Chillerton Down Archives - ITV 1963 | Transdiffusion presentation

Central Southern and South East-England

Southern Television focuses on R.M.S. Queen Elizabeth

Southern Television Limited is a private company, whose shareholders are the Rank Organisation Limited (37½ per cent), Associated Newspapers Limited (37½ percent) and D.C. Thomson Limited (25 per cent). The company provides the Independent Television programmes for the Central-Southern area and the South-East area of England.

The Southern Television Centre, Northam, Southampton.
SOUTHAMPTON 28582/9
Glen House, Stag Place, Victoria, London S.W.1.
VICtoria 4404
Dover Studios, Russell Street, Dover
DOVER 2200/1


Area                  ITA      Channel   Vision     Sound    Opening Date   Population ITA Homes
                  Transmitter          Frequency  Frequency                    000's      000's
                                          Mc/s       Mc/s
Central Southern  Chillerton Down 11    204.75     201.25    30th Aug 1958  }
                                                                            }   4,269      836
South-East        Dover           10    199.7135   196.1985  31st Jan 1960  }

Directors

John H Davis (Chairman); RA Redhead (Vice Chairman); CD Wilson, MC (Managing Director); The Rt Hon Lord Cornwallis of Linton, KBE, MC; GR Dowson; Donald Geddes; The Hon VHE Harmsworth; BG Henry (Sales Director); Sir Robert Perkins; R Rich (Controller of Programmes); BH Thomson. TD; DB Thomson; WH Thomson; Sir David Webster; K Winckles, MBE.

Officers

Berkeley Smith (Assistant Controller of Programmes); AF Jackman (Head of Programme Planning); LV Barnett (Publicity Manager); J Miell (General Sales Manager); GHY Grant, FCA (Secretary); RC Foord (Manager, Southampton); VG Hawkeswood (Chief Engineer).

Religious Advisers

The Venerable Michael Peck, Archdeacon of Portsmouth; The Reverend D Allen Smith, BSc; The Reverend Father G Dwyer.

Education Officer

FC Cross

Enquiries

Enquiries about artistes and programmes should be addressed to Viewers’ Correspondence, The Southern Television Centre, Northam, Southampton.

Programme Journal

TV Times publishes a Southern edition giving full details of the available programmes.

Educational Research

With the co-operation of Hampshire County Education Authority, Southern Television is sponsoring a three-year research programme in the use of closed-circuit television in schools, which started at the beginning of 1962. This controlled experiment is designed to investigate the further possibilities of employing closed-circuit television as an integral part of the normal work of a school and has been registered with the National Foundation for Educational Research as a project in educational research.

At the present time the experiment is confined to the Warblington County Secondary School at Havant but it is anticipated that it will eventually be extended to include another County Secondary School and possibly a Grammar School in the Havant area. The findings from this experiment will be announced from time to time.

Studios

THE SOUTHERN TELEVISION CENTRE, Northam, Southampton (Southampton 28582/9). Among the most up-to-date television centres in Britain, the three studios it houses are fully equipped and have a total working floor area of 3,830 sq. ft., comprising Studio A, 3,000 sq. ft.; Studio B, 660 sq. ft.; Studio C (News), 170 sq. ft. The total floor area for all technical facilities is 6,584 sq. ft. The technical areas associated directly with the three studios total 800 sq. ft. A separate building houses the outside broadcast vehicles, together with technical workshops and stores occupying 6,500 sq. ft. Master Control with its associated presentation studio covers 750 sq. ft. There are videotape recording facilities from two static Ampex VR 1,00 A machines and telecine facilities from four Cintel Flying Spot, multiplexed 35/16mm. machines, three with additional telejector facilities.

DOVER STUDIOS, Russell Street, Dover (Dover 2200/1). This studio of 1,125 sq. ft., with a control room of 457 sq. ft. and maintenance area of 225 sq. ft., is used for injecting items of direct interest to the South-East area into the existing programme structure.

Outside Broadcasts

Southern Television has a four-camera outside broadcast unit, comprising a mobile control room, tender, generator and mobile videotape recorder, together with three microwave-link vehicles.

