Channel 4

I think the main problem with the stripes is that from about 2001 onwards, every junction apart from overnight tended to be one of the very plain ones with a now & next menu over it.

Still, at least they had a Christmas version!

Did I catch a very young Billie Piper in the 4 Schools (circles era)?

Yepp: http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/schoolstv/ch4_schools_4l/h_count_97_i_small.jpeg

Yup, the actual music. I'd probably regard that original 1999 soundtrack as the best to come out of the various stages of the stripes era, bright with the flute and with a bit of groove - indeed, the Schools countdowns were the best exhibition of this, with the other - version #2 - of the countdown track having the edge I reckon.

The following update later in the year really falls flat for me in contrast to the others. In fact, the last symbol in that section at 26:13, that's the only one I ever really liked of that particular bunch.


Absolutely right - and if I said I didn't miss them a bit, I'd be lying. Summer 1988 was beautiful. And the Lightbulbs design was bold and great but, must the words "Anadin Extra" flash up inside my head?


Tracking back to 1996: who actually was / is the mysterious 'Nige' in the getting-a-tea symbols?

And anyone listening on laptop speakers might not be sure why, for all its briefness, I liked the short whoosh-sting sound: grab some phones with a good bass response and listen for the 20:45, 20:55, etc...

I didn't realise that the original stripes idents were short lived - I'd always thought they were the daytime idents and the updated ones were for prime time. The difference in the music between the two certainly makes you think so.

Some of those 90s stings I can only remember vaguely, what was the tapping campaign all about? Then again, most of C4's pres at the time was on the weird side, looking back, after all I didn't watch it as much then as I do now.

That unused logo from 1991, didn't Channel 4 News use it a few years later? I'm sure I've seen it online somewhere.

Are you thinking of this, which was a similar idea:
http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/channel4/c4_images/news/channel4news_brenda_rowe_1990a-small.jpg

Yes, that's the one, thanks for finding that. I guess it is a different design. I wonder why they decided to use a different numeral? The Channel 4 logo isn't exactly unmemorable.

The design was 3 beams of light hitting a glass pyramid to form the number 4. The branding was more ITN than Channel 4 back then, their logo was very prominent in the titles and earlier ones spelt it 'Channel Four News'

Eventually the titles were changed so the 4 logo was formed up instead and they dropped the ITN logo, but it didn't work as well
http://hub.tv-ark.org.uk/images/channel4/c4_images/news/channel_four_news_1993a-small.jpg

(videos for both on TV Ark)

It's brilliant. Based on a track titled "Upstream" by d*note, well worth picking up the album for a hundred or so spare pennies.

First saw that upload last year, very good vid indeed!

And that remix is an interesting one - 2002 album release (which would mean the mix was based on the ident, not vice versa - unless cwilliams' time travel is involved?) on the Channel Four Music label.

Here is a 4 minute version of the music from the original stripes idents that I downloaded years ago.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/90394413/UPSTREAM-%20DNOTE.mp3

It's on YouTube also. It's not quite the same as the ident music - if anybody has a clean version of that, that'd be brilliant!