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Historical details of Central and other ITV Companies

Can you remember anything? (August 2013)

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BL
bluecortina
623058 posted:
Inspector Sands posted:

Quote:
There appears to be a website for the former company here: http://www.tv-am.org.uk if anyone wants to contact them and ask the questions. I'm not interested enough I have to say.

Me neither really, although that website is that of Ian White, a former TVam journalist who bought the rights to the name and logo so wouldn't have any answers.

I only know a bit about what went on there from a former colleague of mine who was at TVam almost until the end.


Not true he holds a lot of archive about TVAM and contacts with many Ex TVAM, so there is a high chance can point you in the right directions.


Perhaps you might care to contact the site and ask how TV-am went about their commercial compilation/playout? I see a chap there called John Fernandez who looks likely to know judging by his postings.

An ex-colleague of mine went to work there as a supervisor in VT but he has since passed away.

In fact, remembering back, I myself had an interview for a similar position before they went on air. In hindsight I guess I was lucky to be turned down.
BL
bluecortina
Markymark posted:
bluecortina posted:

Did you ever realise why the corridor the other side of the wall to the ITV1 continuity was covered in carpet? LNN designed the continuity booth themselves. There was no proper solid floor to help eliminate exterior noise. Every time someone wandered along the corridor their footsteps and conversations simply went under the computer flooring straight into the 'sound proof' continuity booth. Hah. Only discovered at the last minute of course. The solution was to remove the lino computer flooring and replace it with tiles with carpeting. Please don't tell me you were actually employed by these people on a permanent basis?


Ha no, I worked for the System Integrator that equipped the facility, 'bogs and boilers' were (thankfully) someone else's job !


Were you involved in that big Sony matrix that (allegedly) delayed the move to the new in-house 'site' by a year or so. You don't have to answer that if you don't want too! We thought they'd never go.
MA
Markymark
bluecortina posted:
Markymark posted:
bluecortina posted:

Did you ever realise why the corridor the other side of the wall to the ITV1 continuity was covered in carpet? LNN designed the continuity booth themselves. There was no proper solid floor to help eliminate exterior noise. Every time someone wandered along the corridor their footsteps and conversations simply went under the computer flooring straight into the 'sound proof' continuity booth. Hah. Only discovered at the last minute of course. The solution was to remove the lino computer flooring and replace it with tiles with carpeting. Please don't tell me you were actually employed by these people on a permanent basis?


Ha no, I worked for the System Integrator that equipped the facility, 'bogs and boilers' were (thankfully) someone else's job !


Were you involved in that big Sony matrix that (allegedly) delayed the move to the new in-house 'site' by a year or so. You don't have to answer that if you don't want too! We thought they'd never go.


Ha, I know what you mean Surprised , I came into the project after it had been (finally) installed. 16 frames in four bays, with no end of cascade cables to interconnect. That series of martix was, well, less than optimum, Sony finally moved out of the matix game about five years ago. It did all rather drag on, didn't it Embarassed ,
NG
noggin Founding member
Inspector Sands posted:

Me neither really, although that website is that of Ian White, a former TVam journalist who bought the rights to the name and logo so wouldn't have any answers.


Don't think Ian worked at TVam, think he's a bit too young. I think he started his career in the early-to-mid 90s. He was certainly a researcher at Look East around 1995...
NG
noggin Founding member
bluecortina posted:

When TV-am started they had none of this LMS malarkey, in fact I don't think LMS or Marc kit was even on the market in 1982. TV-am equipped themselves with 1" kit (I think Marconi). Overnight these banks of VTR's were automatically controlled by a third party control system to compile the breaks. Clever, but it never worked. In the end VT engineers at Hawley Crescent and Knutsford were furiously compiling these breaks manually overnight. Possibly the software did eventually work. I do know that at some period during their franchise the compilation of these breaks were outsourced to a third party too. Did TV-am actually buy an LMS themselves in the end then?


I guess they started at a tricky point. An ACR 25 (2" Quad "cassette" system for ad playout) was beginning to look like a dinosaur, but there wasn't really a 1" equivalent - and Beta SP/D2 were still a way away. Also - I guess TVam were unusual in having quite a lot of downtime during the day - unlike other ITV franchises who ran for longer. So TVam could use kit for multiple purposes in ways that would have been trickier elsewhere?

For those interested : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCzbuxEURMU The ACR-25 was a bonkers bit of kit. 2" reel-to-reel Quad VTR tape inside a cassette housing, for automated playout. Years ahead of its time. Only really replaced by Sony Beta SP and D2 automated systems, which in turn were effectively replaced by servers.

I remember a huge song and dance when Channel Four selected D5 (digital component version of D3 - which only really found a market as HD-D5 - a lightly compressed mastering format which offered significantly higher HD quality than HDCam, but was killed by HD Cam SR) as their main delivery format over DigiBeta - how long did that actually last before they started accepting DigiBeta (off topic - but interesting)
BL
bluecortina
Ah, the ACR25 - what a beast. I only operated it a few times in anger. I spent many, many years operating it's older brother the RCA TR100. Since we were talking about GMTV earlier - they had a 'previously enjoyed' Sony Betacart for studio inserts etc.
:-(
A former member
International success[edit]
Donahue was also broadcast in the UK on the ITV Night time line up in the late 1980s, where it became cult viewing. After its success, Donahue made several shows in Britain featuring some well-known celebrities from the country as guests, recorded mostly in London but notably one programme recorded in Manchester, which had several members of the cast from the American sit-com Cheers and the Manchester-based soap opera Coronation Stree


Is this true?

16 days later

:-(
A former member
Who is this announcer?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-TI3DBFlos
NW
nwtv2003
623058 posted:


As treffynon comment it is Martin Weedon who voiced night times at Thames until it's end, later went onto work at Sky.
:-(
A former member
Thank you and it seems that comment went up just after I post the link.
:-(
A former member
Did Central every have Clock and if no why not?
WP
WillPS
623058 posted:
Did Central every have Clock and if no why not?

It did although I can't find an example of it online. It used exactly the same digital device as ATV used infrequently.
http://www.sub-tv.co.uk/pics/ATV/ATVClockBlack.jpg

Central used it even less and it was dropped altogether around the time they moved to the second version of the Globe/Moon.


EDIT Found it:
http://www.sub-tv.co.uk/pics/ATV/CenClock.jpg

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