The last South Today from South Western House was on 7/9/1991. Interesting points about Link, Noggin. When they went under was that the end of Britain as a producer of broadcast cameras? By the looks of the pic on TV Ark, South Western House was still using EMI 2001s at the time of closure - mind you, in 1991, so was EastEnders.
Was Meridian continuity and graphics done from here in the early days.
Yes as far as I know, from the start of Meridian's franchise until fairly recently , their presentation was handled by Northam. They also handled Anglia and HTV's presentation for an while didn't they?
Is Yorkshire Television's Leeds centre bigger than Granada in Manchester?
How many studios do they both have, does Yorkshire now make more programmes for the ITV network in Leeds than Granada does in Manchester?
I have seen many pics of the Granada centre in Manchester but cant find any decent pics of the Yorkshire centre in Leeds to compare.
If anyone has any pics of the Yorkshire centre in Leeds please upload them on here thanks.
Was Meridian continuity and graphics done from here in the early days.
Yes as far as I know, from the start of Meridian's franchise until fairly recently , their presentation was handled by Northam. They also handled Anglia and HTV's presentation for an while didn't they?
Yep - Northam handled Southern, TVS and Meridian continuity AIUI. When Meridian, HTV and Anglia were all part of United, presentation left Norwich and Bristol, and the HTV West (not HTV Wales), Anglia and Meridian presentation were all handled by Northam. During this period Anglia and Meridian had common trails (possibly with different voice overs), but the Anglia or Meridian logos were added on-playout top left (I think) Not sure about HTV West.
AIUI HTV Wales continued to handle its own presentation in Cardiff - and I think it also handled Westcountry's presentation as well for a while.
The last South Today from South Western House was on 7/9/1991. Interesting points about Link, Noggin. When they went under was that the end of Britain as a producer of broadcast cameras? By the looks of the pic on TV Ark, South Western House was still using EMI 2001s at the time of closure - mind you, in 1991, so was EastEnders.
Ah - it was later than I thought! For some reason I have 1989 knocking around in my head! I worked in the same building as Quantel Link systems for a while.
Yes - I think Link were the last British manufacturer of broadcast cameras. EMI and Marconi had stopped by then - Marconi lasted into the 80s (TVam used Marconis at launch), but I'm not sure EMI continued past the 70s. (I think the last BBC EMI cameras were 2005s (or were they 2004s?)- they were 3 tube cut-downs of the 4-tube 2001 )used in Norwich, Manchester etc.
The BBC ordered loads of cameras from Link to re-equip TV Centre in the late 80s. However Link went bankrupt trying to make them. The BBC had, so urban myth goes, bought the lenses already, and so when it became clear that Link cameras were not going to appear, they had to look around for other cameras that would fit the lenses they had bought. Thomson fitted the bill (though have never been THAT well regarded) - and had the bonus of being European not Japanese. The BBC bought some Thomson tubed cameras, and then re-equipped with CCDs, and until very recently most of the TC studios were Thomson based.
Thomson merged with Philips in camera terms, and there is now only one original Thomson camera available (the 1707) - which is what the BBC use in Leeds, Hull, Norwich, Tunbridge Wells, Newcastle and Millbank I believe. (The microcam 1657 is still listed). The rest of the Thomson camera range (maybe badged Grassvalley now) are all ex-Philips models. BBC News studios for News 24, World and the One/Six/Ten are all based on Philips cameras. They have lasted a lot better than the Thomsons of the same age. (Though it is not fair to judge them based on N24/World picture quality as they are not operated at all in N24/World)
I wouldn't be surprised if Southampton were still using 2001s or 2005s in 1991 - Norwich were as well (though not often, by then they were using CCD DXC3000s in the newsroom for Look East, and only using the 2005s in the studio for Children in Need and other non-news stuff)
So'ton replaced their tubed cameras with Ikegami CCD devices, the same as Plymouth use, when they both moved or refurbed and I believe they are still in service 14 years later. Norwich went for Thomsons a year or so later - the same type as used in some studios in TV Centre (and also, helpfully, the same type as Anglia used), and they were in use until Norwich moved to The Forum.
Leeds and Newcastle had tubed Ikegami cameras, and they were only replaced by Thomson CCDs in the last few years.
The last South Today from South Western House was on 7/9/1991. Interesting points about Link, Noggin. When they went under was that the end of Britain as a producer of broadcast cameras? By the looks of the pic on TV Ark, South Western House was still using EMI 2001s at the time of closure - mind you, in 1991, so was EastEnders.
Ah - it was later than I thought! For some reason I have 1989 knocking around in my head!
You're partially right. 1989 was when radio moved out of the old hotel and into the new building. You'll remember that Solent worked with some of the most archaic kit in the Corporation. The old studios only had one self-op desk (I think there were quite a few rotary faders still around - cue the elastic band trick for cross-fades!) and they had no stereo capability, making them the last station to originate VHF mono.
Was Meridian continuity and graphics done from here in the early days.
Yes as far as I know, from the start of Meridian's franchise until fairly recently , their presentation was handled by Northam. They also handled Anglia and HTV's presentation for an while didn't they?
Yep - Northam handled Southern, TVS and Meridian continuity AIUI. When Meridian, HTV and Anglia were all part of United, presentation left Norwich and Bristol, and the HTV West (not HTV Wales), Anglia and Meridian presentation were all handled by Northam. During this period Anglia and Meridian had common trails (possibly with different voice overs), but the Anglia or Meridian logos were added on-playout top left (I think) Not sure about HTV West.
AIUI HTV Wales continued to handle its own presentation in Cardiff - and I think it also handled Westcountry's presentation as well for a while.
Westcountry's presentation came from HTV at Culverhouse from when they launched in 1993 I think. However Westcountry had their own announcer .
From about 2000 HTV West presentation was moved to Meridian and they used the same announcers as Meridian had.
Is Yorkshire Television's Leeds centre bigger than Granada in Manchester?
How many studios do they both have, does Yorkshire now make more programmes for the ITV network in Leeds than Granada does in Manchester?
I have seen many pics of the Granada centre in Manchester but cant find any decent pics of the Yorkshire centre in Leeds to compare.
If anyone has any pics of the Yorkshire centre in Leeds please upload them on here thanks.
Its arguable who produces more - in terms of hours of programmes its a close call. If you count Emmerdale & Countdown its proberbly Yorkshire. YTV is split in two with the link road down the middle. The high profile bit to the left (the pictures were in this thread somewhere) is the bit everyone thinks of as Yorkshire TV , If I remember it was 4 studios, presentation, canteen etc - and lots of pastel coloured corridoors as it was the Bruce Gyngell era when I was there. It was always fruit and yoghurt in the canteen too! & I seem to remember dusty bin was painted on the studio door. They record Countdown from that same studio.
The rather boring building to the right is production offices for YTV and independants,they also doubled for Inspector Frosts offices and police station. Heartbeat & the Royal's offices were there. The calendar newsroom is in there along with the scenery dock it was all hidden away round the back. Emmerdale interiors are in there now too. The outside set being on the Harewood house estate.