Ulster
Television, still under the leadership of the Henderson family, did play GStQ at closedown right up until going 24-hour; using a similar film than other ITV regional companies, and not deviating like Grampian showing a Scotland flag or HTV Wales playing "Hen Wylad Fy Nhadau".
It was only after Brum Henderson retired in 1990 that it adopted the UTV branding and more explicitly targeted its audience south (and west!) of the Border.
Well yes, but it wasn't as if the company wasn't using UTV long before the official change of branding. See here from 1976:
I don't remember Ulster signing off with the national anthem when I was over there but fair enough, I didn't live there!
Last edited by Coronavision on 12 July 2020 3:46pm
UTV was bandied about from around launch time, but never as the primary term.
It tended to be the press who went with the abbreviation, particularly newspapers who weren't as hardline-Unionist in ethos. I remember the Belfast Telegraph carrying listings for "UTV", while one local paper used to call the station "Six-County" TV, quotation marks included. Likewise, the News Letter remains partial to references to "Ulster Television", even in a post-1993 context.
The 1970s on-air use of UTV, from the evidence I've read and seen, mirrored the 1990s to an extent; adopting the abbreviation on the evening news programme and presentation elements in tandem with Ulster Television, without going the whole hog of a comprehensive 1993-style rebrand with one coherent brand name.
By the end of the 1970s, that phase of using UTV on-air seemed to pass:
UTV Reports
morphed into
Good Evening Ulster
at the start of 1979; and I've yet to come across off-air broadcast material created by the company from the 1980s - or up until the summer of 1992 when UTV mentions were being factored in again gradually - with visual or spoken reference to anything but "Ulster Television" or the less-frequent "Ulster TV".
It would always have been UTV in the southern media (and in daily conversation). Ulster Television always seemed a bit of a mouthful, and despite use of the term Ulster (on its own) in U.K. media, nobody ever called it that (and neither would anyone on air on Ulster Television, except with something like “Newstime” or “Weather” attached). You would never had said “Did you see that programme on Ulster last night”, it would always have been UTV - saying it that way might have made the person presume you were referring to the place rather than the TV station.
Scottish Television were well known for introducing some programmes over a slide of the front of their studios. As well as late call, which used the night time shot of their studios as the intro and outro, but with the STV logo beforehand, I've seen on youtube, one junction, where the announcer introduced, out of vision, Crossroads, over a slide of the daytime shot of the Cowcaddens studios.
I can't find the video, but what I do know was, before the announcement, the same announcer spoke over an advertising slide, you know, the type of 10 second burst adverts, where a still frame was put up on screen, promoting your company. I suspect STV used to put the slide up of the studios, straight after one of these.
I liked it, and was wondering if any other companies introduced programmes over a slide of their studios? I know LWT done it over an illustration of their studios, but not an actual slide.
Not quite the same, but in the days of regional BBC1 continuity Midlands and North West had a slide of Pebble Mill and BBC Manchester at Piccadilly respectively between the clock and globe during the closedown sequence.
I think LWT did use a photo of their studios behind the announcer at some point, they definately had a slide of their building for continuity for introducing programmes
HTV Wales had a photo of Culverhouse Cross behind the announcer:
I suppose some buildings were more picturesque than others - Culverhouse is one that wasn't very!
The one that was on youtube one time, mentioned above, had a daytime shot of the front and left hand side of Cowcaddens. But, there was also a night time shot, used sometimes as the opening and closing titles to Late Call. I liked it, as it let you see what the building, where the programmes were made or transmitted from, actually looked like.
I wonder who chose that background, behind Arfon Haines Davies?
HTV had a variety of background slides for both HTV Wales and HTV West which the Presentation office would have organised. It’s likely that the actual slide used would have been up to the Presentation Controller (TC) on shift who’d have ensured that the image worked and looked suitable against whatever the announcer was wearing.
Regions had their own IVC studios, and backgrounds, except Yorkshire whose continuity was always out of vision. It's well known that once at Tyne Tees, Bill Steel was announcing, with the news background behind him, and Kathy secker was introducing, with a variety of coming up slides changing behind her. That was due to Tyne Tees using a Chroma key set. I know STV only used Chroma Key for through the night IVC, until that was even dropped. Who else used a chroma key set?
There's a recent clip on YouTube from HTV West where it appears that as the IVC starts, the camera zooms in from a shot of the desk, with two pillars to the left and right, and the backdrop moves with the shot, suggesting that this was not CSO but an actual physical backdrop.
Very odd, as I'm sure making multiple backdrops of that size would cost an absolute ton of money in the 1980s, so it's a very curious clip. I'll see if I can find it. Think it was Peter Crawford announcing.