Jazz on a Saturday

Saturday 4 - 5.30 pm

In English.

Great traditional and classic jazz, news and interviews brought to you by the Victorian Jazz Club. Presented by Roger Beilby, John Smyth, John Trudinger and Geoff Tobin.

Jazz On A Saturday Turns 35 Live at Wangaratta

4pm on the 2nd October 1976, just three months after the launch of Australia’s first regularly-licensed public broadcaster 3CR, the first edition of “Jazz On A Saturday” went to air.   October 2011 marked the 35th Anniversary of that first transmission.

The first programs came from the 3CR’s original premises off High Street Armadale, with Roger Beilby behind the mic and John Smyth at the controls.  Thirty-five years later (including two new studios and two new transmitters, the advent of the CD, digital radio and the Internet), “Jazz On A Saturday” is still doing what it started out to do – broadcasting great jazz and news about the jazz scene.

Each of the month’s five programs celebrated some aspect of the program’s history, and that of jazz in Melbourne.  It culminated in our live broadcast of the program from the Wangaratta Festival of Jazz on 29th October. 

Live to Air From Wangaratta Jazz Festival

Lunchtime Saturday found the Jazz On A Saturday crew setting up their temporary studio in a marquee outside the Wangaratta Performing Arts Centre (the main venue of the Festival) next to the Hot Jazz Cafe precinct.  Blue sunny skies, some leafy shade and good coffee nearby – perfect!  As the photos show, the 35th anniversary was marked by the presence of an historic valve reel-to-reel recorder first used on the show in 1976, which was used to play original tape recordings used in those first programs.  In contrast, also visible behind it is the laptop computer with broadband mobile access used to send the program back to the 3CR studios in Fitzroy.

As well as playing material to commemorate our 35th birthday, the program also featured music and interviews with Festival performers such as Allan Browne, the Swinging Blades from Sydney and The New Sheiks from Melbourne.  We also caught up with Festival Organiser Phil Nolan to hear first hand about the future prospects for the Festival.

“Jazz On A Saturday” would like to thank the Festival Interim Board, Bonnie McIntosh, Grace Blake and Prue Bassett Publicity for helping the team to put together a successful broadcast. 

About The Program "Jazz on a Saturday"

Jazz On A Saturday is Australian radio’s longest continuously running jazz program currently on air. The ninety-minute program, presented on behalf of the Victorian Jazz Club, Inc., has been on air continuously at the same time, Saturdays 4 – 5.30pm, and with the same presenters (and even the same name – despite subsequent programs with similar names on other radio stations), since 2nd October 1976, a record that not even the ABC’s “JazzTrack” can match.

When the program started, it was thought the program would last maybe a year.  35 years later, the JOAS team is still keen to keep bringing jazz to Melbourne (only a few years till our 2000th program ...). With the advent of Internet streaming, it can now be heard anywhere in the world – a far cry from the valve technology and barely 16 km reception range with which the program started in 1976.

Roger Beilby and John Smyth, the show’s original presenters, are still in charge of Jazz On A Saturday. Roger is a jazz collector, archivist, proprietor of “Mainly Jazz” and a Life Member and former President of the Victorian Jazz Club; John Smyth is a (now retired) professional engineer and former jazz musician with lengthy experience in broadcast production. In 2001, John was awarded Life Membership of the Victorian Jazz Club in recognition of his contribution to the program. John Trudinger, producer of the Bob Barnard Jazz Parties, joined the team in 2001 and Geoff Tobin began regular contributions to the program last year

While essentially music-based, the program has also seen itself as a program of record, interviewing local and visiting musicians and arranging on-location broadcasts from special events such as Jazz Conventions and festivals such as Wangaratta. Historical occasions are recognised in the regular “Jazz Almanac” segment. In line with 3CR’s music policy of favouring and promoting performances by Australian artists, the program includes a very high level of local performances.

The Victorian Jazz Club was formed in 1968 to promote awareness of jazz music, particularly in the traditional and mainstream vein, and to provide regular opportunities for public performances by Melbourne bands. It does this through this radio program and its Saturday night live jazz and other special events. The team thanks the Victorian Jazz Club, along with the program’s many listeners, for their ongoing generous financial support of 3CR which keeps “Jazz On A Saturday” on air.

The Club, and the Jazz On A Saturday’s presenters, are firmly of the view that Melbourne is the jazz capital of Australia, and both the availability and quality of jazz in Melbourne is at least the equal of many other cities around the world. It encourages any opportunity to raise the profile of jazz (particularly traditional and mainstream), both for the enjoyment of the people of Melbourne, and its recognition as a potential attraction for visitors from overseas.

By John Smyth

Jazz On A Saturday Presenter