Manx Radio’s ‘Fifty at Fifty’, presented by Marc Tyley and Paul Corkish, which aired on Sunday 23rd November, was a listener driven show to define the fifty songs that the station would most likely be playing fifty years from now. It was aired as part of the station’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations.
Manx National Heritage is storing the ‘Fifty at Fifty’ programme of all fifty songs, together with the show’s six hour script and running order as a `digital time capsule’. The capsule consisting of USB stick, CD and DVD will be held in the Isle of Man National Sound Archive at the Manx Museum for the benefit of future generations.
Artists featured in the six hour show included Celine Dion, Tom Jones and Louis Armstrong while more recent artists who made the shortlist included; Robbie Williams, Pharrell Williams and Brian Adams. The listeners chose Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody as the song most likely to be played in fifty years’ time.
Manx National Heritage will re-present the file to Manx Radio for broadcast on the 23rd November 2064, which will be the station’s 100th anniversary. Marc Tyley, Controller of Programmes at Manx Radio commented:
“We have ensured that our digital files are future proof as far as format accessibility is concerned and we have put a note on the catalogue format for the deposit that format upgrades should be undertaken in consultation with Manx Radio. The show was designed as a bit of fun to help us to celebrate our anniversary but also provides a footnote to future generations. It will be interesting to see if the staff of the day can remember any of them!”
Paul Weatherall, Library and Archive Services Manager, Manx National Heritage, commented:
“A key part of the work we do at Manx National Heritage is to maintain historic content and we are delighted to be the guardians of this unique programme for future generations.”
ENDS