Ken Mutch
By Karyn McCulloch
Anybody who has listened to ‘Take the Floor’ on BBC Radio Scotland on a Saturday evening will be familiar with the name – and voice – of Ken Mutch. He is the show’s Producer – and also features ‘on air’, reading the ‘Dance Diary’ for the week ahead. Ken will be one of the Guests of Honour at the Association’s Presentation Luncheon in June 2005. However, what do we really know about ‘the man behind the name?’ Let’s find out, shall we?
Ken Mutch was born at Inch Hospital in Aberdeenshire and spent the first four years of his life in Oldmeldrum. His family then moved to Inverurie and he lived there until he left school. During his time in Inverurie he learned to play the fiddle, but gave it up when he left school. The only musical connection in the family before this was his grandfather, who played fiddle in a Scottish dance band. Ken remembers family visits to his grandparents’ house on Saturday afternoons during the 1950’s and being told to “keep quiet” when the Scottish Dance Music programme came on the radio! Nowadays there are a few more family members involved in the music scene – Ken’s sister, Sheila, sings in the Dunfermline Abbey Choir, his cousin Stevie Morrice plays in a band called ‘The Redcoats’ and another cousin, Sandy Hardie, plays pipes in the Inverurie Pipe Band.
Ken Mutch was born at Inch Hospital in Aberdeenshire and spent the first four years of his life in Oldmeldrum. His family then moved to Inverurie and he lived there until he left school. During his time in Inverurie he learned to play the fiddle, but gave it up when he left school. The only musical connection in the family before this was his grandfather, who played fiddle in a Scottish dance band. Ken remembers family visits to his grandparents’ house on Saturday afternoons during the 1950’s and being told to “keep quiet” when the Scottish Dance Music programme came on the radio! Nowadays there are a few more family members involved in the music scene – Ken’s sister, Sheila, sings in the Dunfermline Abbey Choir, his cousin Stevie Morrice plays in a band called ‘The Redcoats’ and another cousin, Sandy Hardie, plays pipes in the Inverurie Pipe Band.
After leaving school, Ken joined the BBC in 1969 as a technical operator in London – but it was TV shows he worked on then – radio came later. The very first show he worked on was Blue Peter. Other shows included Steptoe and Son, Up Pompeii and The Sky at Night (with Patrick Moore). He worked for the BBC in Edinburgh for a while before moving to the BBC in Beechgrove, Aberdeen.
Radio Aberdeen just happened to be looking for a presenter for a folk music programme. The people there knew Ken was interested in folk music, so he got the job. He expected the show (called ‘Mutch Folk’) to run for thirteen weeks – it ended up running for two years! Ken left the BBC in 1978 to set up his own business doing freelance film sound recording, which he did until going back to the BBC in 1980.
It was around this time (1980) when a producing job came up at the BBC in Glasgow, so he applied – and got the job. A fine job it was too – Ben Lyons had just retired, so Ken stepped into his shoes, producing shows such as Gerry Ford’s Country Corner, The Tartan Terror Show with Gerry McKenzie, Andy Cameron’s Sunday Joint and Howard Lockhart’s Greeting programme. Later, he went on to produce Ken Bruce’s show when he worked for Radio Scotland and also the Art Sutter Show. After a while doing this, he went back to Aberdeen to work on ‘Take the Floor’.
It was around this time (1980) when a producing job came up at the BBC in Glasgow, so he applied – and got the job. A fine job it was too – Ben Lyons had just retired, so Ken stepped into his shoes, producing shows such as Gerry Ford’s Country Corner, The Tartan Terror Show with Gerry McKenzie, Andy Cameron’s Sunday Joint and Howard Lockhart’s Greeting programme. Later, he went on to produce Ken Bruce’s show when he worked for Radio Scotland and also the Art Sutter Show. After a while doing this, he went back to Aberdeen to work on ‘Take the Floor’.
Prior to going back to Aberdeen, he produced Travelling Folk and presented it for a while after Robin Hall left. Ken was also responsible for taking on the show’s presenter Archie Fisher some twenty odd years ago!
During his time on Take the Floor, Ken has worked with many of the great names in Scottish music, such as Sir Jimmy Shand, Bobby MacLeod, Jimmy Blue, Jim MacLeod, Angus Fitchet, John Ellis, Andy Stewart and Jim Johnstone. He also did a series of programme with Phil Cunningham a few years ago (called Cunningham and Company) where they interviewed people such as Gerry Rafferty, Bonnie Raitt, Eddi Reader, Jay Unger (who wrote the popular tune Ashokan Farewell) and Russ Barrenberg (who wrote a tune called Return to the Brandywine).
