Well, the second hour is times two of everything I said about Hour 1 of this piece.
After listening to two hours of the piece I couldn't help but think "Wow, all of that happened in 1964 alone?"
I predict someone, in the near future, at a University proposing a new course on the Beatles. Unless there is one already.
Why not? Look at how they've shuffled all aspects of popular culture and media. Without coming off as a Beatlementalist, what would the world be like today if there were no Beatles? Besides their obvious influence on the musical landscape. 'Beatle Effect 101' anyone?

WTMD is presented with multi-hour specials all the time on various artists. When we evaluate them we ask ourselves two questions. 1-What are our listeners expectations of this show in adding to the discussion about the subject, and does this show meet or exceed them. 2-When would we air this show? Is it tied to an anniversary or other event that concerns the artist or is it so good we just have to put it on NOW. The more enthusiastic we are about the first question, the sooner it gets on the air and more likely we are to program it during daylight hours when people are likely to hear it.

So before I dive into the specifics of this piece let me tell you what our listeners expect when someone pitches us on show like this. Context. And a lot of it. Public radio AAA stations share a considerable enough audience with the NPR News Talk station in their market to draw a few conclusions. Our listeners want the same insightful editorial content that marks a drive-way-effect piece on Morning Edition, ATC, Diane Rehm or Justice Talking. I’m fond of saying that the difference between an Exclusive NPR News Listener and an Exclusive non-comm AAA listener is that the NPR listener can recite the names of all the cabinet secretaries in the Johnson Administration and the AAA listener can recite all the drummers who ever played with Eric Clapton.

The bottom line is our listeners understand that the events of the world influence popular music and culture and they expect us to put all this into context for them. When we do that, we rule the radio world. When we don’t, they can tune into another station that plays other music they like. Of course it’s not this simple, but we look to specials like this to provide something that reinforces our brand promises to our listeners and makes us indispensable to them.

This piece would air at 9pm on a Sunday night around the anniversary of Lennon’s or Harrison’s death. That is better than 11 pm.

This is perfectly fine piece of radio. It’s woven together just fine. The production is top notch. The story is well told. It’s well written and each segment is crafted to meet station’s needs. The producer knows how to make great radio and deserves attention from stations not familiar with him.

I would recommend airing this program to my PD.

But I can’t say I would go running to his office and insist on it. There isn’t much discussion about world surrounding this concert tour and how those events could have influenced the tour. I would have run down the hall to my PD’s office in glee if there had been some deeper discussion about how this tour fit into the Vietnam War, the War on Poverty, etc. That kind of stuff is what listeners eat up because it allows them to put the context of their own lives from the story—not just identify with the participants or the events they may or may not have lived through. It’s tough thing to do. Now doubt about it. I guess what I would like to see is that elusive “deeper relevance” of the past connected to the present.

I did have good time listening to this hour in the gym and I will listen to hour one too.