Another "Doctor who" headline. Could be more careful ...

Stuck for Christmas presents? Give your children a cheque book said Lloyds.

It’s a very happy #DoctorWhoDay from us - we’re delighted to announce we’ve successfully acquired the archive of Whoniverse legend Terrance Dicks 😲 Read more at the link: www.york.ac.uk/borthwick/ne...

Worth reading through all this ...

Comcast holds talks about acquiring ITV’s television business on.ft.com/4oUhmNs

With Dick Van Dyke nearing 100, maybe the BBC will one day clear up the Scunthorpe problem they have with his name in their programme index. (It is the Dyke part of his name that's the problem rather than the Dick if that matters.)

This article, probably understandably, omits the role of David Grugeon of the Socialist Education Association & the National Extension College as a moving force in this experiment. There were some additional closed-circuit lectures mounted that week as well as the broadcast ones.

As a contrast early ITV stockpiled film drama before it started through a scarcity of multi-camera studios for making it live. They apologised promising they'd make more studio stuff as soon as they could. That was what TV was thought to be - a performance. Even tape recording didn't change that.

As shown here the notional coverage area of BBCtv Holme Moss 2V was vast. However, particularly in summer the effective area could become very much less, down to no more than 30 miles arising in the main from Sporadic E interference. Band III relays helped later from Winter Hill & Belmont.

Aerial photography. One really heavy pigeon doing all the damage.

BBC News currently showing what looks like an interesting report, but the subtitles are underneath the banner for most of it. Does anyone from the control room keep an eye on what *actually* goes out?

The 2000 crowd that turned up for the opening would have known Sid James but not many would be familiar with Tesco as this store in Leicester was the first outside of the Hone Counties.

Network Three & later the Music Programme were in part BBC defences against a perceived threat that as the Third Programme only occupied a few hours at night the frequencies could always be removed at least during daytime & used for a commercial station. The money for these extra services was scant.

Wow & flutter off the scale supposedly. Lots of non standard tape recorders in the 1950s as manufacturers did their own thing without considering people might want to pass tapes to others. Even Grundig with their earlier models

They'd managed to invent the world's first variable polarisation transmitter. Often vertical to the west and horizontal to the east but not always. The replacement was a more conventional design. The later UHF antenna was also non standard, being panels low down to the sides of the mast but worked.

If you see this, post a TV ident

This predates adopting the "switch over" concept of BBC(1) & ITV to UHF. Adorian was never in favour of a national UHF network because of the cost of 1000+ stations. His solution was to wait for satellite instead, which he thought would be viable by 1980.

Pretty much the only readily seen consequence of the otherwise ghostly 1974 franchise extensions. Belmont had always carried BBC North as its VHF function for them was effectively a fill-in for Holme Moss particularly in areas affected by interference in the summer.

#OnThisDay 21 July 1961 Adverts in the press announce: BORDER TV IS COMING! Bringing you top shows like . . . "weekly drama" Emergency Ward 10 and "domestic comedy" #CoronationStreet. Get ready to switch to Border TV!

We’re pleased to announce that we will be publishing the first full-length biography of prolific Doctor Who writer and script editor Terrance Dicks, written by Simon Guerrier with the cooperation of Terrance’s family. Written by Terrance Dicks is provisionally scheduled for publication in 2026.

ABC Weekend TV didn't do much children's output, but what they did do – including The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, Snip and Snap, and Emerald Soup – are in our new book! Back it now on Indiegogo for delivery in September! --> www.indiegogo.com/projects/loo...

Aerial photography. Most obvious a double-5 Band III array used for fringe area reception of Croydon. An early UHF aerial for Oxford, maybe 50+ years still in service & in the middle a horizontal dipole for the old Band I Ch2 Oxford relay. Many survivors of these around, next door had one as well.

95% of the way there with our 2nd 2025 Transdiffusion Print project! So, there's the 180-page A5 bookazine digesting the ITA/IBA yearbooks 1963-88 on ITV for children (~£10 inc p&p) and the PLUS PACK (~£20 inc the book) of reprints. [1/4]

Coming soon from Transdiffusion Print! A 180+page softback book digesting all the ITA/IBA yearbooks' coverage of ITV programmes for children 1963-88. Plus! Stickers! Ephemera reprints! A bookmark that's also a fridge magnet somehow! Stay tuned!

