ABC Midlands Archives - THIS IS ALPHA from Transdiffusion

ABC programmes and personalities – 1

Behind the Scenes — Thu, 01 Sep 1960 21:10:55 +0000

The only television programme in Britain to be devoted to the literary world is “The Bookman”, A.B.C.’s weekly programme about books and the authors who write them. The first ‘Bookman programme was produced at Aston over two years ago. A recent visitor to the programme was the Russian author Vladimir Nabokov seen here discussing his controversial book ‘Lolita’ with producer Guy Verney.

John Edmunds voted recently by a Sunday newspaper as the most popular male announcer on television. John is A.B.C. Television’s resident announcer in Birmingham every weekend and apart from normal announcing duties he has taken part in many programmes seen on the national network. John’s specially tailored ‘uniform’ is of lovat green shade, with bottle green lapels and tie, and a stone coloured shirt. These colours have been specially blended to suit the critical eye of the television camera which dislikes black and white in direct contrast.

“Sunday Break” the world’s first religious television programme designed for teenagers has been acclaimed by the Church and by the world press. “Sunday Break” devised by A.B.C. was first produced at the Alpha Television Studios and this picture shows a corner of the club room set up in the studio.

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ABC programmes and personalities – 2

Behind the Scenes — Thu, 01 Sep 1960 21:00:33 +0000

The light blue vans of A.B.C’s Outside Broadcast Unit are a familiar sight in the Midlands. From the Leofric Hotel in Coventry, A.B.C. have presented several programmes. McDonald Hobley is seen introducing ‘Bid for Fame’ from the hotel ballroom.

Consistently the most popular play on television is produced each Sunday in A.B.C. Television’s Armchair Theatre Series. Anthony Quayle, Dorothy Tutin and Neil McCollum rehearse a scene from “The Scent of Fear” produced recently.

Saturday night at 6.30 is the time when “Boy Meets Girls”, and all over Britain popular music fans tune in to see Marty Wilde, The Vernons Girls and the cream of the recording stars in A.B.C’s popular programme. “Boy Meets Girls” is the successor to “Oh Boy!”, the explosion of beat music which gathered the most loyal band of followers any programme ever had. So popular was the series that newspapers all over the country organized special trains to bring fans to the studio to watch the programme in production. This has never happened to any other television programme either before or since.

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ABC programmes and personalities – 3

Behind the Scenes — Thu, 01 Sep 1960 20:50:47 +0000

“Love or Money”, A.B.C. Television’s current quiz programme is produced in Studio A.

Franklin Engelmann and the A.B.C.-TV. Outside Broadcast Unit introduce ‘The Other Man’s Farm’. ‘The Other Man’s Farm’ is the only farming programme in the world to be produced as a live outside broadcast. Here, Franklin Engelmann and Jim Hall interview Mr. Dixon who farms at Grange Farm, Mears Ashby, Northampton.

A.B.C. Television’s Outside Broadcast Unit is the biggest and most widely used in this country, presenting sometimes three or four different broadcasts in one day. One of the travelling camera units is here seen on the promenade at Llandudno televising an insert in ‘Holiday Town Parade’.

Many of the Sunday evening religious programmes are broadcast by A.B.C. from Aston. A recent series “The Least Read Best Seller” was introduced by Dr. William Neil (seated) and Professor Alan Richardson, both of Nottingham University. With director Ben Churchill (left) and religious programmes producer Tom Singleton, they go over the script before the broadcast.

Lights, scenery, cameras, microphones, the Geoff Love Orchestra, pianist Pepe Jaramillo, singer Janie Marden, compere Noel Harrison and studio technicians make up a composite picture of a modern television studio at work. The programme is ‘Sentimental Journey’ seen recently on A.B.C. Television.

“After Hours” — A.B.C.’s late night show was first produced in Studio D at the Alpha Studios. Benny Lee, Dick Emery, Michael Bentine and John Bentley play a light hearted skit on “African Patrol” one of A.B.C.’s filmed programmes.

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Recollections of past programmes

Behind the Scenes — Thu, 01 Sep 1960 20:40:20 +0000

A memorable programme presented by A.B.C. Television to the entire l.T.V. network was ‘Coventry Cathedral Festival of Arts’. Here, Dr. Cuthbert Bardsley, Bishop of Coventry, films a prologue to the programme in the ruins of the old Cathedral.

Studio A was turned into a shooting gallery for ‘Can Do’ in which Lonnie Donnegan showed his prowess as a marksman. Compere John Pertwee stands by to administer first aid!

A.B.C. Television often present a drama serial to the entire I.T.V. network from Aston. Sometimes it is necessary to couple studios to house the tremendous number of sets, cameras and artistes. When this is done, actors and technicians working in separate studios are ‘cut in’ on a cue from the director in the control room linking the two studios. This technique was often adopted when presenting the serial “All Aboard” recently.

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ABC Television

ITV 1963 — Thu, 01 Sep 1960 18:20:25 +0000

Midlands and North (Saturdays and Sundays)

ABC is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in the North and Midlands on Saturdays and Sundays.

