27-09-2023, 03:20 AM
(27-09-2023, 12:38 AM)London Lite Wrote: Indeed, BBC London launched from what I think was a balcony overlooking the newsroom at the former Radio Times building in Marylebone High Street which was already the home of BBC local radio in the capital. Presentation became a lot more mainstream when BBC London News and Radio London moved to BH.
I think 'balcony' makes it sound rather grander than it was! 😂
In the earliest days, LDN was literally nothing more than an area of the open newsroom/office, with a couple of plasma screens dangling from the ceiling, and the presenter standing between them, in front of a frosted glass balustrade not-quite-overlooking the staircase to the floor below.
As news sets go, it couldn't have been much more basic. But LDN was encouraged to experiment and do things differently -- after all, it was the centrepiece of the BBC's 'tri-media experiment' for the future of local and regional news in the 2000s. (That didn't quite work out as they'd hoped, but that's another story.)
I believe LDN got a 'breakfast bar'-style high-desk a year or two after launch, which was occasionally used for interviews; and I think it was around the time that the programme was rebranded to 'BBC London' that they introduced a dedicated soft-pres area with more comfortable seating, on the lower floor. (I vaguely recall a special sting being used briefly too, with the camera going down the spiral staircase.)
❗ Bonus fact (that you might already know) ❗ Before the BBC created the LDN brand, along with the tri-media tagline "on TV, on radio, online", it had already completed a great deal of production development and design work on an entirely different planned relaunch for its London TV news bulletins.
Indeed, the original plan was to launch a new regional news programme for the capital called London Live. This would have matched the name of the city's 'local' radio station, which had been rebranded -- at huge, and much-criticised, expense -- from GLR (Greater London Radio) to BBC London Live 94.9 in early 2000.
Instead, 18 months after the costly switch from GLR to London Live, the radio station was again rebranded; this time as BBC LDN, matching the new branding for the relaunched TV news bulletins and website. Notably, the decision to ditch the London Live brand for both radio and TV came at such a late stage that titles for the new BBC London Live TV bulletins had already been produced...
ibb.co
I can't help but wonder what the London Live bulletins might have looked like if the BBC had followed its original plan... Was it intended to have a version of the 'regular' BBC regional news set of the early 2000s -- cream walls with portrait plasma screen 'windows' showing views of London, an ovoid desk on a blue rug, and mustard-coloured chairs?
Strange to think how things might have turned out...! 🤔