Aerial photography. A collection observed in Reading. Four UHF pointed towards Hannington of various vintages plus one for Crystal Palace. Band II for London FM. Plus a Band III relic for Croydon.

The British Government had a poor track record of cluttering up what were broadcasting frequencies elsewhere with other "official" users. This was done in Band III as well as Band II. The former delayed the potential expansion of ITV as for some years only 3 channels were cleared.

Aerial photography. Size isn't everything. Short yagis were often used in the early UHF days in areas of good reception. This dinky Group C/D one is on a thick pole which probably originally held a much more hefty VHF array. Recent channel changes have made some of these no longer adequate.

Back to aerial photography, from the roof of a chip shop. Two Oxford UHF aerials on an old pole with a redundant "1 and 7", the Band I dipole for Crystal Palace & the Band III yagi for Croydon.

Some historical curiosities in the radio listings: "Test Match Special" listed as its own Service not Network 3. Rediffusion Channel B being Net3 sport only + foreign selections. Cable not carrying the evening Third Programme was criticised by the Pilkington Committee. Luxembourg more profitable!

One of my great uncles supposedly received BBCtv in the 1950s using an old garden fork mounted in the loft. Why is a mystery lost to time (and it may have only been a story) but I suppose it was kind of half an "H".

"Edward the Seventh" has various dancing scenes spread over the 60 years covered by the series. These utilise the same troupe of extras who don't age at all.

Gavin is going to be on In Tune on Radio 3 this afternoon talking to Petroc Trelawny about The Next Programme Follows Shortly. No pressure, like. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

The ITA tied itself in knots by creating "Yorkshire" as a 'major' region when it struggled to earn enough on revenue & could never practically from the already planned transmitter locations fully cover its namesake area without disadvantaging others.

This largely reflects the relatively cosy early weekday networking practice. Lew and Sidney might have some playful banter but it was largely a game, & A-R were collegiate. Weekends Lew and Howard were much more combative sometimes agreeing only to differ.

There is a subtlety here that it doesn't explicitly claim that "The Life & Times of Lord Mountbatten" was a Thames Production (it was Rediffusion Television) but gives that impression.

The orchestral version of "Swirly" is worth the album price on its own!

Ross McWhirter only knew about the programme from exaggerated & inaccurate reports in the press of a preview screening. Denning was wrong in particular in his belief that the IBA hadn't seen it. In reality they had & afterwards suggested some changes.

By pure chance I watched the last few Johnny Carson Tonight Shows on AFN in South Korea. Much of the content of these I found impenetrable as it required too much back history to appreciate. The penultimate show with Robin Williams & Bette Midler cut through all that.

The international success of early ATV wasn't all about Lew Grade. If Lew was the show, Robert Renwick was the business.

The process of selecting a new Pope. It's your vote that counts. If you can't spell Pedro el Dotto just write "the Spanish one" and we'll know who you mean.

Equity's claim was based on the argument they had settled for low figures previously when ITV was in an uncertain even perilous financial state. This was far from the case in 1961 in the 'printing money' era, with ITV covering more of the country. Still 260% appears to be a large rise.

There may not have been that many miners in early 1950s London, but there were already plenty of industrial workers with TVs to offset "Mayfair". Interesting though that the supposed non regional heightened RP accent if Mitchell was being confused with regional accents of Southern England.

Me in the national security team group chat

A-R took on the London area when the expectation was that it would face a directly competing commercial channel by 1958. Here it is arguing for it to be cemented into a commercial monopoly, at least Monday to Friday.

Aerial photography. A comprehensive selection here. TV aerials for Oxford, Hannington, and Crystal Palace, plus a somewhat worse for wear Band II aerial for London. Pole a bit off vertical.

The reference to less networking in 1966 reflects the ongoing tussle between the ITA & the companies. For the post 1964 franchises the ITA tried to broker a more common schedule but ultimately there were weak to no enforcement powers for this.

Set top conversion boxes for single channel TVs from £7/19/6. The picture quality from these weren't great in general.

One other information film showed frequently on TV was "Granny Gets The Point" featuring Doris Hare. Decimalisation & more general metrication was claimed to free up six months of primary education by not needing to teach mixed radix arithmetic any longer. youtu.be/cKheCtXXr0c?...

Rediffusion found it fairly cheap & easy to wire up council housing: they would usually be allowed to string cables in the air from house to house. In private housing areas burial was often the only option. This ducting route is now used by Virgin Media who have replaced some but not all the covers.