Talk:Needle time

This doesn't actually say how long "needle time" was, or what years we are talking about. We also need a source for the connection between the music industry and Mussolini.. Secretlondon 15:09, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

The amount of neede time was a closely-guarded secret. A BBC radio show would be given an allotment and the rest of the music had to be session recordings or non-needle time recordings. My first Radio 1 shows were 45 minutes long ... all music ... but had less that 10 minutes of needle time. As the DJ I could influence the records but not the sessions, which were booked ages in advance.

My friends in the US record industry couldn't understand it. 'You mean the companies restrict how many records you can play?' was a typical reaction. I believe that until the 1978 copyright act in America you did not infringe the copyright in a sound recording by broadcasting it. If that is true (can anyone confirm?) it explains this crucial differentiator between radio in the US and UK. My 'worst' memory of the situation was that when BBC Radio London went on air in 1970 it had no needle time whatsoever.

For a time I worked in a BBC department that sourced 'non-needletime' and foreign-recorded music for radio. Delverie 18:01, 17 November 2006 (UTC)


 * And where does Mussolini fit in? 217.155.20.163 22:27, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
 * I've removed the bit with Mussolini pending a source. Secretlondon 00:34, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

No knowledge of any Italian connection. Delverie 16:07, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

downfall of needle time
nothing is said about the ending of needle time, or whatever it became, or how, or when?? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bungalowbill (talk • contribs).

Date of demise of needle time
Needle time continued long after Radio One began. For a number of years session musicians and in-house BBC musicians would cover current "Hit Parade" numbers and Radio One would merge with Radio Two in the evenings, partly to economise on needle time.

I remember when commercial radio began in 1973, or shortly thereafter, the new radio stations, in particular Capital Radio, did not seem to be so constrained as the BBC with its use of commercial recordings. It could be that the new commercial stations negotiated better needle time deals with the record industry, considering that being local, they would have smaller audiences. This would of course have led the BBC to press for similar deals; however, this is mere speculation.

This would indicate that needle time was finally abolished between about 1970 and 1973.

> I disagree with this statement: I worked for the Music Advisor for BBC Local Radio in BBC London HQ in 1987 and we still had to deal with needle-time.There also was no talk of their abolition. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 146.90.215.6 (talk) 10:44, 24 June 2022 (UTC)

StewE17 (talk) 15:51, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

The bit about PPL conflicts with the Wikipedia entry for PPL and is, I think, wrong. It was founded by EMI and Decca which were as far as I can see both British companies at the time Hpengwyn (talk) 21:04, 30 November 2012 (UTC)