John Abercrombie, Игорь Бутман, Andy LaVerne. Ресторан "Прага". 1997 год

Аутентичный формат видео
режиссёр Сергей Антипов
звукорежиссёр Андрей Пастернак
оператор-постановщик Ефим Рацимор

„Programma A” was a cyclic music television program on Soviet and Russian television. It was broadcast on the First Program of the Central Television of the USSR, on the television channels RTR and TV-Tsentr during the period from 5 February 1989 to 16 February 2000 (initially monthly, since 1992 – weekly). Its permanent host and director was Sergey Antipov (1959-2015) – one of the most creative and influential personalities of the modern Russian television.

The program was originally called “Pop Music News”. According to the idea of Sergey Antipov, all its categories started with the letter “A”: “Aktsent”, “Alternativa”, “Avangard”, “Afisha” etc. That is how the name “Programma A” came about.

On “Programma A”, rock music, jazz and blues, different alternative music genres received special attention. Within the program, modern television technologies were in constant use, the modern visual language of the music television was also formed. As part of the category “Ad libitum”, live concerts of Russian and international performers were regularly (since 1992) broadcast with the parallel stereo sound on the leading FM radio stations of Moscow.

Live concerts of the main Russian rock bands of that time were recorded by “Programma A”, such as “Avtomaticheskie Udovletvoriteli”, “Agata Kristi”, “Aquarium”, “Alisa” , “Aria”, “Auktyon”, “Bravo”, “Grazhdanskaya Oborona”, “DDT”, “Kalinov Most”, “Korol` I Shut”, “Mamonov i Alexey” (ex-“Zvuki Mu”), “Mashina Vremeni”, “Nautilus Pompilius”, “Nogu Svelo!”, “Piknik”, “Sektor Gaza”, “Splin”, “Televizor”, “Chaif”, “Chizh & Co.” and many other bands.

Furthermore, “Programma A” recorded the Moscow concerts of many international artists, for example, B.B. King, Deep Purple, David Byrne, Ray Charles, Laibach, Rage Against The Machine, Status Quo, Tina Turner, Rollins band and others.

In 1994, “Programma A” held the national final for The Eurovision Song Contest. Its winner Masha Kats alias Youddiph was the first Russian performer in this contest ever.

In February 1999, “Programma A” celebrated its 10th anniversary by carrying out a live concert of two sections. The second part was aired directly from the Moscow apartment of Sergey Antipov on Chistye Prudy where Russian rock stars gathered – Vladimir Shakhrin (“Chaif”), Dmitry Revyakin (“Kalinov Most”), Alexandr Vasilyev (“Splin”) and Yuri Shevchuk (“DDT”).