1 Hanover Square, London W.1.
HYDe Park 7222
City Centre House, 30 Union Street, Birmingham 2
MIDLANDS 6083
Television House, 12 Mount Street, Manchester 2
DEANSGATE 4597


Area         ITA      Channel   Vision    Sound    Opening Date  Population ITA Homes
          Transmitter          Frequency Frequency                  000's     000's
                                 Mc/s      Mc/s

Midlands  Lichfield       8     189.75    186.25   17th Feb 1956     8,850    1,765

North     Winter Hill     9     194.75    181.25    3rd May 1956  }
          Emley Moor     10     199.7372  196.2605  3rd Nov 1956  } 12,452    3,282

Directors

Sir Philip Warter (Chairman); E G M Fletcher LL.D, MP (Deputy Chairman); Howard Thomas (Managing Director); C J Latta; R Clark, LL.B; D J Goodlatte; G A Cooper.

Officers

C J Orr, FCA (Secretary); B R Greenhead (Technical Controller); R H Norris (Advertisement Controller); B Tesler (Programme Controller); D Southwood (Northern Executive and Chief of Outside Broadcasts); E G Harris (Midlands Executive); L Shirley (Features Supervisor); R Taylor (Light Entertainment Supervisor); Penry Jones (Religious Adviser).

Staff

Total members of staff 957 (excluding Alpha Television).

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets are available for audiences at certain shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should be made to the Ticket Controller at the address of the studio from which the programme originates. The minimum age is sixteen.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artistes and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, ABC Television, Broom Road, Teddington, Middlesex.

Submission of Scripts

Present requirements are for 60-minute plays, 30-minute children’s serials and 60- or 45-minute series scripts. But programmes change, and authors should contact story editors for the appropriate category to learn of future trends before submitting outlines or scripts.

Programme Journal

TV Times publishes separate editions for the North and Midlands areas giving details of the available programmes.

Studios

DIDSBURY STUDIO CENTRE, Manchester (Didsbury 8181). Winter Hill and Emley Moor transmitters receive their weekend programmes via the ABC master control rooms at Didsbury. Here too is based the Outside Broadcast fleet. The main studio has a stage area of 5,000 sq. ft. and has seating for an audience of 600. The second studio has an area of approximately 1,000 sq. ft., and there is a presentation studio attached to the dual master control rooms, plus an announcer’s booth for sound only.

BIRMINGHAM. Alpha Television Studios, Aston, Birmingham (Aston Cross 3091), are jointly owned by ABC and Associated TeleVision Limited. There are three studios of 3,000, 1,200 and 380 sq. ft., and master control and technical areas which were housed in a new building during 1962.

TEDDINGTON STUDIO CENTRE, Broom Road, Teddington (Teddington Lock 3252). This modern studio centre has been established close to London, where the main body of artistes is available. It specialises in the recording of drama, light entertainment and feature programmes. Studio 1 has an area of 7,500 sq. ft.; Studio 2, 4,750 sq. ft.; and Studio 3, 2,500 sq. ft. The technical equipment covers an area of 8,000 sq. ft. and is fully multi-standard with immediate switching between 405, 525 and 625 line standards. The new central block, opened in 1962, has in addition 13,000 sq. ft. of rehearsal rooms, an acoustically treated recording studio of 1,700 sq. ft., and scenery assembly and handling facilities.

Outside Broadcast Units

ABC have three Outside Broadcast units based at Didsbury, all with 4½” cameras and a smaller vidicon unit. In addition, the mobile videotape recorder can be equipped with one or two cameras, there being a total of twelve available between the units, There are seven microwave link units with portable power generators, and a hydraulic platform tower truck.

Videotape Recording

There are two machines based at Didsbury, together with the mobile unit. At Teddington there are four standards-switchable transistorised recorders together with standards converter equipment. At Alpha Studios, Birmingham, there are two machines.

Colour Television

One of the flying spot telecine channels at Teddington is equipped for the generation of colour signals, and programmes from Teddington have been experimentally radiated by the Croydon transmitter. In addition, numerous public demonstrations have been given over the GPO network, notably those using the continental SECAM system.

Technical Developments

A considerable amount of apparatus was specially developed for the Teddington Studio Centre in order to achieve full multi-standard operation. All this newly developed equipment is transistorised, and, in particular, vision switching matrices and pulse and vision distribution amplifiers have been used in considerable numbers.

ABC Television’s Teddington Studios

Programmes

ABC productions include: News and News Magazines: ABC At Large. Talks, Discussions and Documentaries: The Other Man’s Farm, The Bookman. The Arts: Tempo. Science and Natural History: You’d Never Believe It! Religion: The Sunday Break, Living Your Life, Journey of a Lifetime, Sunday Morning Service, Epilogues. Adult Education: Headway. Sport: extensive outside broadcast coverage of all sporting events, including such minority sports as tenpin bowling, motor cycle scrambles, indoor soccer and amateur boxing. Children’s Programmes: Once Upon A Time. Drama Programmes: Armchair Theatre, The Avengers, Dimension of Fear (four-part thriller serial), Secret Beneath the Sea (six-part children’s serial), Ocean Liner series (untitled). Variety, Light Entertainment and Music: Thank Your Lucky Stars, Sing Along, The Best of Friends, Comedy Bandbox, Candid Camera, The Dave King Show, Life and Al Read. Entertainment Films: several film series produced in collaboration with ABC include The Human Jungle, Sir Francis Drake. Dramatised Documentaries: The Sword in the Web.

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More ABC…

Transdiffusion Broadcasting System — Thu, 01 Sep 1960 17:40:22 +0000

⧉ Visit 'ABC at Large', our website devoted to ABC, your weekend TV in the North and Midlands 1956-1968

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