Time appears to be running out for the Goon Shows which have been available to stream from the BBC Sounds website for years. It’s a great resource, used by many Goon Show lovers, and if it ends it will be missed by many.
Most programmes on BBC Sounds are available for 30 days after broadcast, but other shows for which the BBC holds rights have been made available for longer. This has applied to the Goon Show, and there are currently 104 episodes listed as available at www.bbc.co.uk/programmes.
Until recently, the time the 104 shows were to be available for was listed as ‘more than a year’ and seemed endless. However, they’re all showing as available for only four months now, and counting. That countdown is due to reach zero at the end of next March.
When the Vintage Goons series was aired for the first time on Radio 4 Extra, nearly a year ago, those shows were treated differently and only got the standard 30 days availability.
What will happen if the availability ends? As far as we can tell, only four shows will be available at any time, during the 30-day period after they’re played on the regular Tuesday Radio 4 Extra slot. Listeners who have downloaded shows within the Sounds app to listen offline will have those disappear on the expiry date too. This is the situation if you fancy listening to, for example, a Navy Lark.
It’s not just the Goon Show which will be lost. The Hancock’s Half Hour‘ show’s are on a countdown too.
What are the alternatives if this comes to pass? The GSPS would of course recommend that members invest in a copy of Encyclopedia Goonicus which includes more recordings than you can imagine. However, if you want the convenience of streaming, collections of Goon Shows are available on the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube Music and various other online locations of varied legitimacy
But let’s hope it doesn’t come to that and the BBC resets the expiry dates.
The Goon Show Preservation Society 