London
After 42 years, the BBC said this week it was canceling its flagship music program, Top of the Pops. The TV show’s first episode, on New Year’s Day 1964, featured performances by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Dusty Springfield, and the Hollies. Since then, it has been a venue for countless musical giants. But viewership has dropped sharply in recent years, as music shows have proliferated on cable; last year the BBC moved Pops from BBC1 to the far less popular BBC2, effectively dooming it. From a high of 19 million viewers in the 1970s, its audience sank to just 1 million last year.
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