Untitled Document

About PMS - 30 years and counting...

In the spring of 1977, the year something which came to be known as “punk” was making its first significant impact on the social and musical life of the UK, Phil Ross, then a Station Assistant at BBC Radio Merseyside and the producer of its arts programme, initiated a programme on the station called “Rockaround” dedicated to alternative music. New sounds were making an impact on Merseyside music at the time and the programme featured the most challenging of the new musical sounds, both locally and nationally, as well as related local developments, such as fanzines and concert promotions (one of Phil’s regular interviewees, fanzine editor Roger Hill, would in 1982 take over the programme from him when Phil moved to a BBC job in London). For five years, and longer under Roger’s stewardship, the programme occupied an early evening slot on Fridays and became a regular point of reference for Merseysiders interested in the increasingly energetic music scene. Both Phil and Roger were during the period involved in organizing the legendary Larks In The Park summer gigs which brought to Liverpool’s attention a number of successfully aspiring acts and individual talents.

Since those early and formative days what is now understood to be the nation’s longest-running alternative music programme on local radio has changed and evolved, but the basic formula has remained the same – as much challenging new music, local, national and international, as could be crammed into the available broadcasting slot. Since 1982 Roger Hill has overseen a number of changes, in broadcasting time, name and staffing, and in 2005 the programme now broadcasts under the name of “PMS” (an acronym which was adopted in 2000 to signify “Post Millennial Sounds” but has subsequently covered “Pure Musical Sensations”, “Pretty Much Sorted” and the generic title “The Popular Music Show” – although the presenters have, in honour of its alternative content also alluded to “Pop Music Sucks”), at midnight on Sundays, and is available live and streamed on the Internet as well as being available “on demand” from the station’s web-site.

For a year at the turn of the 1990’s “”Rockaround” was adopted as the NW’s “regional rock programme” and renamed “World Noise Incorporated”. When that particular radio experiment was discontinued the programme was retained by Radio Merseyside but its original early evening slot had disappeared so it was broadcast at midnight on Fridays, in honour of which and the fact that it was nearly killed by the schedulers, it was again renamed, “The Late World Noise”.
It continued through the 90’s under that name and at that broadcast time until the Millennium loomed when it became the “Late World Countdown” with retrospective features on the music featured during its previous 23 years, ready for its Millennial re-branding and re-launch.

Over the years the programme’s music policy has broadened, absorbing the impact of such important genres as world music, dance and studio-created sounds and the overall diversification of available popular music, and it now boasts the widest range of broadcast sounds of any music programme on UK radio. Retrospective sounds and re-issues of classic alternative music are also to be found on its playlists.

Assisting Roger over the nearly 25 years of his presenter/producer incumbency have been a stream of talented and radio-hungry individuals, many of whom have gone on to work in radio and the media with the help of experience gained on the programme. The current co-producer is Joe Shooman, and the programme benefits from assistance from Richard Matanda and long-standing programme associate Keith Curtis.

Nowadays music predominates over spoken features since there is a such a wealth of good music to feature, but periodically ways are found to theme the music played. Long-time listeners will recall weekly features like “Trance Co-ordinates”, “Beat Routes”, the occasional radio “JukeBox” special and a listener panel called the “Reaction Club” whose reactions to new music were passed on to the record companies. Listeners can now communicate with the programme via mail, E-Mail, phone and texting, which has enabled regular competitions for sought-after albums and CD’s to be run.

Local music, encompassing the output of North Western bands and musicians, is still very much a staple of “PMS” and the station facilities have been used over the years to record specially-commissioned sessions from a wide range of artists. The most recent of these initiatives was a series of live acoustic sessions in 2003-4 which harvested recordings by many bands in the current “new wave” of bands from Merseyside and beyond, many of whom, like The Zutons, have gone on to greater fame and glory.

“Live” has always been a watchword for the programme. It broadcasts live, despite its late slot, and has been the medium for a number of recordings from “live “concerts sponsored by BBC Radio Merseyside at local venues and the St Helens Show. As “the Late World Noise” it also claims to be the first radio programme to feature “live mixing” on air, a special which included sets from DJ’s James Barton (of “Cream” fame) and DJ Sonia. Despite the technical limitations of local radio the programme continues to offer the best alternative music to the highest standards of broadcasting.