TV Pop Diaries
Pop Music on British Television 1955 - 1999

Granada producer Johnny Hamp was handed the task of finding new talent for the Pop Scene section of the weekday early-evening news and magazine show Scene at 6.30. Talking to TV Times in April 1964 he admitted "When we decided we needed a pop musical item in the show every night, we had a problem. Most of the big names launched their records in London. We decided that if we were going to get the teenage audiences we wanted, we would have to start scooping the London shows. That didn't only mean getting established names to come to Manchester first with their records. It meant digging out new talent before it had been fully recognised elsewhere." He also explained "On the new show we are trying to feature stars who are in the hit parade that week."

For the first week of broadcasting it presented Brian Hyland, Frank Ifield, Jess Conrad, The Vernon's Girls, Joe Brown and Kenny Lynch. But for the show's producers it wasn't a matter of dragging pop stars into a studio to mime, they would take another approach, later copied by Thank Your Lukcy Stars and much later Top Of The Pops. In a Record Mirror article in February 1963 "Scene at 6.30, Granada's new current affairs and light entertainment show, which replaces 'People and Places', started last Monday, and producer Johnny Hamp and director Philip Carson are getting out and about in search of appropriate settings for record stars signed to appear. Johnny Kidd and The Pirates sailing down the Manchester Ship canal, Little Eva surrounded by hissing locomotives, and Shane Fenton in solitary confinement are just a few of the outrise location shots planned."

Being on the doorstep of Liverpool it was relatively easy to get access to the Brian Epstein stable, bringing Billy J Kramer to TV for the first time in 1963, followed by other acts like Freddie & The Dreamers who had auditioned a year before but had been rejected for being absurd. Also debuting on the show were The Hollies. Hamp said "I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw them. They were dressed in jeans and shirts that didn't match, and they looked more like rough kids than musicians. But we put them on, because they had a new kind of talent, and they never looked back."

In July 1966 the show was moved to a new late night spot in an attempt to rival BBC1's 24 Hours. A Granada spokesman told The Times that it would give the producers more time to process the day's news and events.

For a more complete list of performers take a look at Mark Dixon's list from the Missing Episodes board.

SCENE AT 6.30

Granada

28th January 1963 - 1968