When I was working on Challenge TV transmission, reversioned editions of Eggheads were, for some reason, only turning up on the day of TX. On one occasion, the courier delivered the tapes to the wrong building, and by the time someone had run over to bring them back from TVC to the Broadcast Centre, we had just enough time to spin through the tape to check the timecodes matched the TX report. All was fine until the second of the two episodes, when we realised we were getting a lot of the questions right - the post house had managed to give us the second part of the first episode again.
I've said this before but the last episode of C4's current affairs series The Friday Alternative had to go out 24 hours late because the courier delivering the tape forgot what channel it was on and took it to the BBC.
Frank Bough talks in his book about covering a Sunderland vs Man U match in the sixties when he was still at BBC Newcastle, they were still shooting on film in those days and they had to send chunks of the match over to the studio and Frank was engaged to pop up in between while they waited for another bit to arrive. There'd been enormous crowd congestion and crushes which meant that it had become a major news story as well, and the producer they'd sent up from London got caught up in it and turned up late. When he arrived Frank had already written his own script and was on top of it all, and the producer was so impressed he recommended him to his bosses and it got him his first network job.
Yes! It was in January 1999, a documentary about office parties which had been filmed over Christmas. The first part went out alright but the second half wasn't finished and they had to show some filler, then the next programme, and finally the second half after that.
For some reason I can remember this featuring on 'Right To Reply' - a viewer was filmed complaining that the second part was replaced by a profile of Tony Benn. I think Channel 4 said that their options for a 15 minute filler programme were very limited and that if the programme hadn't turned up at all there would have been a lot of more appropriate replacements to choose from.
In regards to the BBC News videos, do presenters hear everything that comes from the gallery or is it only fed to them when a particular button is pressed? If it's the former, I have to commend anybody who's able to carry on with their job with all that commotion going on in their ear.
In regards to the BBC News videos, do presenters hear everything that comes from the gallery or is it only fed to them when a particular button is pressed? If it's the former, I have to commend anybody who's able to carry on with their job with all that commotion going on in their ear.
For TV news I would confidently say that all newsreaders are on open talkback (ie they hear everything) but for other programmes it's more common for presenters to opt for switched talkback.
Sometimes where there is more than one presenter (Loose Women for instance) the lead presenter could be on open talkback with the others on switched.
Sometimes switched is used as an interim when a presenter is getting used to talkback. When Liza Tarbuck joined The Big Breakfast she was on switched while Johnny Vaughan was on open, and it took about 6 months for her to go open too.
Generally, news presenters are on open talkback from the director and switched from everybody else. Occasionally a news presenter might switch to switched talkback during a studio interview so they can concentrate on the answers but that's less common than it was (certainly at the BBC anyway). And yes, it is a great skill to be able to listen to (and digest) direction while reading something out, especially if you're in a region and are pedalling an autocue at the same time.
I know this thread is just turning into me recycling stuff from Frank Bough's autobiography that I've probably said before, but there's nothing wrong with that I'm sure. Anyway, he says that in the seventies, he used to have open talkback on Grandstand but when he started presenting Nationwide, they used switched talkback. On his first day on Nationwide, he did a link into a down the line interview and only when he turned to the monitor to start the interview did the talkback come on to say "Sorry Frank, they're not there yet". After the show he shouted at the production team and demanded they put him on open talkback because at least that way he'd have been able to hear that they weren't there if they weren't going to tell him, so he could have just moved on to the next item and the audience would have been none the wiser - and it wasn't that he looked stupid that upset him, but that the programme looked shambolic.
To take it back to the point of this thread, part two of the second episode of Spitting Image was still being edited when part one was on the telly. That actually turned out to be quite a good thing, though, because for the first show Central had demanded they add canned laughter but they didn't have time to put it on show two, and were then able to demonstrate to Central it didn't need it.
When I worked in news it was very common to have a late edit for the top story and seeing it arrive on the server and flash 'ready' in the running order just before air. The contingency was to have the second story ready to be played first, but that also meant having alternative versions of the script so the second item didn't start 'Hello and welcome'. Also necessary to change the order of the headlines.
There are certain tell-tale signs that a report hasn't made such as 'we'll have more on that story later in the programme'
Last edited by Inspector Sands on 22 April 2016 9:15pm
With news now a lot of packages are edited in the field in SNG or vSat vehicles or on laptops. I wonder how many "pointless lives" are in place of (or buying time for) a package that hasn't made it?
Introducing a programme over the symbol... while watching that programme being spooled back by the edit suite, used to be a regular occurrence on a certain NI current affairs programme. Such fun!
I can also think of a certain Irish language magazine programme I transmitted once, which was being assembled live in the edit suite... They were even typing up the in vision English subtitles as they were going along. It came off air to the exact second that the editor told me it would. Talented guy.
In regards to the BBC News videos, do presenters hear everything that comes from the gallery or is it only fed to them when a particular button is pressed?
For programmes like the One/Six/Ten, Breakfast and channels like BBC World News and BBC News Channel the presenters are almost universally on open talkback. They hear everything the director says (and in the days when the One/Six/Nine and Breakfast Time/News had PAs they would also be heard on open) Producers and Editors are switched.
The same is usually true for live sports presenters, who usually also work on open, as do many live kids presenters.
It's a real skill on the part of presenters to be able to cope with this, but also a skill for directors (and PAs) to be very aware that they are constantly in a presenter's ear.
On shows like Newsnight, Daily Politics, Andrew Marr etc. where there are long form interviews and less breaking news and fewer running order changes, the presenters are usually on switched talkback, where the director (and PA if there is one) also press-to-talk to a presenter. If you are directing, vision mixing and operating other equipment with presenters on switched talkback you can sometimes have a footswitch for talkback, as it is easy to run out of hands..
On many entertainment shows the presenters are on switched talkback too - but there are a few notable exceptions. One or two work on open, others won't wear talkback at all.
Quote:
If it's the former, I have to commend anybody who's able to carry on with their job with all that commotion going on in their ear.
It is a real skill.
(In many other countries it is unheard of for presenters to be on open - even in News)
On many entertainment shows the presenters are on switched talkback too - but there are a few notable exceptions. One or two work on open, others won't wear talkback at all.
Terry Wogan I think was one such presenter ?
On radio I get the impression that Chris Evans gets a lot (for radio) of production talkback while he does his
R2 show. Similar for R4's Today ? Traditionally of course there'd be very little, and outside of BBC radio no production staff at all.