A detailed treatment of a subject.
Category: Features
1980s BBC One Scotland identity crisis
One of the strangest chapters in the story of BBC One branding in the nations runs from the autumn of 1983 to February 1985. During this period, the BBC’s main channel was known as BBC Scotland north of the border. …
All change for BBC News in 1981
For pres fans, the first week of September 1981 was significant. The modification of the BBC One globe was a small tweak by modern standards but quite noticeable at the time. Then channel symbols were things of permanence.
Pronunciation 101
Last updated: 7th June 2020. In the past, broadcasting organisations – particularly the BBC – were quite strict about standards of pronunciation among on-air talent, such as presenters, announcers and voiceover artists. Regional accents were rarely heard. Received pronunciation was …
How did TCF become such an iconic BBC image?
It is an iconic BBC image – part of the brand heritage and as much a statement of the BBC of the 70s and 80s as the globe or the famous weather symbols. But the BBC is not the sole owner …
The history of the BBC trade test transmission
First published in 2008. Last updated: 4th August 2020. This page contains examples of the various tuning signals and test cards used on BBC Television since the 1930s. The feature remains a work-in-progress and we’d be delighted to hear from …
RTÉ TV daily start-ups
Last updated: 6th June 2020. Long after elaborate daily start-up routines were dispensed with on British TV, the tradition continued on Irish TV – until c. 1997 in fact. Though it must be said, RTÉ’s daily ritual was a fairly …
Early in-vision teletext in Ireland
Until the late-1980s, the test card filled most of the daytime hours on RTÉ One and RTÉ Two. And actually, even by the 1980s, the RTÉ One analogue transmitter network only came back online at 10am (weekdays) after the overnight …
The history of Pages from Ceefax
First published in 2008. Last updated: 17th March 2020. The world’s first teletext service, BBC Ceefax (“See Facts”), was launched on 23rd September 1974. The technology was developed out of a desire to create a subtitling solution for deaf viewers. …
Pres fans await the new look BBC One
Recently we looked at the benefits of a big relaunch – schedule changes along with a new look over a series of piecemeal changes. But what was the big day like for pres fans?
ATV brand needlessly consigned to history?
Today station rebrands are ten a penny but the most radical rebrand of all came at the instigation of the regulator. Central was not a brand new company when it took to the air in the Midlands in 1982 – …