Before 1997 in the sense that the last set of idents before the 1991 revamp said "CBBC" in the background, and they had a neon sign that said CBBC for a VERY brief time (as in a matter of weeks, which makes you wonder why they even made it) before said revamp.
Before 1997 in the sense that the last set of idents before the 1991 revamp said "CBBC" in the background, and they had a neon sign that said CBBC for a VERY brief time (as in a matter of weeks, which makes you wonder why they even made it) before said revamp.
They have form for doing this. They moved to Studio 9 in June 1997, four months before the massive BBC rebrand. And they introduced a completely new set, revised graphics and idents etc. in autumn 2001 despite the fact that they would be rebranding again a few months later.
Before 1997 in the sense that the last set of idents before the 1991 revamp said "CBBC" in the background, and they had a neon sign that said CBBC for a VERY brief time (as in a matter of weeks, which makes you wonder why they even made it) before said revamp.
They have form for doing this. They moved to Studio 9 in June 1997, four months before the massive BBC rebrand. And they introduced a completely new set, revised graphics and idents etc. in autumn 2001 despite the fact that they would be rebranding again a few months later.
I spoke to someone a few years ago that was involved with the 2002 rebrand. They said the reason for the 2001 autumn refresh was that they knew the sort of thing that was coming in 2002, that it was going to be a lot more modern and 'in your face', and they wanted to make it a less jarring transition.
That's why the original 1997 style idents were kept for Birthdays - as this was going to be more Cbeebies territory.
Before 1997 in the sense that the last set of idents before the 1991 revamp said "CBBC" in the background, and they had a neon sign that said CBBC for a VERY brief time (as in a matter of weeks, which makes you wonder why they even made it) before said revamp.
They have form for doing this. They moved to Studio 9 in June 1997, four months before the massive BBC rebrand. And they introduced a completely new set, revised graphics and idents etc. in autumn 2001 despite the fact that they would be rebranding again a few months later.
I spoke to someone a few years ago that was involved with the 2002 rebrand. They said the reason for the 2001 autumn refresh was that they knew the sort of thing that was coming in 2002, that it was going to be a lot more modern and 'in your face', and they wanted to make it a less jarring transition.
That's why the original 1997 style idents were kept for Birthdays - as this was going to be more Cbeebies territory.
It still seems odd to me to invest in the new furniture, signage, and so on that the set had, only to use them for a few months.
I don't think they kept the same idents, what they basically did was create separate idents so it was CBBC and CBeebies in all but name. The older kids shows had the faster paced idents with the remixed music, whereas the younger kids shows had slower paced idents and music (with sound effects of kids cheering)
You can see examples of this in the following video.
They "remixed" the existing idents rather than creating new ones. Very little in the way of cost - and any changes to the set would have been a lick of paint, recovered upholstery or a trip to Ikea - hardly breaking the bank.
I understand the reasoning for it. When you watch it back you can see how they were attempting to separate the target markets so they had them both ready for the big relaunch.
Yeah I know they remixed the idents. What I meant is that they created two clearly separate sets of idents for use on younger or older kids programming. Obviously a part of easing in the new separate programming strands so that, as you say, it wasn't as big of a change come February.
I suppose I can just pop down IKEA and get some glass CBBC signs then?
I'm not complaining about the BBC wasting money or anything by the way, this was 15 years ago after all
I suppose I can just pop down IKEA and get some glass CBBC signs then?
Frosting glass (or perspex) is not a difficult or expensive job - TVC had a whole department to do those sort of things. They had several vinyl plotters which could cut frosted vinyl to mount onto glass.
Likewise they had capabilities to produce neon signs at TVC in the 80s, so a quick CBBC (mentioned earlier) wouldn't have broken the bank.
Just goes to show how much the industry has changed, and how much extra things would cost to change now.
When you think that some regular programmes have to paint and build their set every time they need to use it, a bit of paint and artwork here and there on a permanent set wasn't really much of a big deal.
Don't forget it was also the transition to widescreen continuity, so they couldn't continue with the status quo.
Also don't forget the politics of the period - the government dragged their heels on approval of CBBC/CBeebies to appease the commercial sector (and even knocked BBC Three back for a rethink). It was put on hold until after the election, and then the Culture Secretary changed. I'm sure they'd have preferred to launch the two new channels on 3rd September 2001, but just weren't in a position to, so did the mini rebrand instead. From memory the approval came mid-September, meaning it was to be a short-lived rebrand.
How long after the '97 rebrand did the childrens@bbc.co.uk email address last? It was probably the last element of the 'childrens' branding that was on screen.
I bet cbbc@ is still just set up as an email alias for childrens@, even after all these years!
Pretty sure that lasted right up to September 2001 too!
Radio Times also listed the block as "Children's BBC" until early 2001. It wasn't a firm switch to CBBC at all in 1997, it was verbally called Children's BBC in promos for a good year after that.
