Radio Lonato at 50: Pick Up and the Singer-Songwriters

With this fifth instalment of our story of 50 years of Radio Lonato, we turn to the programmes the station made between 1976 and 1982. Let us begin with the slots that gave the schedule its genuinely cultural side. Who could forget Viaggio nella Classica (A Journey into Classical Music), hosted first by Gianfranco Amadori and then by Giorgio Zanetti of the Amici della Musica society; Cinema with Mauro Orlando; Novità in libreria (New in the Bookshop) with Lucina Fadabini, in partnership with Tommaso Podavini’s Galleria del Libro; and the poetry corner hosted by Francesco Permunian. Then, of course, there were plenty of music shows: Desperado (Giancarlo Serina and Lorena Papa), Tacchi a spillo (Stiletto Heels, Gianfranco Bresciani), Sound on Sound (Roberto Parolini), Take Off (Giacomo Zanotti), Carmela Bortolotti’s entertainment slots, and Alfredo Facchetti’s music marathons, which filled the “gaps” in the schedule.

Bearded singer-songwriter Francesco Guccini in a dark jacket playing guitar at a microphone

Pick Up – Where Singer-Songwriters Meet

From 1978 to January 1984, Pick Up went out in the late afternoon, from 6 to 7 pm. It was created and presented by Roberto Darra. After a while, his friend Gianfranco Pizzocolo joined him at the microphone, and it fell to Pizzocolo to see the programme through its last two years. The theme tune was a medley of snippets from songs by Camerini, Guccini (see photo), Vecchioni and I Nomadi. In my view, Pick Up was without doubt an attempt to read a society in deep transformation, using the Italian canzone d’autore – the singer-songwriter tradition – as its tool of analysis. If today’s charts are dominated by love songs in all their variations, the social message back then was far more explicit. One example says it all: Francesco Guccini’s Dio è morto (God Is Dead), also superbly performed by I Nomadi, was censored by the RAI, Italy’s state broadcaster, for its blunt portrait of a society in decay, and later became an anthem to peace and sharing. Pick Up stood out for its conversational tone with listeners, opening a window both on new names (Graziani, Rossi, Manfredi…) and on established ones (De André, Guccini, Dalla, Venditti, De Gregori…). The show was born when Sugo – Da Paoli a Finardi, the earlier singer-songwriter programme hosted by Ermido Urbani, came to an end. The close bond between the radio and the singer-songwriters grew stronger in two ways: the presenters went to many concerts and conducted interviews (we remember meeting Pierangelo Bertoli in Carpenedolo), and singers came to visit the studios (Gianna Nannini, Claudio Rocchi…). The relationship with listeners became increasingly important: phone-in requests, letters suggesting playlists, visits to the studio, articles sent in, tip-offs about concerts and live appearances on air built an ever more active collaboration, which often turned into friendship. When Pick Up opened up to foreign artists, listeners sent in translations of the lyrics, often handwritten. We remember two loyal and much-valued contributors: Patrizia B. from Ghedi and the unforgettable Rosa Antonelli from Nave. Pick Up went off the air in January 1984.