Ken also produced a series for Radio Scotland called ‘Live at the Lemon Tree’, with guests like Steve Harley (Cockney Rebel) and Geno Washington (Ram Jam Band). Back in the early days in the BBC in Glasgow, Ken was producing some of the recording sessions with the Scottish Radio Orchestra for BBC radio 2, under conductor Brian Fahey – who just happened to be the man who wrote the tunes called The Sign of the Swinging Cymbal. You may think you’ve never heard of this tune, but I’ll bet you have – it was the theme tune played every week for ‘Pick of the Pops’ with Alan Freeman on Radio 2.
During his time on Take the Floor, Ken has worked with many of the great names in Scottish music, such as Sir Jimmy Shand, Bobby MacLeod, Jimmy Blue, Jim MacLeod, Angus Fitchet, John Ellis, Andy Stewart and Jim Johnstone. He also did a series of programme with Phil Cunningham a few years ago (called Cunningham and Company) where they interviewed people such as Gerry Rafferty, Bonnie Raitt, Eddi Reader, Jay Unger (who wrote the popular tune Ashokan Farewell) and Russ Barrenberg (who wrote a tune called Return to the Brandywine).
Ken also produced a series for Radio Scotland called ‘Live at the Lemon Tree’, with guests like Steve Harley (Cockney Rebel) and Geno Washington (Ram Jam Band). Back in the early days in the BBC in Glasgow, Ken was producing some of the recording sessions with the Scottish Radio Orchestra for BBC radio 2, under conductor Brian Fahey – who just happened to be the man who wrote the tunes called The Sign of the Swinging Cymbal. You may think you’ve never heard of this tune, but I’ll bet you have – it was the theme tune played every week for ‘Pick of the Pops’ with Alan Freeman on Radio 2.
Ken has produced around 800 Take the Floor programmes – and around 250 of these were outside broadcasts. Although outside broadcasts seem quite different from a studio broadcast, they both require a certain amount of planning. For a studio broadcast you need to organize the band and then a feature. With an outside broadcast you still need a band, but also have the added task of finding a venue and booking a couple of guest artistes. However, it would appear that OB’s seem to ‘run slightly smoother’ and there never seem to be very many retakes required.
Due to Ken’s previous experience as a technical operator, he edits all the programmes as well as producing them. Mind you, it’s much easier nowadays as most editing is done on computer – whereas in days gone by he would need to do all the edits on the quarter inch tape the sessions were recorded on at the time!
Ken recalls what we would call a ‘technical problem’, during the days of quarter inch tape. Once the show had been edited, the tapes were sent in the post to the BBC in Glasgow to be broadcast. One particular programme was sent in the post, but when it arrived in Glasgow the tape box was all bashed and mangled. The tape spool was so buckled that each time it turned round there was a terrible noise – as there wasn’t enough time to spool it onto another tape for the broadcast unfortunately it had to be abandoned.
Ken had very enjoyable trip to Portugal and California recording Take the Floor. In Portugal, the show was recorded in the open air with the Craigowl Band and special guest, ace accordionist, Kepa Hunkera from the Basque Region of Spain (there’s a track on the 25th Anniversary CD). In California the TTF Team, with David Cunningham’s Band, were on board the RMS Queen Mary berthed at Long Beach. He has also visited Cape Breton Island recording a show for Radio 2 with Aly Bain. But the most exciting broadcast was a ‘live’ broadcast directly from Holyrood Palace, with Iain MacPhail’s Band, which coincided with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2003.
Travelling to Paris with Phil Cunningham to record an interview with Gerry Rafferty was another memorable trip – but for very different reasons! Ken and Phil arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport safe and sound – and very casually dressed – only to discover that their suitcases hadn’t made the same journey! Gerry’s manager was quite keen that they continue with the meeting – in the Ritz Hotel in Paris! I don’t suppose there are many people who can say the went into the Ritz in Paris wearing jeans and a leather jacket!! Anyway, the interview went ahead, during which the manager kept “plying the boys with wine”. After they had finished recording, they headed down to the bar – where Gerry Rafferty ordered champagne cocktails and caviar and lobster nibbles – by this time everyone was “quite merry”. Since Gerry had been so generous with the wine, Ken decided to pay for the champagne and nibbles……(Jings!!)
Next morning Ken and Phil were having breakfast and Phil was saying what a great night it had been – Ken agreed. “Even better”, Phil said “as it didn’t cost us a penny!” Then Ken found a credit card receipt in his pocket – which worked out to be around £350!!
Away from the studio, you’ll most likely find Ken relaxing on the golf course, or out walking his two Dalmatian dogs – called Major and Monty. What type of music does he like to listen to when he’s at home? Well, basically anything – as long as it has a good melody and a good beat!
