The Golden Hour

The Golden Hour is a long-standing feature/segment/programme in the United Kingdom, where records are played that all charted in the UK Top 40 in a certain year and listeners are invited to guess the year. First broadcast on BBC Radio in 1973 during Tony Blackburn's mid-morning show, the segment was continued for many years on BBC Radio 1 by Simon Bates, Simon Mayo, and Chris Moyles, with Bates currently presenting the feature as a programme on Universal Music's range of Now Music television channels. History In June 1973, Noel Edmonds took over presenting the breakfast slot on BBC Radio 1 and Tony Blackburn moved to present the mid-morning slot (9–12 am). One of the features Blackburn started on this show was the Golden Hour. This was originally an hour of records that had all charted in a specified year, using a different year each weekday. Blackburn continued this feature until he vacated the weekday mid-morning slot in Autumn 1977 with a move to weekday afternoons. He was replaced by Simon Bates, who continued the feature at the top of the show between 9 and 10 am. Bates amended the format, however, turning it into a game for the audience to participate in. Records were played, sometimes interspersed with clues, so listeners could 'play along at home' and work out what the year was. The year would be revealed by Simon near the end of the hour. Later on, Simon split this into two half-hour segments, playing songs from two different years. Towards the end of 1993, when new controller Matthew Bannister took over and reorganised the station's shows and presenters, Simon Mayo moved from breakfast to mid-morning, taking over the feature from Bates. The Golden Hour, or Mystery Years, as they were now sometimes referred to, lasted until November 1996 when they were replaced with an hour of music from a number of years including the current one. Between May 1994 and October 1995, Sundays also featured The Classic Years (12–2 pm), also presented by Mayo. There was also a feature which ran between 1996 and 1999 on Fridays called Golden Hour Jukebox, then The Jukebox, then Greatest Hits Jukebox, where listeners could ring in and suggest tracks instead of the normal format.