Big plans for hour-long ‘Shazam’

Press, 14 February 1986, Page 15

Big plans for hour-long ‘Shazam’

“Shazam’s” new hourlong show every Friday from 6.30 p.m. beginning this evening, is a great opportunity for the programme to show what it can do, says the producer, Peter Grattan.

Tonight’s programme will feature an interview with Tina Turner who was filmed at the Sheraton during her recent stay in New Zealand. The New Zealand artist Debbie Harwood will also be appearing in the show talking about her career and there will also be the latest video clips from Mick Jagger and Eddie Murphy. Other guests to appear on “Shazam” during the coming weeks include the Thompson Twins, Dire Straits, Tom Petty and, hopefully, Bob Dylan. “Some people see us as taking over from ‘Solid Gold’ which is criticised for being too American,” says Grattan. “We do our best to present a wider range of music, not just

American, and relate it specifically to what New Zealanders want to see. We will also be concentrating more on the local music scene this year.” Forty-five “Shazam” programmes will be recorded throughout the year and Grattan is excited about the new ideas they have planned. Phillipa Dann will be

hosting the show again, but not in its entirety. “An hour long show is a bit too much for just one person to host and Phillipa is keen to get out on location more often. We will be bringing in a radio personality and a moviepreview personality.” Grattan is, however, keeping quiet about who the personalities will be.

He is introducing a movie slot in ‘Shazam’ which will include reviews of commercial and home videos, television movies and film previews. There will also be an “Entertainment This Week” send-up and a guest preview slot called “Video Verdict” where three guest personalities will be invited to watch music videos before the programme and then comment onscreen themselves. Clips from the videos will also be screened so that viewers themselves can vote for the best one — a little bit like “Juke Box Jury.” “We will be tying ‘Video Verdict’ up with EMI shops around the country so viewers can ring any one of four shops and cast their vote,” he says. A New Zealand top 40 album countdown will also be featured and each week four albums will be signposted with clips, showing movement up or down the charts. Radio will also play a

larger part in the show as Grattan intends including a radio roundup where three stations are contacted weekly (different stations each week) and asked to comment on the popular numbers their stations are playing, listener requests, and so on. “We will be having a lot more pop news, too, and announcing tour dates as well as details of competitions like the Music Video Competition for schools and a Best New Band Award which will be given to a band formed in the past 12 months. Last year we had the Top College Band, but this year it will be opened up to any new band so that people who have just left school have an opportunity to enter.” Thousands of dollars worth of Roland music equipment is available in prizes to be split between the two competitions.

A Best of the Buskers competition will be featured for five weeks from mid-March with interviews and performances.