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 Old Grey Whistle Test 1985. The series was cancelled in early 1987 by Janet Street-Porter, who had been appointed head of Youth Programmes at the BBC. The series ended with a live New Year's Eve special broadcast through to the early hours of New Year's Day 1988; material included "Hotel California" by The Eagles, live from 1977, and "Bat Out of Hell" by Meat Loaf. Owing to technical issues during the show's early years, and the need to ensure performances were controlled, the bands often recorded the instrumental tracks the day before. The vocals were then performed live, "99 percent" of the time. After