[Stuart]

As with others, for me it was the ITV logos/idents.

Back in the day, they would show the ident for the originating region before each programme, which was the only way you would see those outside your own region. The 1982 franchise change was the trigger for me, as for the first time there were all these new idents. I was insanely jealous of other regions as they had very nice idents, and I was in Granadaland - which had never progressed beyond a silent static logo on a bit of card.

TVTimes would state which region produced each programme, so I would find myself watching some random networked programme from TSW, Channel, TVS, Grampian etc just so I could see their idents.

I guess it just spiralled from there, especially when I discovered there was a similarly afflicted community of people known as 'Pres Geeks'.

[Josh Griffin]

I really love TV presentation for a few things. The idents & how they are made as well as the presentation of each channel. I first had a love for TV presentation back at primary school in year 5 when I used The Ident Gallery for the first time & enjoyed all the old idents from the past. Especially the Channel 4 ones from 2004. I also used TVARK & TV Whirl as well as TV Live & The TV Room to research them too.

I still use all those websites today to gather information as well as getting some bits for my videos.

[lepeterrr]

It was ITV Daytime at first for me, I became obsessed with all 4 of the shows during lockdown and then got into the presentation side!

[Humphrey Hacker]

Looking back I think tv presentation was the first sign of my being on the spectrum. I was obsessed with being either a newsreader or a quiz show presenter, the former led me to study Journalism. Some 40 years on it's still part of my life and I'm grateful that there are others out there who share the interest.

(This will be the only time I'll refer to being autistic as I don't want it to be an issue)

[JHarper_2022]

It was the idents, graphics, and style of presentation that drew me into TV presentation from an early age, it started with watching in-vision studio links from children's blocks of the time such as CBBC and CITV that they've used in comparison to the their main channel counterparts was what attracted me to TV pres. As well as that having gone on holiday to NYC in 2000 I noticed a difference in presentation style watching networks like NBC, FOX, The WB et,al and UK TV whilst channel surfing which only increased my interest even more, I didn't discover TV pres websites like TV-Ark, TV Whirl and thetvroom until 2004, I used to visit these pages nearly daily

[Worzel]

A couple of really interesting reasons!

When I was at secondary school, Carole Hersee came in and gave a talk in our school assembly about what it was like being the test card girl. She even brought in Bubbles the Clown. I found it really fascinating hearing about her Father, his job as a BBC engineer and that the cross on the blackboard was positioned in the middle of the screen. (I don't think many of the other pupils found it interesting, sadly!). That was around 1998.

Then in 1999 or 2000, the chap who flew the BBC One balloon for the filming of the idents happened to know one of the teachers. So one afternoon we were treated to the BBC One hot air balloon being inflated on our school field and eventually taking off. Actually seeing that in person was pretty special. I'm just gutted no photos were taken as a picture of me standing next to the balloon, aged 13 would have been amazing. I looked at TV idents in a completely different way after that.

Then in February 2001 I was a contestant on the BBC Two Saturday morning kids TV show, Subzero. Having experienced going round Television Centre for the first time, the show being filmed in TC1, being based in Red Assembly and walking past Eamonn Holmes' dressing room was just incredible! My family and I spent 2 days there. Rehearsals were on the Saturday, then the live show went out on Sunday. My subsequent visits to Television Centre after that were very special, but not quite as magical.

Although I didn't get into TV production, I do Radio Production as a Head of Production making idents/promos/commercials etc (as well as presenting on the radio too) so I do think the above all played some part in what I do in some of my work today.

That's my story!

[London Lite]

The first indication of my interest was in primary school seeing another kid being able to draw all the different ITV regional logos despite living in London, which is a skill in itself.

Then for me it was going on UK caravan holidays and seeing the different regional logos and presentation which was so much different to how pedestrian Thames was in the 80s.

As I got older as a child, it turned into trying to receive other ITV regions which got me into how broadcasting works, as such I was able to receive Anglia and Meridian, sometimes with snowy PQ and other times especially with Meridian at broadcast quality that the teletext worked properly!

[Rijowhi]

For myself my interest started with the Central logo(s). When I went up to Lincolnshire I used to enjoy seeing the Yorkshire TV logo too…it continued.

[Humphrey Hacker]

Reading the ITV variations in the tv pages of the papers was the earliest sign for me. I remember thinking what Aap Ka Ha was on Granada.

[Connews]

Great question!

As a toddler I was apparently obsessed with watching the news — ended up pretending to read the news myself for the rest of my childhood! ITN sent me 30 autographs of different presenters when I was eight (2001 — so news channel era).

I loved seeing the music, studios and idents of different news programmes. And I’d doodle my own studio designs too!

Being a journalist was all I wanted to be — and thankfully I managed it! I’ve worked at Sky News and the BBC (online and in local radio respectively).

Still a presentation nerd!