:-(
A former member
THIS is Wednesday, Oct 24, 1984.
IS
Phillip Ellesmore looking a bit exasperated by the whole thing. Everyone's on strike, the schedule's full of cheap imports... but they're still putting the epilogue out. Presumably an old one as they wouldn't have been able to film any more
Not just any old closedown, one from a Thames strike...
Phillip Ellesmore looking a bit exasperated by the whole thing. Everyone's on strike, the schedule's full of cheap imports... but they're still putting the epilogue out. Presumably an old one as they wouldn't have been able to film any more
SC
Phillip Ellesmore looking a bit exasperated by the whole thing. Everyone's on strike, the schedule's full of cheap imports... but they're still putting the epilogue out. Presumably an old one as they wouldn't have been able to film any more
It's been mentioned elsewhere that the unions allowed that episode of TV Eye to be networked, due to its topical nature (the Ethiopian famine).
Was it a stipulation of the unions that the management of Thames could not play out any programmes to the network, or was it the case that management didn't have the staff on hand to do this? Or both?
Not just any old closedown, one from a Thames strike...
Phillip Ellesmore looking a bit exasperated by the whole thing. Everyone's on strike, the schedule's full of cheap imports... but they're still putting the epilogue out. Presumably an old one as they wouldn't have been able to film any more
It's been mentioned elsewhere that the unions allowed that episode of TV Eye to be networked, due to its topical nature (the Ethiopian famine).
Was it a stipulation of the unions that the management of Thames could not play out any programmes to the network, or was it the case that management didn't have the staff on hand to do this? Or both?
IS
I wouldn't have thought that staffing would be an issue, they were playing out programmes locally. It was probably a case of the unions in the other regions refusing to broadcast Thames programmes.
Though how that affected Thames' ability to take programmes from others I don't know. My guess is that either it required another union at Thames, or the unions at BT wouldn't switch the circuits to Thames, or the unions at other stations would have pulled off any programmes they were taking thus extending disrupting the rest of the network
Was it a stipulation of the unions that the management of Thames could not play out any programmes to the network, or was it the case that management didn't have the staff on hand to do this? Or both?
I wouldn't have thought that staffing would be an issue, they were playing out programmes locally. It was probably a case of the unions in the other regions refusing to broadcast Thames programmes.
Though how that affected Thames' ability to take programmes from others I don't know. My guess is that either it required another union at Thames, or the unions at BT wouldn't switch the circuits to Thames, or the unions at other stations would have pulled off any programmes they were taking thus extending disrupting the rest of the network
:-(
A former member
That would explain why the news at ten never got broadcast until the Friday on LWT. Actually does that mean Thames weekend news at 5.15 on LWT had to go ahead?
Also wouldn't a manager know how to switch the circuits? but there just didn't because there didn't was to cause more trouble.
Also wouldn't a manager know how to switch the circuits? but there just didn't because there didn't was to cause more trouble.
SC
I'm thinking of starting a thread on the main part of the forum regarding strikes/disputes and their affect on the region and other regions. There's a few questions to be raised that those "in the know" may be able to answer.
EDIT: I actually asked if the discussion could be split and moved, and it has been! 👍
EDIT: I actually asked if the discussion could be split and moved, and it has been! 👍
Last edited by Si-Co on 29 July 2017 10:23pm
IS
If it did it would have been very basic. There is a clip I've seen somewhere of a Thames News bulletin during a strike where it was a very basic newsreader in front of one camera and no visuals (incidently I seem to remember in those days the Thames News was on at 6 even when The 6 o Clock show wasn't on in the summer)
Possibly, depends if they'd done that sort of role in the past, it was little more complicated than just switching stuff, lines needed lining up and adjusting, it's a bit different to these digital days where stuff appears ready to go virtually.
As I say maybe there was another union involved in that side of things who prevented it happening, either at Thames or BT?
More details about Thames' various strikes here: https://www.transdiffusion.org/2005/09/03/strikeout
That would explain why the news at ten never got broadcast until the Friday on LWT. Actually does that mean Thames weekend news at 5.15 on LWT had to go ahead?
If it did it would have been very basic. There is a clip I've seen somewhere of a Thames News bulletin during a strike where it was a very basic newsreader in front of one camera and no visuals (incidently I seem to remember in those days the Thames News was on at 6 even when The 6 o Clock show wasn't on in the summer)
Quote:
Also wouldn't a manager know how to switch the circuits? but there just didn't because there didn't was to cause more trouble.
Possibly, depends if they'd done that sort of role in the past, it was little more complicated than just switching stuff, lines needed lining up and adjusting, it's a bit different to these digital days where stuff appears ready to go virtually.
As I say maybe there was another union involved in that side of things who prevented it happening, either at Thames or BT?
More details about Thames' various strikes here: https://www.transdiffusion.org/2005/09/03/strikeout
SW
This is mentioned in Independent Television in Britain, because the NUJ refused to cross the picket lines, so the news was produced by Thames' Corporate Affairs department, and read by two Thames executives in the shape of Ronald Allison and Donald Cullimore, who had actually both had on-screen careers as news reporters before becoming execs, although they hadn't done it for ages. As the book points out, as there was no autocue they had to do it reading from a script like in the fifties. They included national news as well, and apparently the Evening Standard complained that they thought they were reading stories straight out of the paper.
The unions allowing that episode of TV Eye to go out because it was considered of national importance is similar to how during the 1979 BBC strike, the technicians allowed an episode of Blue Peter to go out, while refusing to work on anything else, because they were launching their appeal and the unions agreed it was of particular importance that it went out. In that strike they also allowed an episode of Crackerjack to be mounted, but not recorded or broadcast, because the audience were already there and they thought it was wrong to send them home without seeing anything, so they allowed them to do the show just for the studio audience.
If it did it would have been very basic. There is a clip I've seen somewhere of a Thames News bulletin during a strike where it was a very basic newsreader in front of one camera and no visuals (incidently I seem to remember in those days the Thames News was on at 6 even when The 6 o Clock show wasn't on in the summer)
This is mentioned in Independent Television in Britain, because the NUJ refused to cross the picket lines, so the news was produced by Thames' Corporate Affairs department, and read by two Thames executives in the shape of Ronald Allison and Donald Cullimore, who had actually both had on-screen careers as news reporters before becoming execs, although they hadn't done it for ages. As the book points out, as there was no autocue they had to do it reading from a script like in the fifties. They included national news as well, and apparently the Evening Standard complained that they thought they were reading stories straight out of the paper.
The unions allowing that episode of TV Eye to go out because it was considered of national importance is similar to how during the 1979 BBC strike, the technicians allowed an episode of Blue Peter to go out, while refusing to work on anything else, because they were launching their appeal and the unions agreed it was of particular importance that it went out. In that strike they also allowed an episode of Crackerjack to be mounted, but not recorded or broadcast, because the audience were already there and they thought it was wrong to send them home without seeing anything, so they allowed them to do the show just for the studio audience.
IS
Aha and searching for Ronald Allison gives me the clip I was talking about with the strike news bulletin