Television

[DaveH]

You are as right as a correct person sir.

Here's a 1960's AC30

Thanks vox, thats exactly as I remember them looking, and I think the AC30 is also the model I was trying to describe the distinctive sound of in my previous post. For a real "cellarful of noise" works well with a spring line reverberation unit, and for a bit of shadows like echo with a Watkins Copycat (later the Wem Copycat). None of that noisy overdriven, distorted "fuzz box" modern sound.

[DaveH]

Sorry DaveH must read previous posts. I can remember a family friend who had a set with a round CRT must have given about a 9" picture. Our Marconi set had a 9" screen but in a rather large highly polished wooden cabinet. The most common set of the time was the Bush 9" with a Bakelite cabinet. We had two in the workshop at Wigfalls so we could see what was on, if anything, most of the time we were working it was just the test card. One was showing BBC the other ITV.

Two televisions at once in the days when there were only 2 channels anyway, ONE FOR EACH CHANNEL!!

In the 1950's although the popularity of television was growing rapidly most people did still not own a set and those that did only owned one of such a relatively expensive luxury item.

What an enviable position you were in, working with the latest technology and able to watch all that British television broadcasting had to offer at the time.

But then again, as Wigfalls had normal working hours and as at that time broadcasting did not really start before teatime or early evening there probably wasn't a lot to watch on either channel during the day, as you say mainly just the test card (of which there were several versions) possibly broken up with the odd interlude film like "the potters wheel"

[jiginc]

Two televisions at once in the days when there were only 2 channels anyway, ONE FOR EACH CHANNEL!!

In the 1950's although the popularity of television was growing rapidly most people did still not own a set and those that did only owned one of such a relatively expensive luxury item.

What an enviable position you were in, working with the latest technology and able to watch all that British television broadcasting had to offer at the time.

But then again, as Wigfalls had normal working hours and as at that time broadcasting did not really start before teatime or early evening there probably wasn't a lot to watch on either channel during the day, as you say mainly just the test card (of which there were several versions) possibly broken up with the odd interlude film like "the potters wheel"

One highlight was when they started the test transmissions for stereo broadcasting.

One channel was on the radio the other on TV. We set up two tv’s one,that had a radio setting, giving the radio channel the other the tv channel.

Can’t remember if the results were any good but it was ground breaking at the time.

I also remember getting time off to visit the Radio Show at Earles Court and seeing the first colour sets, now that was brilliant.

[RichardB]

Sounds Medieval in these days of 87 speakers, 3 mile wide screens and 47,000 channels all showing repeats in black and white, high definition, mono ... probably ...

Z Cars has never looked so good.

[DaveH]

One highlight was when they started the test transmissions for stereo broadcasting.

One channel was on the radio the other on TV. We set up two tv’s one,that had a radio setting, giving the radio channel the other the tv channel.

Can’t remember if the results were any good but it was ground breaking at the time.

I also remember getting time off to visit the Radio Show at Earles Court and seeing the first colour sets, now that was brilliant.

I seem to remember listening to an experimental BBC stereo broadcast using BBC2 television with left channel (mono TV sound in those days) and BBC R3 on VHF for right channel (radio was also mono at this time). This would be about 1970-ish. The programme broadcast was a classical music concert with full orchestra, ideal for a radio 3 audience and also ideal for a test of stereo sound. I remember being quite dissapointed with the results as the left channel was in the TV with the picture and the right channel, for full stereo effect had to be "several feet away" and was therefore disconnected from the picture. It probably sounded OK, but it didn't look right.

[DaveH]

You are as right as a correct person sir.

Here's a 1960's AC30

From the (inside gate-fold) cover of their 1964 album "Beatles For Sale" here are the Beatles using what appears to be Vox AC30's, very similar to those in Vox's picture.

If they were good enough for the greatest group in the world, then I suppose they must have been good.

[DaveH]

Here's a television one from 40 years ago

Can anyone remember when ITV (Yorkshire Television) was "lost" to the Sheffield area some time during the first 3 months of 1969 due to the collapse of the Emley Moor transmitter mast in bad weather conditions.

At that time Emley Moor was a steel structure similar to a very tall pylon with an aeriel on the top and not like the superior (in terms of longevity and weather resistance) structure which has replaced it today.

Also at the time Yorkshire Television had only been going for a matter of months. It got its franchise from the IBA and started broadcasting on 1st August ( Yorkshire Day) 1968. Previous to that the local IBA company was Granada Television, based in Manchester.

There were only 3 channels at the time (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) of which most people could only receive 2 (BBC1 and ITV) in 405 line VHF format as to receive BBC2, even only in black and white, required a 625 line UHF receiver, so to loose ITV was a much bigger loss then than it would be now.

