I remember my partner of the time coming to me with a cup of tea in bed and announcing the news.
I got up straight away...it was on all channels. I went out to buy a paper and there was silence, complete silence, in the centre of Plymouth.
I drove back to my home in Stockton that afternoon and the roads were empty.
In South Yorkshire it absolutely bucketed it down that afternoon. The basement was flooded, boiler broke. If ever there was such an example of pathetic fallacy, that afternoon was it - by a mile.
Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I'm just intriguted by how ITV in those days would have organised a newsflash like that.
This would have been before the days of a single networked ITV offering overnights. If I remember from watching nightscreen there were at least three different feeds (SMG, and two separate selections of programming down south for different ITV companies). Would ITN have alerted the individual stations - or the transmission centres for several if this was during the days of the mergers - or did they have an opt-in to take control of the network. The latter looks unlikely as it is correctly faded out.
Also, as STV almost certainly had different programming, I presume they would have had to be notified.
Presumably the BBC would have been a lot easier - phone the nations, let them know, and they can choose whether to do a separate voiceover or just take the network feed.
I imagine that there were established procedures in 1997 for notifying all broadcasters of a major royal death and these came into play for over-riding any existing network opt-outs.
If ITV can close down a channel half way through an advert break (as they did with GranadaPlus years later) I'm sure the dominant players of the time didn't have any real problem with forcing the other companies to take a national ITN feed on that night.
I'm sure a simple phone call would've been sufficient, and there was no need to simulcast the interruption. I'm sure there was nothing more than a basic caption, announcement and immediate link required, even if it joined half way through an interview on ITN.
An omnibus call (every station on the line at the same time) would have been made by the "nominated contractor", which would have been LWT on a Saturday night.
They would simply have instructed (and yes, they DID have the power to INSTRUCT) all the regions to join network at a particular time.
Sorry to bring this thread back from the dead, but I'm just intriguted by how ITV in those days would have organised a newsflash like that.
This would have been before the days of a single networked ITV offering overnights. If I remember from watching nightscreen there were at least three different feeds (SMG, and two separate selections of programming down south for different ITV companies). Would ITN have alerted the individual stations - or the transmission centres for several if this was during the days of the mergers - or did they have an opt-in to take control of the network. The latter looks unlikely as it is correctly faded out.
Also, as STV almost certainly had different programming, I presume they would have had to be notified.
ITV had a system of 'Red Phones' - dedicated telephone links between the stations. One franchise was a 'nominated contractor', normally whoever was on air in London. They led the network and were the ones who decided when such changes would be made and liased with the others.
Quote:
Presumably the BBC would have been a lot easier - phone the nations, let them know, and they can choose whether to do a separate voiceover or just take the network feed.
The BBC has a system called 'Presfax' - a computer screen which tells all the regions and nations what's coming up. They also have talkback to/from network control in London. London talks them through junctions and alerts the nations to any changes in the running order through out the day
I'm sure a simple phone call would've been sufficient, and there was no need to simulcast the interruption. I'm sure there was nothing more than a basic caption, announcement and immediate link required, even if it joined half way through an interview on ITN.
That wouldn't have happened, the regions would have been told tha the news report was starting at a certain time and they must meet that time
The roll call often took far longer than the actual message.
The red phone was also used for far more mundane matters.
Most weeknights at about 22:10 to say News at Ten would over-run by two minutes, all junctions through the night would be two minutes later than planned, then the Early News would under-run by two minutes to meet the 06:00 deadline.
I think the "red phone" recall system is still in use isn't it? I was watching Channel TV when they had to cut short Puffin's Pla(i)ce on 21st July 2005 to go back to ITN for news of the failed London bombings, and I think Kevin Pamplin mentioned something about a red phone.
In South Yorkshire it absolutely bucketed it down that afternoon. The basement was flooded, boiler broke. If ever there was such an example of pathetic fallacy, that afternoon was it - by a mile.
Business as usual mostly in this neck of the woods, although a local burger bar decided to close with a hand-written note explaining they were doing it "out of respect for Diana" (!)
When I woke up that Sunday morning the first face I saw when I switched on the TV was Fiona Phillips - as I hadn't quite woken up and didn't realise it was Sunday I didn't consider that to be anything out of the ordinary. Then when I saw Teletext - "Diana has died". My initial thoughts? A landmine accident.
The day's viewing that followed was surreal. "This is BBC Television from London". Had World War III broken out? That's the mood such an announcement conjures up. Tragic as the news was, I couldn't help but think everyone was overreacting.
I think the "red phone" recall system is still in use isn't it?
There must be something similar still in operation from the South Bank out to Glasgow and Belfast, plus part-time arrangements for the times when Plympton and St Helier have control of their own local transmitters.
At least the roll call can't take so long nowadays. I always remember the guy at Thames who used to get the alphabetic order wrong (TVS before TSW, usually), then spend ages apologising before getting on with the message.
The day's viewing that followed was surreal. "This is BBC Television from London". Had World War III broken out? That's the mood such an announcement conjures up. Tragic as the news was, I couldn't help but think everyone was overreacting.
Going through Sky that day was rather bizzare, most channels carried on as normal except they carried captions such as..
"Please turn to Sky News for an important announcement from Buckingham Palace"
Or UK Gold had 'Please turn to BBC1', I still have a bit of Sky One about on tape when they carried no adverts at all and had sombre announcements inbetween the programmes. Or ITV coming back to ITN at 9.25am and the first thing they did was to play the National Anthem.
It was a very unusual day in Television, something I don't think we'll ever see again.