(Wasn't entirely sure where to put this, I'm sure a mod will move or merge it if they disagree)
BBC Scotland Continuity Announcer/Director Tony Currie (who posts here from time to time) was on Radio Scotland's McCaulay & Co on Wednesday, talking about what goes on in the continuity booth and how things used to be at STV. Quite an interesting piece on how the technology has changed and notable breakdowns he's dealt with
what an awesome programme. Very interesting to know about that breakdown in 1984, shame there is no clips. Mind you I bet that turn up in 1985 STV xmas tape!!
Last edited by A former member on 7 November 2014 8:14pm
Indeed, very interesting and thank you for posting that.
I'm particularly surprised to hear that the entire ITV network heard Tony Currie filling in time by singing Christmas carols! I assume this would mean that the STV MCR cut their local presentation to network - perhaps the easiest way for the regions to know what was going on if the red phone was down.
Or perhaps that part of the tale has been exaggerated somewhat!!
Indeed, very interesting and thank you for posting that.
I'm particularly surprised to hear that the entire ITV network heard Tony Currie filling in time by singing Christmas carols! I assume this would mean that the STV MCR cut their local presentation to network - perhaps the easiest way for the regions to know what was going on if the red phone was down.
Or perhaps that part of the tale has been exaggerated somewhat!!
Possibly.
I couldn't catch where the failed OB was coming from ? If STV were providing it, then their MCR would have been feeding the network anyway ?
The OB was coming from Bridge of Weir, in the STV area, so I imagine STV were producing and networking it. That said, the regions would normally get a clean feed, hence my confusion as to why local pres was sent to network. Maybe it was simply to keep the network in the loop if the phones were down.
:-(
A former member
Of course this was xmas eve, I doubt the staff would have been around to deal with anything, including the last programme of the night!
The OB was coming from Bridge of Weir, in the STV area, so I imagine STV were producing and networking it. That said, the regions would normally get a clean feed, hence my confusion as to why local pres was sent to network. Maybe it was simply to keep the network in the loop if the phones were down.
I think the phone Tony was referring to was the local phone between the STV Transmission controller and the continuity booth next door, not the entire ITV red phone system! All the ITV transmission control rooms (and MCR/Lines) had additional 'normal' telephones that could be used if necessary. You never gave those numbers out, if you did, I'm afraid all sorts of well intentioned members of the GBP would ring in.
I think it unlikely the entire ITV network would take Tony's carol singing as some sort of filler. But it's a good story and not one I'd rain on!
:-(
A former member
The network did take the programme, but not the whole network
The OB was coming from Bridge of Weir, in the STV area, so I imagine STV were producing and networking it. That said, the regions would normally get a clean feed, hence my confusion as to why local pres was sent to network.
With no signal arriving from the OB site, the STV's MCR probably only had a limited choice of sending bars, or their pres studio output to the network I assume ? Sending the pres output, would at least give the rest of the network good early warning indication of when and if the OB was going to appear.
I could well believe (if that was the case) smaller ITV companies (very possibly Grampian) taking Tony's
'performance', but not 'stiffies' like Granada and Thames.
The Watchnight Service was originating from the Quarrier's Homes, Bridge of Weir with Moira Anderson as star guest singer. It was networked to Grampian, Border, UTV, and two or three others although I never found out which ones. I suspect it might have been HTV, Westward, Channel?
The broadcast had lined up and CAR was sending OB bars & tone to the network when a force 10 got going and the microwave dish on the tower at Cowcaddens moved a bit and the signal was lost. It was around 2330 on Xmas Eve and CAR simply dirtied the feed to network. At the other end, I was told later, the stations taking the programme cut to the feed on time and once I'd started nobody saw any point in cutting me off, especially since announcers in other places weren't terribly keen on doing their own infinite fills!
The phone that was broken was the connecting phone from MCR to Studio E. The grams were broken (the stylus was twisted and sans diamond); the TC rightly decided that an STV-branded slide would look daft on the network, and the only standby programme we had in the cupboard (and it really WAS a cupboard) was an episode of "The Saint" which was deemed unsuitable to replace a religious programme.
I tried everyone I knew later to see if there was a VHS of the 'incident' but my main hope - Moira Anderson - was not terribly technical and had managed to set her VCR to record BBC-1 by mistake!!!
The thanks I got for handling the event was to be permanently scheduled on Christmas Eve for the rest of my STV career.
