‘Dr Rock’ returns

Press, 14 June 1984, Page 23

‘Dr Rock’ returns

NEVIN TOPP

Barry “Dr Rock” Jenkin (above) makes a welcome return to the rock television programme, “Radio With Pictures,” when he will cohost this Sunday evening’s show with frontwoman, Karyn Hay, on TV2.

Jenkin was the frontman for the show until 1978, when Phil O’Brien took over, and this is the fourth year that frontwoman, Hay, has had the honour.

The programme’s producer, Peter Blake, said that there was no special reason for having Jenkin cohosting the show. “As you would have seen the programme has made an effort to have co-hosts each week, and Jenkin happened to be one of the candidates on the list,” he said. “There is still a lot of interest in the man from the public’s viewpoint, and it gave us a jolly good excuse to play some of the video clips from the archives,” Blake said. What may seem ironic now, is that Jenkin was allowed to make his own choices for the “RWP" programme, and spent some time on Friday delving into the archives at Avalon. One of the criticisms levelled against Jenkin by the television hierarchy when he was not returned as frontman in 1979 was that he made his own selections which were considered by them to be too narrow.

This criticism was again used when Jenkin was given

the Spanish archer (elbow) when his contract was not renewed for the “ZM AllNiter” show last November, along with the other alternative music disc jockey, Andrew Page.

The selection that Jenkin has made will have the punks ecstatic, and create a lot of interest among other viewers who favour “RWP” on TV2 against “Sunday,” on TVI. His opening video is The Stranglers’ “Get A Grip On Yourself,” the song that turned Jenkin into a new wave fan. The rest of the programme is: ® Public Image, Limited, “Public Image.” ® The Damned, “New Rose.” ©The Scavengers, “Mr X.” ©The Enemy, “Pull Down the Shades.”

©Tall Dwarfs, “Turning Brown and Torn in Two.” ©The Fall, "Container Driven.”

©Birthday Party, “Nick the Stripper.”

©Hunters and Collectors, “Talking to a Stranger.”

®B-525, “Private Idaho.” These clips will be followed by a medley: Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” Elvis Costello and the Attractions’ “Watching the Detectives,” and Magazine’s “Song from Under the Floorboards.”

The programame then reverts to full-length clips: The Buzzcocks, “Moving Away from the Pulse Beat,” and The Verlaines, “Death and the Maiden.”