Burst Radio to air a celebration of The Wurzels
By Epigram Music
The student station is preparing to air a special broadcast to mark 55 years of the legendary Bristolian band The Wurzels.
Last month, Burst Radio returned effortlessly to our airwaves, giving us a non-stop 10am-10pm online schedule, and on 1st November it went 24/7, joining award-winning Bristol station BCfm for overnight broadcasting. Mixing their local output seamlessly with student programming has earned the station listeners across the city, and widespread acclaim for their diverse mix of speech and music.
Today (Sunday 28th November), the station celebrates legendary Bristolian band The Wurzels in their 55th year. At 7pm, Tommy Banner (the band’s only original member) will be chatting to Xander Brett, and at 8pm they’ll air The Wurzels: From A to Z: a documentary presented by a collection of the station’s 75 hosts. It forms part of The Best of Burst Radio, a weekly programme syndicated to BCfm that has already garnered interest from BBC Radio Bristol, responsible for broadcasting their documentary on Keith Floyd last year.
This Sunday, we celebrate legendary Bristolian band @TheWurzels in their 55th year.
— Burst Radio (@BurstRadio) November 24, 2021
Tommy Banner will be joining @XanderBrett during his show at 7pm, and at 8pm hear the tracks that made them famous in 'The Wurzels: From A to Z'. pic.twitter.com/kHnRzFGe0S
One of Burst’s most recent programmes is a selection of words and music with Bristol University poet and academic Dr William Wootten, and the production team says this – and the upcoming Wurzels documentary – is symptomatic of their determination to deliver more longform informative listening alongside the fast-paced daily Brunch, Hangover Brunch and music shows. Station Manager George Ruskin told Epigram that “celebrating local culture is at the heart of Burst’s programming.”
The Wurzels formed in 1966, with their 1976 number one hit The Combine Harvester propelling them to Top of the Pops performances, the Glastonbury Festival and world tours. They stuck together after the deaths of founder Adge Cutler in 1974 and bassist Jai Howe in 2008, releasing new music, performing at the Glastonbury Festival, releasing charity videos with Tony Blackburn and constantly touring the country (they’ll be in Bristol next week, on Tuesday 30th November at 7:30pm in St George’s).
Tune in to Burst Radio’s celebration of The Wurzels from 7pm to 9pm this Sunday 28th November at burstradio.org.