The Newsroom

BBC Olympic Breakfast

Starts 6th August (July 2016)

This site closed in March 2021 and is now a read-only archive
NT
Night Thoughts
They might have some balcony or studio in Rio to anchor from.


Talking about that, I notice that tower block in Stratford still has its distinctive big windows many flights up standing out from all the other windows. I had thought the block was supposed to be being pulled down which is why the BBC were able to use it.

The BBC News coming live from a studio located in a former high rise council flat is something which is still remarkable now and probably will go down in history and never be repeated.


That's the Carpenters Estate - hugely controversial, briefly described here under Carpenters Road http://diamondgeezer.blogspot.co.uk/2016/07/olympic-borderline.html
UB
UBox
https://twitter.com/jamesmobbs/status/760213290303758337?s=09
MA
mark Founding member
The BBC News coming live from a studio located in a former high rise council flat is something which is still remarkable now and probably will go down in history and never be repeated.


To be fair, the two studios themselves were in a temporary structure built on the roof. However, the offices were indeed in flats at the top of the building. The green room was basically someone's old living room. There was also a makeshift reception area in the building's lobby.
BC
Blake Connolly Founding member
Found this photo I took on my way in to the Opening Ceremony, the balcony between the two studios was used for the weather if I remember right:

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MB
Media Boy
mark posted:
The BBC News coming live from a studio located in a former high rise council flat is something which is still remarkable now and probably will go down in history and never be repeated.


To be fair, the two studios themselves were in a temporary structure built on the roof. However, the offices were indeed in flats at the top of the building. The green room was basically someone's old living room. There was also a makeshift reception area in the building's lobby.


Not forgetting the 12 stand up positions for other broadcasters, regions, nations, weather and other outlets that were done in the flat bedroom and living room windows on the top floor!!
And on the other side of the building, the side without the view, there were production offices, on site catering, IT rooms, make up rooms, GFX suites, edit suites, conference rooms, it was a remarkable build, it even had its own MCR (Master Control Room)
One other interesting fact is that we didn't have a single autocue operator on site - it was all fibered from TVC or Salford and scrolled from there.
LL
London Lite Founding member
From what I recall, BBC London News shared studio space with BBC World News.
MB
Media Boy
Yes - they were in Studio 2 - sharing with World - and they had the old TVC Breakfast Sofa and table in there. Studio 1 had a bespoke set and and up/down table - the first prototype of what eventually ended up in B - as we were building that while London 2012 was on air! LDN at 2230 came from one of the downstairs stand up positions on Stools. Studio 1 and 2 on the roof - had their own galleries. Stand up 1 (on the left of the pic above - below studio 1) was used for Channel sport and the 5, Stand up 2 was LDN at lunch and 2230 (and had its own small gallery) stand up 3-9 were regions.nations and ad hock hire - then there was the open weather studio - and then more stands ups for other broadcasters which we hired out.
FL
flaziola
Didn't World News have a back up studio on the other side of the stadium when London were using the studio 2?
DE
deejay
It was an absolutely extraordinary achievement and one which I dare say Media Boy won't ever forget! I've seen photos of the infrastructure, with cables, air con ducts and people all squeezed into what was clearly once someone's flat...!
BenMacDonald and harshy gave kudos
MB
Media Boy
I will never forget the extraordinary amounts of spreadsheets and technical planning (and for most of the time I was actually thinking that this will never work) so when it all worked very well - it was an amazingly proud moment that I don't think I will ever match again....
Days and days spent sitting on the top empty floor of Lund Point with amazing engineers working through each day an hour at a time - explaining which gallery in TVC or Salford was controlling each section of output was so worth while..... it truly was the BBC at its technical best.
MB
Media Boy
Didn't World News have a back up studio on the other side of the stadium when London were using the studio 2?
yes they did - it also had a bespoke set and was used in the morning and was where GMT came from. It was also the flat that the BBC used in the run unto the games for piece to cameras, radio hits etc etc - as it had a fab view of the stadium.
BA
Bail Moderator
That was also BBC News's first ever HD broadcast wasn't it, not from a studio or dedicated place but ran from an old flat. Technically astonishing.

I'm also amazed (and inspired by) the Autocue via fiber link comment, thats awesome.

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