Markos, welcome to the forum and thanks for posting that clip. That particular version of the World theme extended is my favourite of all time, even up to and including the present day. It was around 1997/8 if I'm not mistaken. I also quite liked the quirky set layout, in which the main anchor position also had the secondary newscaster position directly opposite.
In the case of your clip above, you can see Nisha Pillai sitting opposite and facing towards Stephen Cole.
The sobriety of the version of the theme tune was a classic in all respects.
Now, quite how many control rooms actually listened to all of this remains slightly in the dark. There was an automated system of pulses for commercial breaks that should have triggered breaks in sequence and forced partners back if they hadn't already switched back.
As someone who worked in a centre that added the adverts many many years ago.... we didn't listen!
For some reason we had a dot matrix printer (kids, ask your parents) connected to the system for some reason and that would chirp at every pulse. In fact that was all the system seemed to do, we had very few adverts to play.
Quote:
There was also an enhanced version which gave a schedule readout of the breaks and their names via teletext. The pres director could also add simple text messages to this screen so that if breaks were dropped, delayed or re-arranged you could confirm these details in writing.
There were 2 screens, one for breaks and one for programmes. I know that in Europe at least these got replaced by a proper public teletext service but I suspect that they made it to the public somewhere (even if no-one had the means to look at them)
BTW - ISTR that the teletext service on BBC World for at least part of its existence was NOT CEEFAX (and not provided by the Ceefax team - it wasn't just a different branding, it was sourced differently) It was a separate service provided by a third party, but with the ability for a journalist in the BBC World newsroom to edit / update stories?
BTW - ISTR that the teletext service on BBC World for at least part of its existence was NOT CEEFAX (and not provided by the Ceefax team - it wasn't just a different branding, it was sourced differently) It was a separate service provided by a third party, but with the ability for a journalist in the BBC World newsroom to edit / update stories?
Yes, it was provided by Intelfax, who also did 4Tel and many other text services for satellite channels and ITV regions
glad I'm not the only one nostalgic about the flags era. The music themes used during the 1997-99 period were some of the best tunes I've ever heard in the news genre. Someone already mentioned the sombre themes usually used on extended editions of The World Today. IIRC the show was hosted by Stephen Cole and Nici Marx at the time, but I found this YouTube clip with Stephen Cole only. Also, you'll recognize Adrian Finnighan's voice at the very beginning.
I also remember watching BBC World via HotBird satellite in the late 90s and there was an audio channel (presumably for cable operators) which would be activated a minute or so before each break and you could hear someone from the control room counting down to opt-in or opt-out moment for commercials. Hopefully the last sentence makes sense to you.
Niki Marx did indeed present The World Today - but the evening (1900 CET) edition. From 27th October 1997, Newsdesk at lunchtime CET and Newshour Asia Pacific in the afternoon (CET) were rebranded "The World Today". Whilst the evening programme continued to feature two presenters at the main desk, the others featured one presenter at the main desk and another in the newsroom, and laterly (as shown in the video) sitting opposite the first presenter.
The clip, I think is from March/April 1999, during the Kosovo Conflict (as indicated by the titles). The lunchtime edition of The World Today was frequently extended during this time, to co-incide with the daily NATO news conference. AFAIK, when The World Today moved from 1200 CET to 1300 CET when the clocks changed at the end of March, The NATO briefings coverage meant that in fact, the programme continued to come on air at 1200 CET.
The studio was previously used for BBC News 24, with BBC World moving in (I think) around October 1998, when News 24 was banished to the top of the staircase!!! One of the screens behind the main desk had BBC NEWS 24 screenburned on it for a while (I think it was the left hand one, not shown on this clip), but as the monitors were rotated by 90 degrees, you had to look sideways to read it (and you had to have a dark image displayed on the screen to see it)!
Compared with today's branding, it was odd that BBC World News, World Business Report and The World Today opening titles between October 1997 and March 2000 did not feature the BBC logo.
Markos, welcome to the forum and thanks for posting that clip. That particular version of the World theme extended is my favourite of all time, even up to and including the present day. It was around 1997/8 if I'm not mistaken. I also quite liked the quirky set layout, in which the main anchor position also had the secondary newscaster position directly opposite.
In the case of your clip above, you can see Nisha Pillai sitting opposite and facing towards Stephen Cole.
The sobriety of the version of the theme tune was a classic in all respects.
Ah, eagle eyes, it really is Nisha! I believe that secondary position was used as the main one during generic World News shows, with the newsroom in the background.
