Television Personalities

The Television Personalities are an English post-punk band formed in 1978. Led by singer-songwriter Dan Treacy, the band have released eleven studio albums and have undergone numerous line-up changes along the way. Initially broken up in 1998, they reformed in 2004 before operations were put on hold again in 2011, where it was reported that Treacy was seriously ill after an operation to remove a blood clot from his brain.
== Links To Peel ==
Dan Treacy described in an 1984 interview with the Slow Dazzle fanzine how Peel got the attention of the band:
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"Well, I did the 1st single '14th Floor' and we got the money back. I was a bit naïve when I did it - I paid too much money to get it done. I mean, like I was 16 an' just didn't know the first thing about it. I got the money back, and my parents were pleased to see me doing something, so they helped me do 'Part Time Punks', they offered to lend me the money, and what happened was I got as far as the test pressing of 'Part Time Punks' and I didn't realise how much it would cost to put a record out, so I couldn't do it. So I had 2 copies and I sent one to John Peel and he was really sympathetic, and played it... And Peel loved it, and after playing it and saying 'oh, it's a shame they can't get the record out' about half a dozen people phoned up and Rough Trade said they'd press it and lend me the money to do it, and then it became ridiculous. I got 1,000 then Rough Trade phoned up 2 days later saying we want another 2500, and at that time that was like getting told you're getting a gold disc! And then it just went on and on and on..."
The band did a session for Peel's show, but after the group released their debut album in 1981, Peel was disappointed with the result and Dan Treacy described in the Slow Dazzle fanzine how the DJ lost interest:
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"Peel doesn't like us any more. He was the one who sort of cracked it in the first place by playing 'Part Time Punks' 25 nights in a row, and then he got Jensen and Powell to play it, then after that he got the first album and probably thought 'God, this is a bit heavy'. He was actually quoted as saying 'What a pity they've grown up'."
The evidence below of plays on the programme suggests that Peel didn't quite abandon his interest in the band as Dan Treacy believed.
== Sessions ==
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1. Recorded: 1980-09-10. Broadcast: 01 September 1980. Repeated: 25 September 1980.
* Silly Girl / Picture Of Dorian Gray / La Grande Illusion / Look Back In Anger
== Other Shows Played ==
;1978
*31 January 1978 Television Personalities 
*11 May 1978: 14th Floor (7") Ken Garner's The Peel Sessions (Chapter 11, Page 220)
*19 May 1978: 14th Floor (7") SRTS/CUS 77089
*17 August 1978: 14th Floor (7") SRTS/CUS 77089
*November 1978 (BFBS) (2): Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*20 December 1978: Happy Families (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
;1979
*08 January 1979: Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*19 April 1979: Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*07 May 1979: Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*23 October 1979: Part Time Punks(7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*10 December 1979: Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
;1980
*12 April 1980 (BFBS): Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*21 July 1980: King And Country (b/w Smashing Time 7") Rough Trade
*12 August 1980: Smashing Time (7") Rough Trade
;1981
*08 February 1981 (BFBS): I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives (7") Rough Trade RT 063
*12 February 1981: I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives (7") Rough Trade RT 063
*25 February 1981: I Know Where Syd Barrett Lives (7") Rough Trade RT 063
*08 March 1981 (BFBS): Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*07 April 1981: World Of Pauline Lewis (LP - And Don't The Kids Just Love It) Rough Trade
;1982
*04 October 1982: Part Time Punks (7" EP - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
*21 October 1982: David Hockney's Diary (LP - They Could Have Been Bigger Than The Beatles) Whaam
;1983
*12 June 1983 (BFBS): Part Time Punks (7")
*05 December 1983: A Sense Of Belonging (7") Rough Trade
;1985
*02 December 1985: Part-Time Punks (7" - Where's Bill Grundy Now?) Kings Road
;1986
*18 March 1986: God Snaps His Fingers ('How I Learned To Love The Bomb' 12") Dreamworld
;1992
*13 September 1992 (BFBS): How I Learned To Love The Bomb (12") Overground Records - OVER 30
;2001
*15 March 2001: Part Time Punks (4 x CD - 25 Years Of Rough Trade Shops)
*22 March 2001 (Radio Eins): Part Time Punks (4 x CD - 25 Years Of Rough Trade Shops)
== See Also ==
* Slaughter Joe
== External Links ==
*Wikipedia
*Discogs
*Unofficial Site
;Footnotes
Category:Artists