"Pop Club" was a hugely popular radio programme on the
BBC World Service
The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...
in the late 1960s. Presented by the radio broadcaster
Tommy Vance
Richard Anthony Crispian Francis Prew Hope-Weston (11 July 1940 – 6 March 2005), known professionally as Tommy Vance, was an English radio broadcaster. He was an important factor in the rise of the new wave of British heavy metal, along with ...
dubbed "TV on the radio", each installment of the programme started with a song from
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is a British singer and actor. He has total sales of over 21.5 million singles in the United Kingdom and, as of 2012, was the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart histo ...
, the nominal president of the club.
Listeners to the BBC World Service from all over the world would apply to become members of Pop Cub receiving a membership card, special badges and gifts. Every week Tommy Vance would read listeners' letters and played requests with one being chosen as the "letter of the week".
Later on the hosting was taken over by
Noel Edmonds
Noel Ernest Edmonds (born 22 December 1948) is an English businessman, and former television presenter, radio DJ, writer and producer. Edmonds first became known as a disc jockey on Radio Luxembourg before moving to BBC Radio 1 in the UK, pres ...
and the 30-minute programme was extended to 45 minutes.
{{BBC World Service
BBC World Service programmes