I can remember the screen going blank while I was watching ITV one teatime in early 1969, I can't remember what the programme was. Neither can I remember how long it was before the ITV signal was fully restored, - I seem to remember weeks of weak, poor quality reception from a low powered makeshift transmitter while Emley Moor was being rebuilt. I can't remember exactly what programmes I would have missed so obviously that weren't that important even though the memory of the inconvenience is still there 40 years later.

Do any other members have any memories of this?

[Guest tsavo]

I certainly can Dave, in fact we at Crookes got a bonus as the tempoary mast improved our ITV picture for some weird reason. Oh and the programme being transmitted by ITV at the time of the collapse? "Do Not Adjust Your Set". Ironic or what? Thanks to Wiki as usual.

[DaveH]

I certainly can Dave, in fact we at Crookes got a bonus as the tempoary mast improved our ITV picture for some weird reason. Oh and the programme being transmitted by ITV at the time of the collapse? "Do Not Adjust Your Set". Ironic or what? Thanks to Wiki as usual.

Remember the programme as a kind of wacky way out comedy. I think it featured Kenny Everett (so definately wacky and way out) and was a sort of pre-python Monty Pythons flying Circus.

[Stuart0742]

Remember the programme as a kind of wacky way out comedy. I think it featured Kenny Everett (so definately wacky and way out) and was a sort of pre-python Monty Pythons flying Circus.

Eric Idle

David Jason

Terry Jones

Michael Palin

Denise Coffey

A definite a predecessor to Monty Python

[DaveH]

Eric Idle

David Jason

Terry Jones

Michael Palin

Denise Coffey

A definite a predecessor to Monty Python

I knew it had some connection to Monty Python but I thought the actual pre-python programme was something called "At last the 1948 show" which also featured Marty Feldman.

Interestingly "Do not adjust your set" is an ITV programme (witness the Emley Moor event) and "Monty Pythons Flying Circus" is a BBC programme. The Monty Python team appear to have done an "Eric and Ernie in reverse" as far as channel switching goes, and they must have done it in 1969 as both the previously mentioned programmes date to that year.

[Stuart0742]

I knew it had some connection to Monty Python but I thought the actual pre-python programme was something called "At last the 1948 show" which also featured Marty Feldman.

Interestingly "Do not adjust your set" is an ITV programme (witness the Emley Moor event) and "Monty Pythons Flying Circus" is a BBC programme. The Monty Python team appear to have done an "Eric and Ernie in reverse" as far as channel switching goes, and they must have done it in 1969 as both the previously mentioned programmes date to that year.

See link to the font of all known knowledge

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_Not_Adjust_Your_Set

[DaveH]

Using your link to the font of all knowledge

Last episide of "Do not adjust your set" was 14 May 1969 (ITV)

First episode of "Monty Pythons Flying Circus" was 5 October 1969 (BBC)

So I was right, - now if that had been on the boozer quiz last Wednesday perhaps we would have won a bit more than just 4 pints lol

[DaveH]

Here's a television one from 40 years ago

Can anyone remember when ITV (Yorkshire Television) was "lost" to the Sheffield area some time during the first 3 months of 1969 due to the collapse of the Emley Moor transmitter mast in bad weather conditions.

At that time Emley Moor was a steel structure similar to a very tall pylon with an aeriel on the top and not like the superior (in terms of longevity and weather resistance) structure which has replaced it today.

Also at the time Yorkshire Television had only been going for a matter of months. It got its franchise from the IBA and started broadcasting on 1st August ( Yorkshire Day) 1968. Previous to that the local IBA company was Granada Television, based in Manchester.

There were only 3 channels at the time (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) of which most people could only receive 2 (BBC1 and ITV) in 405 line VHF format as to receive BBC2, even only in black and white, required a 625 line UHF receiver, so to loose ITV was a much bigger loss then than it would be now.

I can remember the screen going blank while I was watching ITV one teatime in early 1969, I can't remember what the programme was. Neither can I remember how long it was before the ITV signal was fully restored, - I seem to remember weeks of weak, poor quality reception from a low powered makeshift transmitter while Emley Moor was being rebuilt. I can't remember exactly what programmes I would have missed so obviously that weren't that important even though the memory of the inconvenience is still there 40 years later.

Do any other members have any memories of this?

Found some of my own answers on the linked site.

The original mast, in use from 1956, collapsed on 19 March 1969.

Some viewers had reception restored with a few days from a temporary mast, for others it was 16 April before things got back to normal

Emley Moor

[Waterside Echo]

Here's a television one from 40 years ago

Can anyone remember when ITV (Yorkshire Television) was "lost" to the Sheffield area some time during the first 3 months of 1969 due to the collapse of the Emley Moor transmitter mast in bad weather conditions.

