Annie Nightingale the early 1980s she presented a Friday night show and the non-music-based "Radio 1 Mailbag" and "Talkabout". In 1978, Nightingale became the main presenter of "The Old Grey Whistle Test" on BBC2 as a replacement for long-time host Bob Harris. During her tenure, the show moved away from its traditional bias under Harris towards country music, blues rock and progressive rock and embraced popular modern styles such as punk rock and new wave. She left the series in 1982. She had begun "The Sunday Request Show" in September 1975, originally on Sunday afternoons until the end of 1979. It began
The Late Show (UK TV programme) of "The Old Grey Whistle Test" the programme became one of the few spaces on BBC television for live music performances. The programme originally featured a round-table discussion hosted by Clive James on Friday nights. However this format was dropped after the second series. "The Late Show" pulled in heavyweight popular music acts live or pre-recorded, including Van Morrison, Leonard Cohen, Public Enemy, Joni Mitchell, The Stone Roses, Dick Dale, and Jeff Buckley. At the time, "The Late Show" came under the now defunct Music and Arts Department at the BBC, which also produced the long-form "Omnibus" and "Arena" programmes.