Suitability of BBC regional studios

I recall my first ever visit to a TV studio as a young lad in 1981. It was the new set for 'Look Northwest' as it was called then and they'd just moved in to Oxford Road (Studio B).

I was so surprised that when I got close up to the set I noticed it was actually grey corduroy covering it. I wonder if this was to dampen sound.

Here is a pic of the set (courtesy of TV Ark), they didn't use it for very long.


Here is also a clip of how it looked on screen, complete with Nationwide intro, and some dodgy 1980s presenter before he ended up in prison.
https://www.tvark.org/?page=media&mediaid=106025

I was getting worried that we were wandering away from the 'SW & CI' topic, so thanks to the Mods for splitting it.

BBC Channel Islands’s studio is the smallest I think?

I love the large tape that says glass. Would look a lot better IMO if they put some logos in the step and repeat style.

Absolutely not a technical team not caring enough. As I understand it, the mailbox studio with it’s large glass wall into the newsroom suffered massively with the mixture of lighting types in the offices, the natural daylight coming in through the windows at the far end and the tungsten studio lamps. Plus of course as the daylight colour temperature changed throughout the day that made things harder. I went to the mailbox to look at a trail of some early generation low energy studio lamps (probably at least a decade ago) and there were all sorts of problems encountered with the mixture of light types.

I suspect a technical team not being listened to by the beancounters could be nearer to the mark for some of these.

Is it Tunbridge Wells where the studio is part of the newsroom, separated only by a thick curtain installed once the Lambie Nairn look was imposed and they needed it to look like a studio set rather than a newsroom?

Apparently they have (had) issues with more than one mic fully open, so the breakfast opt used to sound quite poor with a second mic required for the weather presenter and the lone director running out of hands.

That and architects. Never underestimate the ability for architects to mess around with needed features just because they don't fit in with their vision for a space.

One of the major issues that causes compromises in current regional news studios is lighting grid height. Many of the newsrooms and studios are built in leased properties that have already been designed, and so influencing the height of the floor the studio is sited on is difficult, with standard office height areas not being ideal for studios.

In some cases this can be mitigated if you are able to have some say over the ceiling fit-out by influencing the design of the accommodation early enough (avoiding a suspended ceiling and ensuring the air conditioning is studio lighting-grid friendly). However if the space has already been completed, or the changes to the ceiling design will be too costly, you are kind of stuffed. This is particularly an issue with standing presentation, rather than seated.

So Leeds is just a tiny office studio for Look North no wonder the lighting dosent look quite right and it seems to hit the screens behind if the picture is dark on it.

If I look at studio C in NBH you can tell the lighting grid is high up as the presenters hair dosent have light bouncing off it and because the light dosent hit the background, it achieves the perfect picture definition, the lighting grid must be low on Look North.

I don't think the grid is actually that much higher in C, it's more that they've got a significantly more space to work with which means the lighting can be much more controlled as to where it ends up (as I was once taught, you can cut of the sides of light but you can't cut the end off, so always think about where it's going to end up).

Looking at the photos I've got, it wouldn't surprise me if you could get Leeds' whole sofa and screen set up into the gap between the desk and the screen in C. It really it a tiny space they have to work with.

BBC Bristol, we have a 2008 spec studio, without barcode screens, can we get an update as its the most out of date studio

Can we all remember a studio is the physical space between the walls and structure.

A set is the design structure set up within in...