First BBC UK Chart with Bruno Brookes - March 1986

He seized the BBC UK chart baton from the hands of Richard Skinner in March 1986 and was to clutch it until September 1990.

This first official show from Bruno Brookes was relaxed and precise and as perfect as you’d expect from a pro like Bruno, not least because he’d tried his hand as relief on the show beforehand. These shows are more difficult to pull off than it sounds.

This is a pure first-generation chart performance, the music, the numbers, the jingles and little to distract from the songs that mattered. The way the tracks often seem to fade away before Bruno reappears possibly owed more to consideration for those who wanted to enjoy, or tape, every last second of the songs, than to Bruno not paying attention.

Note the signs of the times: the gleeful claiming of Radio 2’s ‘glorious stereo’ FM frequencies at the outset; the lush JAM jingle sound; and the tease to the ‘new’ chart being unveiled on Tuesday lunchtimes.

Fond chart memories: http://davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/and-heres-this-weeks-number-one.html and thanks to @RMWhite21 for supplying me the audio