Although the musical standards of the youngsters coming into the scene seems to be getting better and better all the time, Ken has some concerns about the future of the dance bands. Every week on Take the Floor you can hear a five or a six piece band playing , but how often do you actually see a six-piece band playing at a dance? Unless it happens to be a ‘big event’, then it tends to be mostly trios. Will we end up with no youngsters who want to learn the bass, for example? We certainly hope not and have every confidence that this will not be the case.
If any youngster has aspirations of becoming a radio producer, just like Ken, then his advice is to “get in anywhere you can”. It is becoming more and more difficult to get jobs in the entertainment industry, so take anything you can – even if it’s just making the tea or answering the phones! Once you’ve got a foot in the door, who knows where you could end up? Seems like “Sound Advice” to me (pardon the pun!)
The future certainly looks good for Ken Mutch – he’s spending the next three months working in Glasgow producing the Iain Anderson Show, from July until September. After that he just plans to keep producing Take the Floor to his usual high standards.
On that note, may I take this opportunity to congratulate Ken on his forthcoming presentation and to wish him all the best for the future. We hope he continues to “push the right buttons” at BBC Radio Scotland for many years to come!
Box and Fiddle
June 2005
Due to Ken’s previous experience as a technical operator, he edits all the programmes as well as producing them. Mind you, it’s much easier nowadays as most editing is done on computer – whereas in days gone by he would need to do all the edits on the quarter inch tape the sessions were recorded on at the time!
Ken recalls what we would call a ‘technical problem’, during the days of quarter inch tape. Once the show had been edited, the tapes were sent in the post to the BBC in Glasgow to be broadcast. One particular programme was sent in the post, but when it arrived in Glasgow the tape box was all bashed and mangled. The tape spool was so buckled that each time it turned round there was a terrible noise – as there wasn’t enough time to spool it onto another tape for the broadcast unfortunately it had to be abandoned.
Ken had very enjoyable trip to Portugal and California recording Take the Floor. In Portugal, the show was recorded in the open air with the Craigowl Band and special guest, ace accordionist, Kepa Hunkera from the Basque Region of Spain (there’s a track on the 25th Anniversary CD). In California the TTF Team, with David Cunningham’s Band, were on board the RMS Queen Mary berthed at Long Beach. He has also visited Cape Breton Island recording a show for Radio 2 with Aly Bain. But the most exciting broadcast was a ‘live’ broadcast directly from Holyrood Palace, with Iain MacPhail’s Band, which coincided with the Queen’s Golden Jubilee in 2003.
Travelling to Paris with Phil Cunningham to record an interview with Gerry Rafferty was another memorable trip – but for very different reasons! Ken and Phil arrived at Charles de Gaulle Airport safe and sound – and very casually dressed – only to discover that their suitcases hadn’t made the same journey! Gerry’s manager was quite keen that they continue with the meeting – in the Ritz Hotel in Paris! I don’t suppose there are many people who can say the went into the Ritz in Paris wearing jeans and a leather jacket!! Anyway, the interview went ahead, during which the manager kept “plying the boys with wine”. After they had finished recording, they headed down to the bar – where Gerry Rafferty ordered champagne cocktails and caviar and lobster nibbles – by this time everyone was “quite merry”. Since Gerry had been so generous with the wine, Ken decided to pay for the champagne and nibbles……(Jings!!)
Next morning Ken and Phil were having breakfast and Phil was saying what a great night it had been – Ken agreed. “Even better”, Phil said “as it didn’t cost us a penny!” Then Ken found a credit card receipt in his pocket – which worked out to be around £350!!
Away from the studio, you’ll most likely find Ken relaxing on the golf course, or out walking his two Dalmatian dogs – called Major and Monty. What type of music does he like to listen to when he’s at home? Well, basically anything – as long as it has a good melody and a good beat!
Although the musical standards of the youngsters coming into the scene seems to be getting better and better all the time, Ken has some concerns about the future of the dance bands. Every week on Take the Floor you can hear a five or a six piece band playing , but how often do you actually see a six-piece band playing at a dance? Unless it happens to be a ‘big event’, then it tends to be mostly trios. Will we end up with no youngsters who want to learn the bass, for example? We certainly hope not and have every confidence that this will not be the case.
If any youngster has aspirations of becoming a radio producer, just like Ken, then his advice is to “get in anywhere you can”. It is becoming more and more difficult to get jobs in the entertainment industry, so take anything you can – even if it’s just making the tea or answering the phones! Once you’ve got a foot in the door, who knows where you could end up? Seems like “Sound Advice” to me (pardon the pun!)
The future certainly looks good for Ken Mutch – he’s spending the next three months working in Glasgow producing the Iain Anderson Show, from July until September. After that he just plans to keep producing Take the Floor to his usual high standards.
On that note, may I take this opportunity to congratulate Ken on his forthcoming presentation and to wish him all the best for the future. We hope he continues to “push the right buttons” at BBC Radio Scotland for many years to come!
Box and Fiddle
June 2005