WITH LOVE FROM ME TO YOU
The following is from the Vintage TV Website,
A PERSONAL LETTER FROM VINTAGE TV FOUNDER & CHIEF EXECUTIVE DAVID PICK
Friends,
Allow me to introduce myself. After more than two years of research, planning and programme-making,
we have arrived at the launch of the most exciting music television channel of all.
As a Barrister, I was involved in negotiating deals for the likes of Queen and Kate Bush
at EMI. I have since acted for record, film and publishing companies, and for many household names. A while ago,
it dawned on me that most 'bums on seats' at West End music shows were in their fifties. People our age appeared
also to be buying more CDs, at a time when we were being told that the music business today 'is all about downloads'.
Music television, however, was not catering for us. This didn't make sense. More than 42% of our population
are in their fifties. We have the most disposable income, buy the most cars, the most holidays, the most financial services
… but we were also the most ignored. This baffled me, particularly when it came to music television. All
the great music of the vintage decades, 1940-1989, is widely available on radio. But music television remained
stubbornly obsessed with things 'youth'.
It got me thinking … about people I had known who might have danced in the aisles of the New
York Paramount, who had perhaps bid farewell to David Bowie's Spiders From Mars at the Hammersmith Odeon. People
who were obviously growing older, but who still loved music, and for whom the sounds which shaped their lives and marked
their milestones had never faded. They could still find the great music of the golden age on the airwaves …
but they could not find it on television.
Those of us born in the 1940s, '50s and '60s grew up with rock and pop, with civil rights,
with equal rights. We are used to sweeping sociological and cultural change, but to our soundtrack remaining constant.
We have music, of all genres, under our skin. Despite the fact that Society defines us as 'middle-aged',
we might still play Hendrix at home, warm to a little Bohemian Rhapsody, dance round the kitchen to the Stones. We'll
still put our bums on those seats for Paul McCartney or Bon Jovi. Such artists are the idols of our youth.
If these guys can still get out there and go for it - if Dame Vera Lynn can still score Number Ones, into her
nineties - why should we not be there too? Why should we not also have televised music 24/7? No television station
catered to our quirks and tastes, however. No broadcaster was responding to our needs.
The long story short is that I decided to launch Vintage
TV. I subsequently went about building a team comprising the finest talent in design, broadcasting, music consultancy,
programme-making and rock journalism. This small group of dedicated and creative individuals has worked flat out to bring
you what I am confident you will find is more than what you've been waiting for.
As well as the inspiring programming we will broadcast on the channel, this, our Vintage
TV website, will become the destination of choice for opportunities to join our award-winning film crews on location; to
find the best vintage events; to communicate with featured artists, and with our presenters; and to shop
online from an innovative vintage range.
I am optimistic that the changes we effect will prove ground-breaking. At the moment,
for example, despite our commitment and enthusiasm to do so, we are unable to bring you vintage music shows like Top of The
Pops. The BBC are making it difficult to obtain even temporary rights. This is bizarre because, by definition,
all programming owned by the British Broadcasting Corporation belongs to every licence-payer. We are working on this.
Now it's your turn.
We want to hear from you: about what we get right, about what we get wrong, and about what you would still like to see.
We're listening – to all of you, whatever your musical tastes. More importantly, whatever your age.
It's only a number!
Sincerely
DAVID PICK
FOUNDER AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE
VINTAGE
TV
