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Episode 12

Jay Blades revisits three repairs – a polyphon, a gramophone and a transistor radio – to show how modern music has been influenced by vintage music players.

Jay Blades revisits three repairs that show how modern music has been influenced by vintage music players.

Sue and her son Richard brought in a polyphon - a vintage disc player that was owned by Sue's grandmother. Jay tells the story of the polyphon: how it relates to the vinyl discs we are familiar with today, and how music publishers were influenced by the popularity of particular tracks – a forerunner of today’s music charts.

Richard and Leslie from Cornwall brought in a Peter Pan gramophone. This was the innovative rival to the music box and helped change listening habits in the early part of the 20th century. Jay uncovers eye-opening archive that shows how Thomas Edison helped invent the gramophone and how it created the phenomenon of music on demand that we take for granted today. He also reveals how this now vintage technology continues to shape the length of the modern day pop song.

The final fix features Albert and the beloved transistor radio that he shared for decades of happy marriage with his late wife Eileen. Jay explains how the humble transistor helped to change the face of music from the 1950s onwards, and how its legacy continues to this day.

43 minutes

Music Played

  • Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Weston & His Orchestra

    Cheek To Cheek

  • Johnny Kidd and the Pirates

    Shakin' All Over

  • Roy Orbison

    Born To Love Me

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Jay Blades
Series Producer Paula Fasht
Executive Producer David Sayer
Executive Producer Rob Butterfield
Executive Producer Emma Walsh
Production Company Ricochet Limited

Broadcasts