Hi Mark.
Couldn't agree more.
Alan will have much more luck talking to engineers/producers of shows, than the "archive" departments. (If he can track them down)
And yes....many session/concerts were rescued from the great recycling bin in the sky, purely by enthusiasts.

These tapes are probably in someones attic, gathering dust.

To be fair to the Beeb, they now do archive most sessions, thanks mainly to the unsung hero Phil Lawton, who along with Johnny Beerling set up the project in the late 70's.

Then in the 90's the much maligned John Birt, (Director General) was instrumental in digitising what was left, and now all existing sessions are living on several huge computers, accessible by programme makers. (Digi Radio 6 and 7 wouldn't exist without this stuff)

After the success of this experiment, the Beeb have now embarked on digi archiving the entire Radio archive, from the earliest days!!!

Talk about painting the Forth Bridge!!!

It will take years no doubt.

Talking of Phil Lawton, I remember visiting him in his dungeon under Yalding House, and whilst chatting to him, I realised that I was leaning on shelves filled with tapes by The Beatles, Hendrix, etc, etc....!!!

Rows and rows of the stuff.

Bloody Hell, I thought....imagine a fire in here!!

For people who are interested there has been recently released a book by Ken Garner called "The Peel Sessions" which tells the story of how live music came to be recorded by the Beeb.

Obviously it concentrates on Mr Peel, and lists every session ever recorded.....but, as an overview to the Beebs attitude to Live music, it's a "Must Read"

(And I get a mention too.....how cool is that!)