Erewash Sound finishes airplay of every Cliff Richard hit to mark his 80th birthday

Erewash Sound has finished playing every chart hit single to mark the Peter Pan of Pop’s 80th birthday.

In 2020, Erewash Sound, based in Ilkeston, began playing one of Sir Cliff Richard OBE’s hits every week, starting with ‘Move It’ in 1958 through to his most recent release, and with his Christmas tracks being aired across each festive season in between, the series finished at the end of 2023.

According to the Official Charts company, Sir Cliff (who is widely documented as having had his first large-scale appearance at The Regal Ballroom in Ripley in 1958) has, so far, enjoyed 135 UK Top 75 hit singles throughout his career, including 14 No.1s and 68 Top 10s, with his tracks spending 333 weeks in the Top 10 alone, and, on top of the fact that he had reached a landmark birthday, these were major reasons why the presenter of the Lazy Sunday show, Ian Perry, decided to run the weekly feature.

He said: “No one can be surprised at the longevity of Sir Cliff’s music career, his impact on the UK music industry and his popularity, nor that he has continued to record and tour and make public appearances.  It was an absolute delight to be able to entertain our listeners by playing his hits in order in a special slot over the last few years, particularly those who are Cliff fans.

“But of course, as a genuinely local radio station for everyone across the Derbyshire borough of Erewash, we pride ourselves in remaining fiercely local and playing a mix of music that everyone can enjoy together, as well as interspersing what we play with key pieces of local news and information, but we never rest on our laurels and always look for ways in which we can even better serve our listeners and the wider community.”

In 2023, the radio station launched a weekly business show presented by three local businesswomen, with a number of interviews held with local business people.  The interviews are also made available to listen to on-line.

For 2024, Ian has started a brand new feature marking the 40th anniversary of ABBA winning the 1974 Eurovision Song Content in Brighton with ‘Waterloo’ by playing their single releases every week.