A US-American radio syndicated record label. Discs were only made available to radio stations for broadcast purposes and not for sale to the general public.
Part of BBC Transcription Services.
London Wavelength Inc., a company incorporated in the U.S., was a commercial company set up in the mid 1970s to syndicate BBC recordings for airplay on commercial American radio stations. As such, it can be considered as an arm of BBC Transcription Services, having access to the treasures within the BBC archives and including the BBC Transcription Services logo on their cue sheets. Under their licensing agreement, London Wavelength Inc. was given access to original BBC recordings which it then reedited to meet the needs for use on U.S. commercial radio stations.
London Wavelength Inc. began its corporate life as a division (syndication wing) of ASI Communications, NYC. It was the 'sister operation' to London Wavelength Ltd. in the UK. It licensed and then syndicated programs originally produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation, and as such was the exclusive U.S. distributor of contemporary music syndication shows from the BBC.
Show Series Numbering and Dating Information
For 1975 - 1980 BBC Rock Hour reels, there is a date that is usually printed on the upper right corner of the box label, which many people confuse as being the broadcast air date. It is in fact the tape mastering production date, but is assumed to be at least a close approximation to the actual broadcast date. Where the broadcast date is known, it has usually been within 5-12 days after the reel box mastering date code.
For the BBC Rock Hour series, during the years of 1975 through 1977 the shows were serially numbered #1 - 46.
Following this initial numbering system London Wavelength then began renumbering shows from 1978 onward as follows:
In 1978 the show numbers re-started with #1 - 52.
In 1979 the show numbers re-started with #1 - 18 up through approximately mid-year.
Then the series show numbers re-started again at #1 - 18 up through the end of the year.
In its final year in reel format, the show numbers started at #101 and ran up to #134 in mid-year.
Additionally, from approximately shows #111 - 126, the year "1980" was added to the box label after the show number.
It should be noted that there was some overlap in shows being distributed on reel and LP at the same time, as LW decided to issue a them in both formats for shows #127 - 136. At that point the series transitioned from reel tape to vinyl LP format for radio station distribution. The series numbering was simply continued with #127, beginning with the first LP release. The LP format shows continued with show numbers serially incremented until the series abruptly ended in early 1985.
Duplication Service Houses Used For Show Tape/LP Duplication For Subscription Distribution
1972 - 1974 - unknown (pre-BBC Rock Hour Series reels)
1975 - mid 1977 - National Tape Service, Caldwell, NJ
mid 1977 - 1979 - RKO/ National Tape Service, NYC
1979 - 09/80 - National Tape Corporation, Caldwell, NJ
Reel/Box Labeling Differences Throughout The Lifetime Of The Series Distributed On Reel
1972 - 1974 - unknown (pre-BBC Rock Hour Series reels)
1974 - 10/75- white or grey matte reel boxes with a 4" x 4" white label large NTS logo and address, master date code, tape speed, mono or stereo indication, special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued to the front (pre-BBC Rock Hour series shows)
11/75 - 06/77- grey matte boxes with 4" x 4" white label with large NTS logo and address, master date code, tape speed, mono or stereo indication, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued to the front
06/77 - 08/78 - grey matte boxes with 4" x 4" white label with RKO/National Tape Service and address, master date code, tape speed, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued or adhered to the front with clear tape
08/78 - 09/79 - white or black boxes with 3" x 4" white label with RKO/National Tape Service and address, master date code, tape speed, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued or adhered to the front with clear tape
09/79 - 09/80 - white or black boxes with 3" x 4" white label with large RKO Tape Corporation logo and name and address, master date code, tape speed, BBC RH or special name, artist name, number of reels in show and LW name glued or adhered to the front with clear tape
Cue Sheet, Track Listing & Other Enclosures Used In BBC Rock Hour Series As Distributed On Reel/LP
1972 - 1974 - these early, multi-reel specials often had more elaborate cue sheets usually cloned from the original BBC TS LP cue sheets replacing the show number and air dates, along with LP side indications with reel number indications
1975 - 1980 - BBC RH reel shows had cue sheets usually cloned from the original BBC TS LP cue sheets replacing the show number and air dates, along with LP side indications with reel number indications; they occasionally included custom promo pages from the artists record label and in ~1978 quarterly bulletins of upcoming shows from LW
1980 - 1985 - BBC RH LPs had cue sheets usually cloned from the original BBC TS LP cue sheets replacing the show number and air dates; in later years they occasionally included the artist's logo or name within the cue sheet
BBC Series Reel/LP Sequences
BBC Specials (reel) - mid 1972 - mid 1975
BBC Rock Hour (reel) - mid 1975 - mid 1980
BBC Rock Hour (LP) - mid 1980 - early 1985