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Suzanne Virdee's sudden departure from BBC Midlands (September 2004)

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WM
Weather Man
Spencer For Hire posted:
Weather Man posted:
I think they should have a DVD made of Pebble Mill & it's history, like the BBC News At 50 years. I would get it!!

Just what I was thinking... although I imagine if they were going to produce one it'd have been out by now.


I would think they might wait until the last Midlands Today from the Mill and the 1st from The Mailbox. HOPE THERE IS ONE!!
IS
Inspector Sands
Spencer For Hire posted:
Weather Man posted:
I think they should have a DVD made of Pebble Mill & it's history, like the BBC News At 50 years. I would get it!!

Just what I was thinking... although I imagine if they were going to produce one it'd have been out by now.


Yes, it would have been the thing to produce when they made the documentary earlier in the year.

Besides now they've moved it's time to look forward rather than back
TV
tvmercia Founding member
well the excitement is growing - will there be any west midlands news on east midlands today? will they welcome us? and will there be a bbc one east midlands ident before the politics show?

at the mailbox, its interesting that theres a big photo of the gallery covering up the bit of the wall in the studio by the door.

i think the midlands is now coming to terms with a profound feeling of loss Sad mussolini was hung upside down wasn't he? that's what should happen to whoever decided to close pebble mill. swines.
AB
ab
How will the EMT bulletin be played out across the West Midlands? Is Nottingham able to send directly to the West Midlands transmitters or does it have to go via satellite to Pebble Mill/The Mailbox?
TV
tvmercia Founding member
ab posted:
How will the EMT bulletin be played out across the West Midlands? Is Nottingham able to send directly to the West Midlands transmitters or does it have to go via satellite to Pebble Mill/The Mailbox?

i'd imagine theres a permanent line between the mill and london road - what with the politics show, the days when midlands report came from bham - the old pre 90s pan regional midlands today, midlands at westminster and MT and EMT using each other as backups if either cant put out a bulletin.

i'm intrigued about a natural history of britain trailer yesterday before the 6 o'clock news. it was the "coventry" version, shown in 16:9. after it had finished, you could see the end frames of a michael palin trailer, followed by the (usual) opt out and ident.

i wonder if the "coventry" trailer was played from the mailbox, as a test? i cant think of any other explanation Confused
AB
ab
Well the Saturday 5.25 bulletin was in the EMT studio, presented by an EMT presenter, but the titles had been edited to remove the word "East". At the beginning she said something along the lines of "Welcome to a special edition of Midlands Today, coming this weekend from Nottingham". There was a mixture of WM and EM news and sports results.

I was going to say it must have confused EM viewers, but then again, as has been said many times before, I suppose the average viewer in the East Midlands wouldn't even have noticed any difference!

Did it go out in 16:9 in the West Midlands by the way?
TV
tvmercia Founding member
http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/emt-mt01.jpg

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/emt-mt02.jpg

http://www.tvmercia.co.uk/emt-mt03.jpg

oh whata fab bulletin - anne's ironing board has had *midlands wide exposure* from wales to the wash (pun intended, do you get it?)

50% of the stories were fromn the east and 50% from the west. very fab indeed. its nice for east mids today and midlands today to re-unite on this momentous occasion Smile
TV
tvmercia Founding member
and here are the videos:

OPENING TITLES AND WELCOME

WEATHER AND CLOSING TITLES

its such an odd arrangement - but very fab. a completely alien studio, presenter, graphics and titles for viewers in the west midlands - a fair few of whom probably thought this is the new look Laughing

a completely different name and inclusion of stories in places they've never heard about for viewers in the east midlands - who have the added problem of probably not knowing about the pebble mill-mailbox move.

notice on the titles that the national news momentarily gets cropped (as was usual when pebble mill opted) - but then the titles start in full 16:9

is this a case of pebble mill taking control of transmitters, then that being overridden by the mailbox or something. its intriguing.

but yes, very fab, top marks!
IS
Inspector Sands
tvmercia posted:

i'd imagine theres a permanent line between the mill and london road - what with the politics show, the days when midlands report came from bham - the old pre 90s pan regional midlands today, midlands at westminster and MT and EMT using each other as backups if either cant put out a bulletin.


There is a line between the 2, just like there are between every BBC centre.

As for how it got to air, I expect that both Pebble Mill and the Mailbox are currently incapable of opting out as the equipment and lines are being transferred over - this has been the case for the other moves. I expect that the output of Nottingham has just been connected up to the Birmingham transmitter distribution. They're just letting Nottingham get on with it without any need for anyone in Brum needing to interrupt the move to deal with it.

At least you've got a preview of the new opening titles (albeit the predictable bit!)
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 23 October 2004 6:28pm - 2 times in total
SP
Steve in Pudsey
tvmercia posted:
notice on the titles that the national news momentarily gets cropped (as was usual when pebble mill opted) - but then the titles start in full 16:9


This happens from Leeds as well, as Noggin explains in the Y&L thread

Noggin posted:

This is because the analogue network is still routed (converted to 16:9 - as 14:9 pillarbox) via the main digital vision mixer - because the analogue network is "ahead" of the digital one.

The digital opt happens at a fixed point after the analogue opt (the opt-out trigger for digital is generated by "red lights" going out on the analogue network source on the vision desk usually) - and the studio vision mixer output is also delayed by a similar amount so that the timing works on both networks. However they may not have got the timing delay quite right. This means that the digital opt is happening a frame or two early - so cutting to the vision mixer before the analogue network feed has been cut-away from. Therefore you are seeing a few frames of the analogue network "leaking" onto the digital network.
TV
tvmercia Founding member
Steve in Pudsey posted:
tvmercia posted:
notice on the titles that the national news momentarily gets cropped (as was usual when pebble mill opted) - but then the titles start in full 16:9


This happens from Leeds as well, as Noggin explains in the Y&L thread

Noggin posted:

This is because the analogue network is still routed (converted to 16:9 - as 14:9 pillarbox) via the main digital vision mixer - because the analogue network is "ahead" of the digital one.

The digital opt happens at a fixed point after the analogue opt (the opt-out trigger for digital is generated by "red lights" going out on the analogue network source on the vision desk usually) - and the studio vision mixer output is also delayed by a similar amount so that the timing works on both networks. However they may not have got the timing delay quite right. This means that the digital opt is happening a frame or two early - so cutting to the vision mixer before the analogue network feed has been cut-away from. Therefore you are seeing a few frames of the analogue network "leaking" onto the digital network.


ooh interesting! thanks
MO
morgaineofevil
so does that mean midlands today covered east west and south today? just like the old days?

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