At that time Emley Moor was a steel structure similar to a very tall pylon with an aeriel on the top and not like the superior (in terms of longevity and weather resistance) structure which has replaced it today.

Also at the time Yorkshire Television had only been going for a matter of months. It got its franchise from the IBA and started broadcasting on 1st August ( Yorkshire Day) 1968. Previous to that the local IBA company was Granada Television, based in Manchester.

There were only 3 channels at the time (BBC1, BBC2 and ITV) of which most people could only receive 2 (BBC1 and ITV) in 405 line VHF format as to receive BBC2, even only in black and white, required a 625 line UHF receiver, so to loose ITV was a much bigger loss then than it would be now.

I can remember the screen going blank while I was watching ITV one teatime in early 1969, I can't remember what the programme was. Neither can I remember how long it was before the ITV signal was fully restored, - I seem to remember weeks of weak, poor quality reception from a low powered makeshift transmitter while Emley Moor was being rebuilt. I can't remember exactly what programmes I would have missed so obviously that weren't that important even though the memory of the inconvenience is still there 40 years later.

Do any other members have any memories of this?

Yorkshire was one of the early areas receiving the combined colour/black-and-white 625 line UHF transmissions on Channel 47 from Emley Moor until the collapse of the 1,265- ft mast on 19th March 1969, Transmissions were back on the air four days later from a 217-foot mast, then from the 16th of April an intrim 675-ft lattice mast was brought into operaton but for VHF services only.

[DaveH]

Yorkshire was one of the early areas receiving the combined colour/black-and-white 625 line UHF transmissions on Channel 47 from Emley Moor until the collapse of the 1,265- ft mast on 19th March 1969, Transmissions were back on the air four days later from a 217-foot mast, then from the 16th of April an intrim 675-ft lattice mast was brought into operaton but for VHF services only.

Thanks for the information Waterside Echo.

I may be making assumptions here but before August 1968 when Yorkshire Television came on line Emley Moor must have been used to broadcast the Manchester based Granad Television into the Sheffield area.

I still have memories (related in a more appropriate thread somewhere near here) of that fatefull day in February 1962 when the prefabs around us on the Arbourthorne came tumbling down in that gale and who visited us the next day? - Mike Scott and Bill Grundy who did the local news programme (can't remember if it was "People and Places" or "Scene at 6:30") for television. Both BBCand ITV film units were in the area and the ITV one was Granada TV (most famous at the time for its programme "Coronation Street"). Can't fully remember what channel these 2 worked for as news reporters but I seem to think they were from Granada as I think the BBC local news, even then, was called "Look North"

Can anyone remember local news programmes for the Sheffield area and what "local stories" of interest they carried?

[DaveH]

Mike Scott and Bill Grundy who did the local news programme (can't remember if it was "People and Places" or "Scene at 6:30") for television. Both BBCand ITV film units were in the area and the ITV one was Granada TV (most famous at the time for its programme "Coronation Street"). Can't fully remember what channel these 2 worked for as news reporters but I seem to think they were from Granada as I think the BBC local news, even then, was called "Look North"

Can anyone remember local news programmes for the Sheffield area and what "local stories" of interest they carried?

I think it was ITV Granada and that it was the local news programme "Scene at 6:30" which carried the Sheffield Gale story.

I seem to remember that "People and Places" was the programme that I first saw or heard The Beatles, before they became massively famous. I suppose this was one of the advantages of having a news programme from the other side of the Pennines, - you get to know about 4 loud long haired lads from Liverpool that no one had ever heard of. A few months later, - practically the whole world had. That's the power of television.

Mark Lewisohn's book "The complete Beatles Chronicle" says that the "People & Places" broadcast went out live on Monday 17 December 1962 between 6:35 and 7:00. The Beatles did 2 numbers "Love Me Do" and "Twist and Shout". Confusingly this is exactly the same broadcast time as "Scene at 6:30 would have gone out. Was "Scene at 6:30 a BBC programme? Did Granada change their evening news programme? or did they have different programmes on different days of the week?

[DaveH]

Having mentioned in post #32 that Yorkshire Television first started broadcasting on Yorkshire Day (1st. August) in 1968 it would appear from the news today that with the credit crunch, reduction in advertising revenue and cuts in programmes being made that it's days as a commercial television broadcaster may well be numbered.

Notice however that this announcement was made on the BBC news, I found no reference to it on ITV local at all.

Yorkshire TV cuts

Can anyone remember that first night of broadcasting on 1 August 1968?

[DaveH]

Found some of my own answers on the linked site.

The original mast, in use from 1956, collapsed on 19 March 1969.

Some viewers had reception restored with a few days from a temporary mast, for others it was 16 April before things got back to normal

Emley Moor

40th anniversary of the collapse of the Emley Moor mast is today.

Calendar have an item in their local news programme about it