonym 'Nugetre' (Ertegun spelt backwards). Initially a soul, jazz and r & b label, Atlantic pioneered the work of legends such as Ray Charles, The Drifters, Ben E. King, Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke and Wilson Pickett. Later, the label embraced the music of rockers Led Zeppelin and The Stones and numerous other musical talents.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland was co-founded by Ahmet. In recognition of his contributions to contemporary music and culture, he was himself inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1987 and the museum's main exhibition hall is named after him.

"All of us at Atlantic Records are profoundly saddened by the loss of our founder and mentor," said Atlantic Chairman/CEO Craig Kallman. "The music community has lost a pioneer and an icon, and we have lost our father. Ahmet changed the course of modern music and culture, and he will live on through the timeless legacy of work that was created under his direction and care. Musicians loved him, because he truly loved them and spoke their language. The essence of Ahmet Ertegun is the essence of Atlantic Records. His passion for music and his devotion to the artists who make it have been at the very heart of this company for six decades. The soul of Ahmet Ertegun will forever be our guiding spirit, and as long as there is an Atlantic Records, it will be Ahmet Ertegun's company. Our thoughts and prayers are with Ahmet's wife, Mica, and his family during this very difficult time."

Photo: Atlantic Records. Links: Atlantic Records tribute; Warner Music Group tribute; New York Times Obituary

Brill Oldies back for Christmas holidays
Our friend Paul Ewers has once again organised Brill Oldies, an RSL running between December 26th and January 6th, from the appropriately-named Brill village near Aylesbury. The station, which is playing tracks from the Fifties to Eighties, can be heard on 87.9FM locally and also via the net.

Brill Oldies

All you need is... a new video promo (updated Dec 20th)

Apple Corp has released a new album of songs from LOVE, the acclaimed Cirque du Soleil show performed exclusively at The Mirage in Las Vegas. The reworking of the Fab Four music has been produced by George Martin and his son Giles, from the Abbey Road masters.

On December 15th, Apple released a video promo for the track 'Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows', available to view at the beatles.com

Fifty thousand people logged in to preview the LOVE album and placed their location on the map for the site's global listening event! On the website's LOVE MAP, just click on a location anywhere on the globe – you can zoom in for a close up view – and it will show you the nearest hundred users who took part.

Robbie's PC Greeting

We were wanting to send some sort of holiday greeting to our many friends and family, but finding it so difficult in today's world to know exactly what to say without offending someone. And not being able to work out the solution ourselves, we took a quick round trip to Dublin this week and met with our legal advisers Murphy-Goldstein-Smith-Mahmood-Kim and Partners. After a "joint consultation". We are taking advice and wish to say the following:

Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.

We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

Christmas Day with PY

Radio London's traditional phestive photo of two strange santas grooving it up on Clacton pier, brings news that the santa on the right of the picture, Peter Young, will be presenting a four-hour show on London's Smooth FM 102.2, on Dec 25th, from 2000 to midnight.

The Christmas Day show will be a party programme for the first three hours, with the last sixty minutes being "mellow, with a touch o' gospel!".

This is in addition to PY's regular Saturday night show, which is usually from 1800 to 2100, but on Saturday 23rd December will be from 2100 to midnight.

Another Christmas airing for Cuddly Ken

Paul Rowley (left, with his recent Gilliard Award) writes:

You will be pleased to know my documentary "Kenny Everett: the BBC Local Radio Years" is to get a national airing.

It will go out on digital comedy station BBC 7, on Christmas Day – what would have been Kenny's 62nd birthday – repeated in the early hours of Boxing Day.

CHRISTMAS DAY, Monday Dec 25: 0800-0930, repeated 2200-2300. BOXING DAY, Tuesday Dec 26: 0300-0400.

The programme was first broadcast five years ago at Christmas 2001, with recordings from Kenny's BBC Local Radio Days thirty years beforehand. It went out on forty BBC Local Radio stations at the time. Some repeated it last year on the tenth anniversary of Kenny's death.

It was shortlisted for a Sony Radio Award in the "Music Special" Category in 2002 where the judges said:
"The time and dedication given to investigating Kenny Everett's BBC local radio career was extraordinary: from tracking down the secretly recorded tapes on enthusiasts' shelves to checking the stations' payroll records. This was a thoroughly enjoyable, well made, personal odyssey."

I put the idea to BBC 7 after the recent GCAP series on the station from Ev's Capital Radio days. BBC 7's head of programmes Mary Kalemkerian sent me a lovely note, and described my documentary as "excellent".

I hope Big L fans who may have missed it first time round will enjoy it.

Alan was a great mentor and friend for me and was a great help in my early days in Britain. I'll always remember with affection our early days at 3KZ in Melbourne. Rest in peace, old friend.

People seem to have forgotten Fluff's great daily show, where he really broke down the barriers musically. I remember the first one started with 'Whole Lotta Love' - Led Zep. Nothing remarkable about that now, but in the middle of the Osmonds, David Cassidy era that Radio One embraced so wholeheartedly, it was an act of defiance and sheer rebellion! God bless him!

I shall play 'Dancing In The Street' and 'Time Has Come Today' on Saturday (Smooth Fm 1800 - 2100) as a tribute. He played the Chambers Brothers for weeks on POTP, even using part of it as an opening jingle - And as you may know, Fluff received death threats over his nightly play of Martha and The Vandellas on Luxembourg. He played it 6 nights a week at 11.30pm for 6 months! That alone is enough to ensure his legendary status.

A good person and a huge influence and inspiration.

During his life Alan was held in high esteem by both the public and the industry. He helped change the face of UK radio before the pirates arrived. He introduced new music. He was a true legend.

Actually, I think Alan was the first person I ever interviewed. He was guest of honour at an EMI Apprentice Association Christmas Dance in 1968. In those days, he was signed to EMI as a DJ for Luxembourg programmes. I interviewed him for my request show. He was pleasant, keen and interested in being interviewed. As novice interviewer, I made the usual mistake of running the interview too long and, no doubt, being unstructured with my questions. I think it must have lasted around 15 minutes. His manager or minder came by and signalled me to ‘wind up’ - a signal that I didn’t even recognise at that point in my ‘career’. I thought he meant ‘keep on going’!! He wanted Alan to return to mingle with all the EMI bigwigs who were also there.

Afterwards, I apologised to Alan for keeping him so long. He replied with something like “Don’t worry about it. It was more fun than being with those boring people!” I also asked him (perhaps the expected question), what his advice would be to aspiring radio presenters. His answer “Once You’ve Said What You Want To Say, Stop Talking. There’s No Need To Say Any More.” Something I’ve always remembered (but not always applied!).