The BIG Broadcast 2025

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00:00 00:00

PBHR Live Bishop Auckland
30 Years of The Sunday Selection Craig and Lindsay
International Thalassaemia Day 2025 Dennis Duncan
The Request Show Request Team
The Happy Hour Craig Robinson
Big Friday Night Quiz Chris Nisbet

A celebration for 21 years of providing The A to Z of Pop to Hospital, Community and Internet Radio stations in the UK, Ireland and Australia.

8am – 9am Welcome To The BIG Broadcast 2025.

The team welcomes you along for the ride for the next 14 hours of fun and features, laughter, live performances and the very best music given The A to Z treatment of course.

With Richard Smith, Ruth Stapleton, Matthew Rolland and Oliver Stables and many guests from Hospital Radio stations throughout the land.

It’s a celebration of 21 years since the very first edition of The A to Z of Pop was produced and we’d like really you to get involved, so our telephone and WhatsApp number is 033 33 601 301 or you can interact with us on Facebook throughout the show @bigbroadcastuk

In this hour we’ll be concentrating on the letters A and Z as well with Actor Shaun Williamson introducing his favourite song.

9am – 10am ‘W’ and ‘D’

Songs or artists beginning with W and D in this hour plus some live music from one of our previous BIG Broadcasts from Kiki DeVille.

We’ll also be hearing from Laura ‘Queen of the 80s’ Balshaw from Chorley Hospital Radio on why they use The A to Z of Pop.

TV personality Alan Titchmarsh will also be choosing a song that he’d like to put into Room 101 – but will the team agree or not?

10am – 11am ‘I’ and ‘R’

What songs or artists would you play during this hour?

Maybe you’d like to request one by calling 033 33 601 301 or WhatsApp the studio and leave a voice note on the same number 033 33 601 301 we’d love to hear from you.

You can also test your musical knowledge with the A to z of Pop Trivia Challenge too.

Also during this hour a member of the team will be facing The Wheel of Misfortune and try to play a couple of songs that fit in with the category chosen by the wheel that also cover the letters I or R – what could possibly go wrong with that?

11am – 12pm ‘U’ and ‘F’

…Get The A to Z treatment in this hour alongside our very popular Sunday Social game show, Where’s Oli?

Can you guess where our Oliver is from the clues he gives? If you know the answer call or WhatsApp us on 033 33 601 301

Then there’s a Classic Album Track and Steve Coulby from Nottingham Hospitals Radio will also be our guest telling us why his station uses The A to Z of Pop.

12pm – 1pm ‘The’ and ‘Numbers’

An addition to the regular A to Z of Pop shows came about when I thought ‘what about Songs and artists starting with the word ‘the’ as well as songs or artists that have numbers in their name or song title?’
So, whilst you’re enjoying your lunch, enjoy with us songs from the 1960s to today that fit those categories.

We’ll also be having a Mystery Voice competition for you to have a guess at on 033 33 601 301 as well as Radio Horton’s John C, who’ll be selecting a song for us to play that begins with a number, but what will it be?

1pm – 2pm ‘E’ and ‘V’

In this hour The Wheel of Misfortune will be spinning again for another member of the team to pit their wits against it, but who will come out on top?

Previous BIG Broadcast co-presenter Jules Caston will be along with her ‘Go To’ song and Ken Anton from Bridge FM in Dundee will also be along to say why his station uses The A to Z of Pop and picks a song by an artist who’s surname begins with V – well done Ken.

2pm – 3pm ‘K’ and ‘P’

Join us for a special hour of entertainment from your favourite station as Craig Robinson will be here with his Culture Spot, a must for any Sunday afternoon.

Then we’ll be reliving some of The Pendle Jazzmen’s performance in the BIG Broadcast Live Lounge from 2017.
The 6-piece ensemble were a joy to watch and listen to with their brilliant musicianship. You’d be nuts to miss it! See what I did there?
K and P?…… KP?……. Nuts, oh never mind.

3pm – 4pm ‘C’ and ‘X’

X is always one of those tricky letters of the alphabet to cover so let’s see what the team come up with in this hour.

Ian Gornall from Preston Hospital Radio shares his BIG Broadcast memories and chooses a song beginning with X…!

We’ll also have The Mistress Quiz with our very own Sunday Social quiz mistress, Ruth Stapleton testing your grey matter this afternoon.

4pm – 5pm ‘M’ and ‘N’

In this hour we have live music from friend of the show and very talented Jess McGlinchey in our Live Lounge.

She’ll be performing just for you, half an hour of songs and artists beginning with M or N.

Arlene Phillips will also be choosing her Favourite Song.

5pm – 6pm ‘O’ and ‘L’

In this hour we’ll be playing two songs by the same artist, but decades apart, but who will be that artist?

Mike Shepherd from Radio Clatterbridge will also be along to say why The A to Z of Pop is used on their station.

And The Wheel of Misfortune will spin once again for a member of the team, 2 spins, 2 different categories and the songs chosen have to begin with ‘O’ or ‘L’ or the artist names have to begin with those letters.

6pm – 7pm ‘G’ and ‘T’

A G & T? Ooo, don’t mind if I do, Well this will certainly be Happy Hour as Comedian Dave Spikey (Jerry St Clair from

Phoenix Nights) will be along to hopefully put a tune into Room 101, but what classic 80s hit will it be I wonder?

Our very own Ruth Stapleton will be taking to the Live Lounge once again to bring a few songs that match this hours’ chosen letters.

English guitarist and composer Gordon Giltrap will also be along to tell us about his Heartsong tune – the intro music to The A to Z of Pop shows since 2004!

It’s another hour of The BIG Broadcast not to be missed!

7pm – 8pm ‘Q’ and ‘J’

We’ve paired up two of the most difficult letters in this hour and to assist us with an archive message is DJ Steve Wright who picks his Favourite Song.

There’s a mystery voice competition for you to have a go at on 033 33 601 301 and we’ll be hearing from the lovely folk at Radio Warneford in Warwick about how their station utilises The A to Z of Pop.

8pm – 9pm ‘Y’ and ‘B’

The penultimate hour of our A to Z celebration has another round of The Trivia Challenge, the Wheel of Misfortune, as well as Gareth Hurford from Radio BGM in Llanelli dropping in too.

Fancy a request in this hour? Well you can – but it has to start with either ‘Y’ or ‘B’…! Give us a call on 033 33 601 301 and get involved in it.

9pm – 10pm* The Final Countdown ‘S’ and ‘H’

We’ll be rounding off The A to Z of Pop’s BIG Broadcast 2025 with these two letters, a ‘My Go To Song’ from Chris Nesbit from Prince Bishops Hospital Radio.

Steve Ledbrook from Sunshine Radio in Weston Super-Mare will be along with a 60s classic and saying why his station uses The A to Z of Pop.