Music Hop


Music Hop is a Canadian music television series that aired on CBC Television from 1963 to 1967.

Premise

Pop and rock music was featured in this series for youth, essentially a Canadian version of American Bandstand.

Production

The first season was a Toronto production with host Alex Trebek who welcomed visiting musicians and introduced songs from the house musicians before a studio audience of dancing teenagers. He was replaced in following seasons by Dave Mickie, a disc jockey for CKEY in that time. Series musicians were Norm Amadio and the Rhythm Rockers, joined by The Girlfriends who were a female vocal trio. The producer of this season was Stan Jacobson.
The second season's schedule expanded to all weekdays with other Canadian cities contributing to the production of Music Hop:
  • Mondays: Let's Go (1964 [TV series)|Let's Go] originated from Vancouver with producer Ain Soodor
  • Tuesdays: Jeunesse Oblige originated from Montreal with producer Pierre Desjardins
  • Wednesdays: Hootenanny originated from Winnipeg with host Ray St. Germain with producer Ray McConnell
  • Thursdays: Music Hop originated from Toronto with producer Allan Angus
  • Fridays: Frank's Bandstand originated from Halifax with producer Manny Pitson

Scheduling

The first season of this half-hour series was broadcast Thursdays at 5:30 p.m. from its debut 3 October 1963. In the following two seasons, it was seen every weekday, also at 5:30 p.m., since 28 September 1964. In its final season, the Friday episode was omitted from 3 October 1966 until its final broadcast on 28 June 1967.

Reception

Music Hop attracted approximately one million weekly viewers according to CBC estimates, mostly under age 20, with an estimated one-third of those viewers adults.