TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Printable Version
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RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - robertclark125 - 03-07-2023
Having watched the July 1983 startup video again, the two local adverts on TV-am were slides with voiceovers, so they could've been recorded by a Granada announcer, or someone at TV-am, and transmitted out from Knutsford for the North west. As for the switch to Granada, and the colour bars, if the bars were coming from Birmingham, then it raises questions about the Saturday morning output playout; TVS made 73, but I thought it was transmitted down the line to LWT, who handled the Saturday morning output playout, to avoid hiring vision circuits etc. Similar idea to daytime mornings from 1988, with a quiz, This Morning, The Time The Place etc, Granada handling the switching. So, why were there bars from Birmingham.
Unless, the other theory may have been, Central were recording something from Granada, and Granada forgot about the colour bars.
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Steve in Pudsey - 03-07-2023
I wonder if Central handled the kids programmes as an extension of them doing CITV (and Schools for that matter) in a similar way?
I think it's clearly a cockup by Granada pres, and there could be any number of reasons to have a circuit from Central available as an OS, although not many good ones for having it on the station output at that point!
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Bluecortina - 03-07-2023
(03-07-2023, 10:50 AM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: I wonder if Central handled the kids programmes as an extension of them doing CITV (and Schools for that matter) in a similar way?
I think it's clearly a cockup by Granada pres, and there could be any number of reasons to have a circuit from Central available as an OS, although not many good ones for having it on the station output at that point!
Of course we will never know, but personally I think your explanation is probably close to the mark.
In my view BT’s Manchester NSC correctly switched the local transmitter network from Knutsford to Granada at 9.25 who for some inexplicable reason had BAT3 on their Pres output. It was faded off pretty quickly (!) and importantly synchronously to black and thence to a local station ident. Framestores were in widespread use at that time and so BAT3 (or indeed any incoming circuit) being synchronous would be normal practice. A large company like Granada would have more than one incoming circuit and the fact that we see BAT3 rather than say LS3 is of no real significance - indeed the first programme might just as well be off a local Granada VT. But of course we will never know.
As an aside I think the Knutsford centre had a small studio for inserts etc to the main TV-am programming. Years before TV-am took it over it was owned by the Distributive Industries Training Board as linked to by Stookie Bill in his post. I went on an RCA videotape maintenance course near Heathrow with a couple of chaps who worked there at the time - nice chaps, but I digress.
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Stooky Bill - 03-07-2023
(02-07-2023, 09:16 AM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: BAT3 would have been a circuit from Central (Birmingham ATV).I'm pretty sure that BAT was either Birmingham Alpha Tower or Birmingham Alpha Television (a hold over from when ATV and ABC shared a facility called Alpha Television)
Traditionally BT circuits were named after a physical location they went to and not the name of the company, for obvious reasons. This is why for example LWTs were KRS or Kings Reach Studios and not LWT and Thames' were EUS and TFS (Euston and Teddington Film Studios)
Not the case with newer ones, there are lots now that do have company initials in their names
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Stooky Bill - 03-07-2023
(02-07-2023, 10:18 PM)thegeek Wrote: Techmoan on YouTube has got hold of an audio tape of BBC transmitter breakdown announcements and music from the 1960s:Yes, his explanations are a bit out. I'm pretty sure it's nothing to do with silence detection, the old big transmitter sites (they think this is from Sutton Coldfield) were manned and the engineers had things like slide scanners, record decks and in the case of SC, a telecine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ENRbOWDXmI
(not sure I entirely agree with the explanations by 'Ringway Manchester' - I'd have thought the first side would be played if the transmitter lost its link from the studio centre; and the second for relays if they lost reception from the main transmitter - but this isn't quite my area of expertise)
Possibly that tape was a copy or a master and they'd have the announcements and music in more accessible forms to play on air.
His explanation of 'reduced power' is partially correct, standby transmitters and reserve aerials would mean reduced power levels. However the TV transmitters at the big sites were two seperate units combined into one output (well actually they'd be 4 transmitters - 2 video and 2 audio). The nominal power was achieved by having both working. If one was off, (either intentionally or not) then that was reduced power.
You'll have seen this mentioned in the IBA Engineering Announcements programmes.... When they said there was going to be Reduced Power, that normally meant they were working on one of the transmitters for that channel.
Nothing to do with relays, not that there were that many in the 405 line VHF days. They are just rebroadcasting what the main station is putting out, there wasn't a way to put out an apology on one
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - agemame - 03-07-2023
Wouldn't the original tape be the equivalent in that era of the locally generated apology caption? The other just seems to be something to play in over an interlude or something when you know local works are going to affect matters.
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Stooky Bill - 03-07-2023
(03-07-2023, 03:55 PM)agemame Wrote: Wouldn't the original tape be the equivalent in that era of the locally generated apology caption?Yes that's exactly what it is
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Steve in Pudsey - 03-07-2023
Probably accompanying the actual equivalent from the station slide scanner?
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Stooky Bill - 03-07-2023
(03-07-2023, 10:43 PM)Steve in Pudsey Wrote: Probably accompanying the actual equivalent from the station slide scanner?More likely a monoscope. This is what they had at Sutton Coldfield in that sort of time
http://txfeatures.mb21.co.uk/coldfield/03.shtml
A monoscope is:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoscope?wprov=sfla1
RE: TV Mistakes/Breakdowns - Bennyboy84 - 04-07-2023
Can’t say if this was a breakdown or not but I’ve definitely not seen it before.
Just before 7am this morning Comedy Central Extra was showing a red screen with the yellow Comedy Central logo bouncing around the screen like a screensaver accompanied by background music.