Through the day - Telemusications from Transdiffusion

Through the day

In some ways the needs of television presentation have not changed that much, although the art of the start-up and closedown is rarely called upon. However, there are still programmes to trail, the news to introduce and the station itself to assert its identity.

Indeed the aim here is to show that the best companies for presenting themselves in the 1960s would need to learn very little to adapt to today - whereas the worst of the 1970s would have a long way to go.


	After the start-up
	For the time being we are going to step over the subject of the formal start-up itself, if only because this has been dealt with extensively by other Transdiffusion projects already. It will be expanded upon at a later date but already there is a separate article on the variety of approaches used by Granada. The first programme of the day was rarely anything spectacular in the 1960s: schools programmes in the week; adult education on Saturdays and the Morning Service on Sundays would be typical and these would exist almost as islands away from the regular programmes. Nevertheless the station identity would be out from the start.

					1968 Keith Martin saying the standard phrase "ABC - Your Weekend Television in the North" for the first of many times on a shift, after the authority announcement of John Benson. The long ABC ident is included here with a break - a transmission fault. Note the particularly friendly and personal style which permeated ABC North. [Play Clip]

1970

A rather more staid introduction on a later Sunday from Betty Henwood for Channel. But yes, she does call it the 'Moving Service'. And maybe it was.


	Let's take a break
	No sooner had broadcasting started than it sometimes had to come to a (temporary) end.

					1970 Betty Henwood with a very busy junction including a change to the advertised programme. Don't you dare not come back precisely at 2:48pm. [Play Clip]


	And back in the afternoon

					1968 Brian Trueman opens up Granada in the North after that phrase is spoken by Don Murray Henderson. 'GIN' was quite an innovative approach with news and presentation from London and Manchester in co-operation with ITN, here in the shape of Gordon Honeycombe. It really was billed in listings to last the whole length of transmissions. [Play Clip]


	Children's programmes
	No special continuity in the 1960s as the regular announcers were expected to be qualified for everything.

					6 August 1968 Sheila Kennedy might be excused not knowing that Tingha and Tucker were really koalas although she like Keith Martin should know them from the Sunday broadcast. However, they would be unfamiliar to many around the country seeing them on the 1968 national emergency service. Robert Harbin as The Sooty Show guest fixes the date. [Play Clip]


	To the news
	Once more the principle remains the same today. Station ident, maybe a quick trail of the programme after the news, and then ITN. The tone varies so much though and the build-up used to be much less dramatic than today.

					1968 Linda Lee sounds almost apologetic that you are watching Teledu Cymru. [Play Clip]


	Programme voiceovers
	Announcers often turned into barkers, introducing programmes or their hosts over the theme music. Done either to sneak their local voices onto the network, or to take advantage of them being on the staff and therefore not entitled to a special fee.


	The simple
	This is... You're watching... Identifying the station. What could be more standard than this. And more timeless - unless there is a time-check of course.

					1999 Something fairly recent. [Play Clip]


	The bizarre

					1968 David Hamilton creates a surreal image to sell the TV Times. Very precise lead up to a Rediffusion ident, itself a rarity on ABC. [Play Clip]


	Weather, the epilogue and goodbye for tonight
	Quite a standard way of bringing a station to a close, although some such as Granada never went in for a religious or patriotic version.

					1970 Simple introduction by Betty Henwood of the epilogue. [Play Clip]