Wasn't it mostly the old top loading VCRs with the clunky buttons you could do that one? We've never owned one that's been able to!
Not just the top loading VCRs, we had a traditional load "from the front" VCR with physical buttons for channel select. For some reason it had 8 channels to choose from as a recording source, stereotypically 1 for BBC One etc and you could change the source on the fly, the recording of course doing the same thing as I posted at the bottom of the last page. This was some point in the late 1980s.
Unfortunately that video died for some reason and the next one was an Amstrad VCR. It had an up and down for channel select on the front of the box but the tuner was clearly electronically controlled because it had no effect if you poked the up/down channel select buttons while the unit was recording.
Blimey, VCRs that could change channel mid record sounds like a recipe for many a family argument. Especially with our early one that was just physical buttons on the front - the cat could have brushed along it and changed channels
The other question that occurs to me is why was YTV one of the potential stations that would be rebroadcast if need be?
I think he either meant Anglia (the IBA ROC at Croydon had good quality off air signals from Hannington (TVS) and Sudbury (Anglia), or he meant the Leeds playout centre standby arrangement. Off air YTV in London was impossible !
Blimey, VCRs that could change channel mid record sounds like a recipe for many a family argument. Especially with our early one that was just physical buttons on the front - the cat could have brushed along it and changed channels
The Sony C7 could do that as set events, but the 'electronic' front buttons were disabled from manual control while recording was in progress. The cheaper cousin the C5 had mechanical buttons that could indeed by operated while recording, and the downside was you could only set unattended recordings on the same channel. We had one at home, and often it was my job to change channel manually on it, for say a BBC 1 8pm to 9pm event, followed by a 9pm ITV event !
Last edited by Markymark on 18 February 2018 10:03am - 2 times in total
On that link to the regions at 6:15am, he refers to 19 regional news services.
There are 17 dots on the map. I'm guessing the 18th would be the Channel Islands, but what the other missing one?
:-(
A former member
19 where:
* Grampian
* Scottish
* NI
* Border
* TT
* Yorkshire
* Granada
* Central E
* Central W
* HTV Wales
* HTV West
* Anglia E
* Anglia W
* London
* Meriain E
* Meriain S
* Meriain w
* Westcountry
* Channel
Did it become 21 when TT and YTV split their news services?
I think it would have been two Meridian services (S and SE, or E and W if you prefer). Central was possibly three services back then (W, E and S). I’m not sure which other regions had split news services at breakfast time - I don’t think TTT ever did, but YTV may have done.
:-(
A former member
Your right. It was Central News E, S and W, while Meridian South and west must have had the one service. it will be interesting to know if YTV introduce a 20th news service.
The technical story behind the Thames/LWT and TV-am "splat" via Trish Bertram was fascinating - amazing how something so brief and ephemeral still stirs such memories (or maybe holds more fascination because of how it appears on VHS)!
With the tale of the LWT lines going over Waterloo and Blackfriars Bridges, plus technical advances and studios going out of business over the years, it also made me wonder how much redundant TV cabling there is below the streets of London...
Anglia West is therefore the missing dot. There is a dot around the Thames valley area which I assume is Central South rather than Meridian West
I don’t believe Yorkshire was ever during GMTV split during that era, or indeed even if it is now. I wouldn’t have expected Tyne Tees to be split for GMTV.
One thing missing atm from the TVam website, is the bit about the inject studios. These were, in effect, regional offices and studios used by TV-am to interview people "down the line". The old site had photos of the studios in Jesmond, Newcastle. The actual office block, which was near Jesmond Metro station, was demolished and replaced with a new office block several years ago. The studio had the usual behind cameras equipment, and had two sets. One was a miniature version of the GMB set, which could be used for interviewing someone on a lighter topic, whilst there was a regional version of the news set, for interviews of a more serious nature.
These inject studios were also the bases for the regional TVam reporters.
Two questions spring to mind. Firstly, I know where the old one in Newcastle upon Tyne was. But, where were the precise location of the others, and are they still used for TV purposes today? Secondly, after the announcement it had lost its franchise, TV-am closed its news service, as mentioned already. Did Sky news take on these studios for the remainder of the TVam franchise, or did they close when TV-am closed its news service, and sub contracted it to Sky News?