Hi from across the pond

Hi,

I'm polethebear..........


There are some things I wanted to know about presentation over there and I hope someone might answer.

1.These conninuty(sp?) announcers over there,did they devlop a fan following like the usual tv talk show hosts,newsreaders etc??? I know there is a clip of one of the females from thames inviting pepole to right in.

2.I acquirred some US idents and such via trades and was wondering if there are pepole who do the same with UK idents?? If any of this is being traded??

3.I know the Thames and LWT closedowns I have seen(mainly Thames) end with them reminding the pepole to turn off their sets,was this because of a energy problem there in the UK or were they just being polite??


Thanks in advance and Hi again,

Polethebear

It's very rare these days for any announcers to be "known" (the exception being Marcus Bentley on Channel 4, only because he's also the voiceover on Big Brother). Back in the 70's and 80's it was differnent because the announcers were seen in-vision, so were much more recognisable than just a voiceover.



Really just a public service/heath & safety thing.

The TV Room and TV Ark are good sites for UK idents. There are more see "Facilities" at the top of the page.

This was because older Television sets were more liable to go on fire in the old days, if they were consistently left plugged into the mains sockets. The materials that were used in TV Set production are different than today, older sets were often made from wood and probably some different stuff inside. Since the 1990's TV's have been safer and almost every channel is 24 hours now, so there is no need for the announcement.

If you ever happen to come across an old BBC sitcom called The Young Ones they take the mick out of this.....

[Announcer]And don't forget to switch off your set!
[Vivian] Why?
[Announcer]Because it'll blow up, you silly boy!!
[Vivian] Great!

Well Julian on UTV is a household name in Ireland, well North anyway.

That's what I ment,the 70's and the 80's..I was wondering if they(the announcers) had fan followings back then. But now it's gone,stupid corprations taking the fun out of things......

That's what I ment,back in the 70's and 80's.I was wondering if they had fan followings back then. But now you have nothing,just voice overs like over here.Stupid corprations running something fun....

Sorry about the double posts,I was having trouble.

I was looking for trading like on DVD.

Yes in the past the in-vision announcers did tend to be very popular in their regions, especially the smaller ones. The like of Colin Weston at Granada, Bill Steel at Tyne Tees, Roger Shaw/Ian Stirling at TSW and Kennedy Thomson at Grampian and so on were frequently seen opening new shopping centres, doing charity work etc etc and people would come out to see them as with any other celebrity.

What do you think to British TV in general, polethebear?

I'm interested in what people from other countries think about our little TV Network here in the UK.

You can also buy a genuine BBC1 1980s C.O.W. ident on eBay (see other thread for details)