For two consecutive days now, poor old Noel has been left alone in the studio. No Donna... No Angie... No Stephen.
Of course, if the weather graphics had been working Angie could have been in the studio (but then it is only a week since they died). I know I moaned about the new graphics, but I was just starting to get used to them. And something is better than nothing.
Perhaps I should come to Ormeau Avenue with my Apple Powerbook and do a powerpoint in the meantime. The old chart was done on a version 1 iMac up in the newsroom (near the Radio Ulster news studios), with another in the news studio behind the weather wall. I have a strange notion that one of the imacs was red but I could be wrong on that.
Perhaps one or two in the know at Ormeau Ave might like to tell us what hardware is behind the current forecasts.
Obviously marksi has had the screwdriver out this afternoon, or else he brought the cartridge for the Vic 20 in, as Cecilia brought us weather complete with a weather chart tonight! She did get a bit flustered saying she wasn't used to graphics (she forgot a pollen slide) and then forgot the end slide with the 5 day outlook (you could just see it at the end of the programme). However we shall forgive her as at least there was a map of Northern Ireland tonight!
What are the back up procedures if the system falls over on air? I recall in the early 90s it happened on the network broadcast and there seeemed to be four basic slides that could be called on - the transition between them wasn't a dissolve (there was a scan between slides running from top of screen to bottom). If this was a breakdown then surely a backup plan needs to be created - perhaps even a basic chart of 'Norn Iron' with the cloud cover for the night, and a daytime 'slide'. Mind you if it was a breakdown, it doesn't bode well for the software behind these new maps if it was a breakdown (and it was announced in the lunchtime bulletin that there were no charts for technical problems) - I can't think of many times we lost our regional forecast in the old format.
Of course, if the weather graphics had been working Angie could have been in the studio (but then it is only a week since they died). I know I moaned about the new graphics, but I was just starting to get used to them. And something is better than nothing.
Yes, I wondered what was going on there. Since BBC Northern Ireland don't bother having anyone available to cover the breakfast forecasts, they could at least have got London to take care of the graphics for the lunchtime and evening programmes too whilst they had problems with their own kit.
Is there any hope of Newsline fixing that messed up BBC logo on their title sequence and ditching that stupid sting logo they use that fills almost the entire screen?
And is it me or does that signature tune seem to be of very poor audio quality at times at the top of the programme?
What are the back up procedures if the system falls over on air? I recall in the early 90s it happened on the network broadcast and there seeemed to be four basic slides that could be called on
I would assume it wouldn't be beyond the realms of possibility for London to provide some stills which could be run by the gallery in the same way as astons? Didn't Midlands Today come up with some lash-up when Shefali's Mac went pear shaped last summer?
