Great to see you're still around these parts, Billy. It's good that there's still a little group of Class of 2001 members left! Those were great times - and you're right about the wealth of websites we had back then. I think I suddenly started my TV Pres interest in 2000 as well. I'd always had a fascination with idents, especially news titles. I remember making sure I would always see the start of the Six O'Clock News in the 90s so I could see the titles and hear the music. But I think it was when I first got the internet that I discovered sites like TV Ark, TV Home and all the others around at the same time.
YouTube definitely killed the pres sites - which is awfully sad. The beauty of the dedicated websites was that they were curated by people who were really interested in the content and knew a great deal of useless information about ident history which they included on the sites along with video content. However, I know I like YouTube because in a sense it has opened up the archives far more than was possible 13 years ago. People uploading the contents of entire VHS tapes have unearthed some real gems in recent years. I just feel sorry for the youngsters of 2013 who are just discovering their slightly weird hobby - they have well and truly missed out on some great websites.
Oh and SClub7...... let's not go there!!
Sadly I'm one of those people who missed out. I got into pres when I was little, going bananas when a BBC2 ident came on. I never watched CBBC or CITV, only BBC1 and BBC2! I am really annoyed that I wasn't able to enjoy old sites like TV Home and the TV Room. Though I am happy that people archive the websites on the Wayback Machine, even some of the downloads work like
this. Some old YouTube pres clips and montages that are no longer avaliable are, well, avaliable.
(videos courtesy of Paul Clark and TopCat)
I'm not sure if YouTube caused the downfall of pres sites, it is hard to say. I think in the early years of YT more people were getting into pres due to the vast amount of clips and montages on the sites. Look at the web archive, in 2007 most of the pres clips and videos had over 1,000 views or more!
Oh also, does anyone know this name of a pres website. I barely remember it. The colours were black or monochrome and the site was home to regional BBC ident clips. I even remember seeing the NI version of the BBC4 on BBC2 ident on it. Well, it was either real or a dream, I don't know. If anyone knows, please tell me!
Last edited by Cavan on 31 July 2013 12:36pm