BBC News nostalgia, including BBC World

I think those dates are out by a bit.

BBC News 24 launched in early November 1997 from N9 (though at that time it wasn't called N9)

BBC News 24 moved to N8 in early November 1998, at which point World could move in to N9 and start installing their new set elements and training their directors (who previously worked traditionally with a vision mixer and remote camera operator and TX staff) on the new Omnibus+Columbus automation system, remote cameras, sound desk, server playout etc.

I don't think World launched on-air from N8 until late 1998 or early 1999? (My memory - which is dim - is that it was early 1999)

Lindsay Brancher presenting The World Today in October 1998 , just after the studio change.

Titles of that era elsewhere on YouTube, but this video gives you a good selection of the news graphic style in use between October 1998 and March 2000 on BBC World.



*cross-reference to a news report confirming the events taking place in 1998 https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1998-jul-29-mn-8238-story.html

BBC News 24 was still in N9 in October 1998 - it moved to N8 in November 1998, almost exactly a year after its launch. The date of that BBC World clip cannot be correct if it says it was October.

The BBC News 24 move to N8 happened on the same day that BBC One and BBC Two Digital officially launched on digital terrestrial and digital satellite, which co-incided with the launch of the first UK Today opts, which filled the regional opt-out gaps on BBC One England (as DSat and DTT in England had no regional variations) also launched on the same day.

The 1330 and 1830 UK Today editions were opt-in simulcasts of BBC News 24 - and launched on the first day of News 24 broadcasting from N8. (The UK Today opt-outs in Breakfast, and after the 9/10 O'Clock News were pre-recorded from a newsroom camera with the 5Live Newsroom as a backdrop, and played in from an edit suite. There may still have been BBC Two regional opts to blanket too)

BBC News 24 in N8 in September 1998 .



The top stories include Bill Clinton's visit to Ireland - the AP Archive confirms this is September 1998 and the meeting of David Trimble and Gerry Adams - the NY Times archive also dates this to September 1998: https://www.nytimes.com/1998/09/06/world/world-news-briefs-sinn-fein-and-unionists-plan-meeting-of-leaders.html

Scroll to the sport, and you'll see the result of the Sweden v England game on 5th September 1998 and just before the TOTH the actual date...

How bizarre that I've managed to misremember that date for so long. I was present for the first broadcast after the move to N8 - which was News 24 Breakfast... I was sure it was almost exactly a year after the original launch in what later became known as N9.

It certainly happened on the day that BBC One and BBC Two Digital officially launched to the public, as the UK Today opt-ins to News 24 launched from N8 on the day the studio came into service.

Sky Digital launched to the public on 1st October
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/161671.stm

BBC Choice launched a week earlier than that:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/174535.stm

One thing I noticed is that in the video from September 1998, the first overnights from N8 were still very casual, which I didn't realise.

By October, suit jackets were on and the familar sun flag was overlaid on the right.


From the video evidence, it seems BBC World had a few weeks to plaster sun flags all over N9, then simulcast News 24 for a weekend (it was around mid-October 1998) while they got ready to go live from their new home.

Didn't realise Bill Oddie did a stint on BBC World way back when.

I think initially World and News24 were entirely separate overnight, although World did provide a news programme solely for the news channel while World pres were playing a back half hour. This may explain the informal overnights on the very early News24 stuff. Once World and News24 had combined overnight, there was still a marked softening in presentation style once World pres had switched away - I vividly remember Adrian Fineghan often saying things like “our international viewers have gone now, I can relax”

Not sure if this is technically nostalgia (as it never happened), but just rediscovered the original (2001) plans for the NBH redevelopment. The ground floor plans are the most different - the initial idea was to have the News 24 and World studios on either side of the newsroom. I'm not sure if that would have worked in practice - you wouldn't have been able to have a straight-on shot as it'd just give you a rear view of the opposite set. Also the studio spaces seem to a) have been designed for a 1999-2003 era N8 set - which would have prevented more horizontal sets (e.g. 2003-2008 N and b) are encumbered by structural columns - which are always a fun addition to any studio space.

You remember correctly - BBC World and BBC News 24 remained separate for a while. But not too long...

From the end of March 1998, the two came together for five hours a night from N9 and was still more informal than BBC World's normal output. [I used to sometimes catch the last hour of the simulcast at 0600 CET - the simulcast meant the morning edition of The World Today (formerly Newsday) on BBC World was killed off.]

I didn't realise there was a very short period of shirt sleeves continuing from N8, albeit only a month - the BBC World opt-in is 30:15 into the News 24 September 1998 video above. Until now, it had stuck in my mind that when overnights moved from N9 and N8, the shirt sleeves were gone.

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On the subject of overnights, 1998 was the year that first brought us "This is BBC News" (followed by a long pause & stare) - at the end of each overnight bulletin at :26 before World and News 24 went their own ways for the next 34 minutes.

Is there a video of bbc worlds first day in the red and cream era?

Did the regions always have the BBC One logo in the top left corner of the screen circa 2002?