Pop music will continue

Press, 28 November 1984, Page 19

Pop music will continue

Television New Zealand’s regular music programmes will be going off air for the holiday season, but pop fans need not despair of a musicless summer break. “Ready to Roll” will stop for 1984 on December 15, “Radio with Pictures” will bow out the following night and “Shazam” and “RTR Video Releases” will have their final outings for this year the following Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. The final 1984 “Radio with Pictures” on December 16 will be a special 90minute programme taking a retrospective look at what has happened on video in the last year. It will feature categories such as nice video, shame about the song; heavy metal; a tribute to Split Enz; MTV’s influence on videos in America; the prominence of “drag” in music in Britain; and a New Zealand tribute. From December 22 to February 9, an altered version of “Ready to Roll” will be screened — a top 50 countdown for the year. In the “Shazam” time slot

on January 8, February 5, February 12 and February 19, “Shazam” specials featuring repeat material from the 1984 programmes will be screened. The first of these will be Phillip Schofield’s interview with Joan Armatrading, followed by a documentary on The Police featuring interviews with the three band members and backstage footage, a Billy Idol special and The Mockers in concert in the Christchurch Town Hall. On Sunday afternoons on Two during the summer holiday period the “Shazam” and “Radio with Pictures” production teams will present a series of hour-long pop shows. The first programme in this “Kiwi Summer Rock” series will feature the Dance Exponents and will be screened on December 30. On January 6 will be “Shazam — Supa Kiwi Groups” with bands from the four main centres — You’re a Movie from Auckland, The Body Electric from Wellington, the Was-

trels from Christchurch and The Netherworld Dancing Toys from Dunedin. The “Viewfinder” presenter, Philippa Dann, will be the most of this programme. On January 20, a programme featuring material from all the 1984 “Radio with Pictures” New Zealand live concerts will be screened. The bands involved are The Mockers, The Idles, Marginal Era, Tokyo, Strikemaster, Nightshade and Car Crash Set The All Stars Play the Blues concert at Mainstreet in Auckland will be televised on February 3. The concert will feature Midge Marsden, Sonny Day, Hammond Gamble, Beaver and Wilko Johnson. On February 10, the “Radio with Pictures” team will present a retrospective look at the New Zealand music scene in 1984. “Radio with Pictures,” “Ready to Roll,” and “RTR Video Releases” wil be back on screen in mid-February. “Shazam” will return a month later.