Markos, welcome to the forum and thanks for posting that clip. That particular version of the World theme extended is my favourite of all time, even up to and including the present day. It was around 1997/8 if I'm not mistaken. I also quite liked the quirky set layout, in which the main anchor position also had the secondary newscaster position directly opposite.
In the case of your clip above, you can see Nisha Pillai sitting opposite and facing towards Stephen Cole.
The sobriety of the version of the theme tune was a classic in all respects.
Ah, eagle eyes, it really is Nisha! I believe that secondary position was used as the main one during generic World News shows, with the newsroom in the background.
I've often wondered how they managed to include business and sport presenters during the generic bulletins presented from that small desk. Did they do them as they later did with a sting and handover to the other presenter? Was the sport/business presenter seated at the bigger desk opposite? Or did they just not bother with sport and business during World News? Were they just reserved for The World Today? And where was World Business Report presented from?
During the main editions of TWT, I believe the left-hand seat at the main desk (the one shown empty in the opening above) is where the sports and business presenters sat. In the late edition, there was yet another chair added to the far left of the shot as we look at it.
The seat in which Stephen Cole is in is where the lead presenter sat, the vacant seat above was where the secondary presenter (usually Nici Marx) sat, or Biz/Sports presenter during the daytime editions, and the far left seat (out of shot) is where the Biz/Sport presenter sat during the Donald and Nici programme.
The plasma behind Stephen was replicated on the other side for Nici and was always shared by the biz presenter during his slot (usually Quest). You would often see the elbows of the adjecent presenter during the segment due to the proximity of the seating.
During standard World News bulletins, IIRC, Sport and Biz didn't feature.
Markos, welcome to the forum and thanks for posting that clip. That particular version of the World theme extended is my favourite of all time, even up to and including the present day. It was around 1997/8 if I'm not mistaken. I also quite liked the quirky set layout, in which the main anchor position also had the secondary newscaster position directly opposite.
In the case of your clip above, you can see Nisha Pillai sitting opposite and facing towards Stephen Cole.
The sobriety of the version of the theme tune was a classic in all respects.
Ah, eagle eyes, it really is Nisha! I believe that secondary position was used as the main one during generic World News shows, with the newsroom in the background.
I've often wondered how they managed to include business and sport presenters during the generic bulletins presented from that small desk. Did they do them as they later did with a sting and handover to the other presenter? Was the sport/business presenter seated at the bigger desk opposite? Or did they just not bother with sport and business during World News? Were they just reserved for The World Today? And where was World Business Report presented from?
During 1999, BBC World had a spell where there was only one main business presenter, appearing in bulletins between 1200 and 2000 CET. Then you had Richard Quest in New York at 2210 CET, later 2230 CET and double headed between London and New York. Same with Sport - for a while just one sports presenter per day - David Brenner or Rob Bonnet usually first appearing late morning on a World News bulletin and then finishing the shift the 1900 CET TWT, latterly the 1945 sports bulletin.
BBC World News morning bulletins (CET) had the news presenter doing both business and sport, later the channel introduced quick stings introducing the business and sport segments within the World News bulletin, even when read out by the same person (at the time I thought was a bit naff, but then the whole morning schedule between 0700-0900 CET had really gone downhill after the axe of Philip Hayton's morning slot.)
The 2100 CET and 2200 CET bulletin had no business segment - contrary to the Business News at 15 minutes past the hour strap at the bottom of the breakfiller...
World Business Report was scheduled at 1415 CET (Winter), 1515 CET (Summer), 1815 CET and 2210 later 2230 CET from New York. Repeats of the last WBR were shown alongside Asia Today during the night.
Sorry all times in CET (UK + 1), but that's how I remember the schedule!!
Now my memory may be deceiving me, but I seem to recall there was a period directly after News 24 rebranded in 1999 that it actually used to revert to the flags look between 01:00 and 5:30am, in order to fit in with World! I can't remember how long that lasted for though...
Yes, I think it was because the World studio was used for the joint overnight news, so the N24 flags were used to match it. I remember seeing it wondering what was going on.
According to Wikipedia, "As part of the major relaunch of the image of the BBC, including a new logo for the corporation on 4 October 1997, the channel received its first main refresh on 9 November 1997, the day BBC News 24 was launched"
If this is true, what did the BBC World branding look like between early October and early November? Did they put the new logo on the old titles, or keep the old logo for a month?