Film Facilities

Two fully-equipped 16-mm. sound-film units, together with processing, editing and dubbing facilities.

Large-Screen Television

Southern Television has available equipment for cinema-screen-size projected television. This is available for hire by outside organisations. Enquiries should be made to the Chief Engineer.

Programmes

The programmes originated by Southern Television place great emphasis upon regional activities and events and are designed to appeal specifically to the people of the region which the company serves. Regular productions include: News and Current Affairs: Central Southern News and South-East News; Day by Day; Regional weather forecast service. Discussions and Documentaries: Background; Farm in the South; Come Gardening; Out of Town; Soldiers of the Queen. Variety and Light Entertainment: Beat Your Neighbour; Home Grown; Their Kind of Music. Children: Full Marks; What Do I See?. Religion: The Living Word; regular contributions to the networked Sunday Morning Services. Drama: Thirty Minute Theatre. Outside Broadcasts: regular coverage of topical and sporting events for the region and the ITV network, including some of the above programmes which are staged in towns throughout the region.

Local News Coverage

Regional news bulletins are transmitted every week-night at 6.05p.m. Separate simultaneous bulletins are broadcast for the Central Southern area over the ITA transmitter at Chillerton Down (I.O.W.) and for the South-East area over the Church Hougham (Dover) transmitter.

More than 150 news correspondents and film cameramen, as well as sound film units based at the Southampton and Dover studios, supply the newsroom and Day by Day team with film and news stories daily from all parts of the region.

Every evening, following the regional news, a staff meteorological office presents the weather forecast for the region. He prepares his material in co-operation with the Air Ministry Meteorological Office.

Chillerton Down (Channel 11) and Dover (Channel 10)

Chillerton Down was the first of the two stations built to serve the south and south-east coastal areas of Britain. It was designed to cover central southern England, the important agricultural and holiday area along the coast from Weymouth in the west to Brighton in the east, together with the great ports of Southampton and Portsmouth and, inland, the county of Hampshire and adjoining parts of Dorset and Wiltshire. A BBC Band I station existed at Rowridge, on the Isle of Wight. In conformity with the Government’s policy the Authority decided if possible to build its Band III station close to Rowridge. The site selected was on Chillerton Down, 550 ft. above sea level on the south side of the island. Opposition to a second television mast on the island was raised on grounds of amenity. However, the alternative of building at Rowridge a more massive and commanding tower to carry both the ITA and BBC television services and the BBC’s VHF sound services proved even less welcome, and the Authority’s proposal to use Chillerton Down for a slim 750 ft. mast was accepted.

Chillerton Down

The transmitting aerial has a semicircular power-radiation pattern, oriented to direct 100 kW in both directions along the coast as well as landwards, but radiating very low power across the English Channel to prevent interference with the services of Radiodiffusion-Télévision Francaise. Chillerton Down went into service on 30th August 1958 and serves the intended area well.

The sister station at Dover presented unusual problems. The general requirement was to serve the south-east corner of England not covered by Chillerton Down or Croydon. The site of the station was determined by the need to serve Folkestone and Dover, which lie at sea level under high cliffs. The solution was to build the station on the high cliff road linking the two towns. Church Hougham, 450 feet above sea level, was used and from a 750 ft. mast a signal could be directed into both towns. At the same time the station had to link up with the service area of Chillerton Down beyond Eastbourne, 5o miles west along the coast. 100 kW was sufficient to provide an adequate service for Eastbourne and the intermediate coastal towns, and there were no inhibiting power restrictions. Northward, to serve the towns on the Thames estuary not covered by Croydon, 10 kW to 20 kW e.r.p. was adequate. However, viewers in France had to be protected from interference to their reception of the signal from the Rouen station. Calculations showed that Dover must restrict its power to less than 1 kW over an arc of 90° towards the French Coast. It was no mean task to construct a transmitting aerial to do this, and at the same time to radiate 100 kW westward. Test transmissions were made for many weeks, during which the Authority’s engineers developed a measuring technique, using a helicopter, to check the the radiation pattern of the transmitting aerial. This difficult operation accomplished, Dover went into service on full power on 31st January 1960.

Tag: Chillerton Down

Southern Television