BBC One

Yes. In those days, the continuity booth or "Broom Cupboard" as it was known on CBBC, had its own vision/sound mixing desk. The announcer could effectively run the Network from that desk if needed. During programmes, the announcer's desk would have an appropriate holding slide on its output, so that Network Control could cut to that desk in the event of a breakdown.

And of course, they also had programme-specific slides back then and these were used in the event of breakdowns until c. 1995/6 when the computer-controlled Network Control areas came into play. Generic breakdown captions were used from that point forward on Network. BBC1 and BBC2 announcers were also just that with the introduction of the new NC areas - separate vision/sound mixing desks for the announcers was discontinued and their technical role was now much reduced - to merely fading up and down their own mics.

ETP, why do you think that current announcers make more regular announcements during breakdowns? For fun? By choice? Because it takes more skill to close the mic and play music? I loved Mark's work there, especially the Brucie stutter but there was 1'35" of incidental music played with no explanation about when the Generation Game might actually return (most people don't care or understand that the programme was being changed to another machine)- what about the people who have just switched on?

If you missed Watchdog tonight, then Pontins interview is well worth a watch, this link should take you straight there:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/i/b015zmjy/?t=30m29s Pontins was 'trending' on Twitter all night, think it's turned into a bit of a PR disaster for them

Incidently, if you recognise the her, she used to be a manager at The Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool and so appeared on the 90's BBC docusoap, Hotel:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DyPm0fa165E&feature=player_detailpage#t=455s

I disagree. One of the things that has annoyed people the most about the BlackBerry issue was the lack of communication from RIM regarding what exactly had gone wrong. I think when you get a nice little detail like that it not only humanises the channel (therefore allowing you to have a bit of sympathy with them) and also shows they are attempting to fix the issue.

Because some cretin has told them to? Dead air is a crime after all.

Witness the car crash that was the football match which fell off air due to lightning and they took 5 Live's commentary but kept dipping it to announce the bleedin' obvious.

I have no doubt they've been instructed to make regular announcements. However, for the last fifteen years or so, BBC1 and BBC2 have used captions with apology text (rather than programme-specific holding slides), explaining that there's a fault and they're trying to correct it. All the more reason not to have an announcer reiterating the very same apology message over and over and over, ad nauseam. It's INCREDIBLY annoying. Example:



What did the announcer add that we didn't already know from what was on screen?

This incident, with Phil Vowels announcing, is how it should be done. Speak only when you've got something useful to say!



No problem with giving the viewers a regular verbal update - but every 30 seconds or less!! Sorry, that's just nonsense.



Are you honestly telling me that if someone switched on to that holding caption and music, complete with programme title that they couldn't figure out that something might actually be wrong? Mark got it just about right. Quick apology to start with - and within a minute of the holding caption appearing, he came in with a short explanation of the fault. Clearly nothing major and we'd be back with the programme pretty soon. All with a bit of wit thrown in.

Compare with the Something for the Weekend breakdown above. How many announcements there? Was I any the wiser as to the nature of the problem or how much longer it would take? No - the announcer seemed every bit as much in the dark as we were - the verbal interjections were just bland, non-specific, and probably pre-scripted. Something very similar happened during Golf coverage about 2 years ago on BBC1. Ident soundtracks finishing every 30 secs and the announcer coming in during each gap to spout the same nonsense again and again. About 6 or 7 people in the room with me and we turned the sound off because it was so bloody irritating.

Nothing particularly special about that interview. Anne doesn't really have the same strong technique that Nicky Campbell did when he used to do the famous Watchdog red-lighting interviews back in the day.

I see they still have Rogue Traders thrown in there. What a huge mistake it was to merge those two programmes - a serious programme, and a a fun programme. Not to mention the show seems to just drag on now it's 1 hour long and not 30 minutes. The branding/theme tune isn't distinctive anymore - I miss the previous version. It's reporting has improved greatly since the joke that it was when it first revamped in 2009, but it still has a long way to go.

Good point Pete and I agree but you have to remember that most people (the people who would never visit this site) don't know what faders, SSD's or duckers actually are. It's nice to know what has gone wrong without going into too much detail and talking over viewers heads.

It's interesting that you started this topic by suggesting that the current bland announcers could learn a lesson from a 20 year old clip but then you include a recent example of how it should be done. Do you need a little longer to make your mind up?

No I don't actually. Unfortunately, among today's lot, the "bland brigade" way outnumber those that are actually good at it. Phil is one of few who can think on his feet, add a bit of personality and generally do a rather nice job.

Much like this 80s example - not sure the guys in TK would approve of their Telecine machine being described as "projectors" though!

Love it! Good find Steve