[Spencer]

Yes, they used UK Gold and UK Livings audio subcarriers, those being the neareest the BBC had to satellite services in the analogue days. 

Radio 1 and 2 were stereo on one and the rest mono on the other (a stereo service taking up the equivalent of two monos). 

A lot of British channels had radio sub carriers, which were intended for language options (used by Eurosport and Euronews) IIRC Virgin was carried on Sky News 

The other notable station was Sunrise Radio. This was the London Sunrise station and was used by some radio stations (particularly RSL licenses) for their feed of IRN. The satellite feed muted for a couple of seconds before and after each bulletin so anyone taking it didn't get a snatch of their jingles.

The ILR station I worked for in the late 90s took IRN via Sunrise at the time, and there were certainly occasions they didn’t quite get it right. I remember one time hearing some rather lovely sitar music going out during the bulletin.

My student station used to take the GWR Group’s rival Network News service which also came via Astra. If I remember rightly, this came via the Supergold station, which also provided an overnight sustaining service to GWR’s AM stations along with a few other independent stations around the country. As with Sunrise, they left a couple of seconds silence either side of the bulletins to provide a clean opt.

I also seem to remember they used to feed their national news clips during the day to their stations at twenty to the hour, in a similar format to the BBC’s GNS hourly circuits to local radio, although these were available for anyone to listen to should they wish.

[Steve in Pudsey]

Yes, they used UK Gold and UK Livings audio subcarriers, those being the neareest the BBC had to satellite services in the analogue days. 

Radio 1 and 2 were stereo on one and the rest mono on the other (a stereo service taking up the equivalent of two monos). 

The Radio 5 feed was used as the backup (RBS) source for the AM transmitters, so the network operated on a delay to match the satellite so that if one transmitters went onto that backup it would stay in sync with others on the same frequency.

This meant that things like radiocar contributions couldn't use the typical off-air cue feed for the reporter or guest's headphones.

[Spencer]

The Radio 5 feed was used as the backup (RBS) source for the AM transmitters, so the network operated on a delay to match the satellite so that if one transmitters went onto that backup it would stay in sync with others on the same frequency.

This meant that things like radiocar contributions couldn't use the typical off-air cue feed for the reporter or guest's headphones.

Would they have often used an off air cue in a radio car? My experience of BBC LR radio cars was they had a clean feed from the studio with talkback. It’d also surely be unwise to give guests a feed in which they’d hear themselves coming back in their ears, as if you’re not used to it, it can be very off-putting.

[Jimbo2022]

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