Ready Steady Win
Contents |
Host
Introduced by Keith Fordyce and Cathy McGowan, hosted by Michael Aldred and Gay Shingleton
Co-hosts
Judges varied from show to show
Broadcast
Associated-Rediffusion for ITV, 15 June to 16 September 1964 (13 episodes in 1 series)
Synopsis
TV talent contest, extending the brand of seminal 60s pop show Ready Steady Go!
To enter, bands had first to send in a demo disc (not tape) then pass an audition. The shows were recorded at the Associated Rediffusion studios in Wembley. It was the first time that the RSG engineers had tried to mix and broadcast live bands - unlike RSG, there was no miming in RSW.
The engineers were obsessed with removing all trace of hum & other noise from the bands' equipment, and spent much of the morning replacing valves, etc.
The judges varied from week to week, such as Beatles manager Brian Epstein, bandleader Cyril Ornadel and journalist Maureen Cleve. When interviewed on the show and asked what was the most important attribute a band should have, Maureen gave the most profound response "clean fingernails".
Another competing band to have some later commercial success was The Birds, a very rough-looking R&B band featuring a very young Ronnie Wood.
Trivia
Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood was discovered on this show when he appeared as the drummer for the band The Bo Street Runners.
The Troggs were also discovered on this show. They narrowly beat a Dagenham schoolboy group called the Rapiers. The Rapiers were the first group to get full marks for "Personality" on the show.
The entire show was rehearsed with the engineers standing in for the judges, then recorded in the evening with a full teenage audience and proper judges.
