Croydon Archives - ITV 1963 | Transdiffusion presentation

Associated-Rediffusion

London (Weekdays)

The cast and production crew for a drama production in Studio 5

Associated-Rediffusion Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in London from Monday to Friday.

Television House, Kingsway, London W.C.2.
HOLborn 7888
Norfolk House, Smallbrook Ringway, Birmingham 5.
MIDLAND 9151/2
Peter House, Oxford Street, Manchester 1.
CENTRAL 9867/8


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

Croydon         9    194.75675   191.266   22nd Sep 1955   12,910      3,023

Directors

John Spencer Wills, M.Inst.T. (Chairman); Sir Edwin S Herbert, KBE (Deputy Chairman); P Adorian, FCGI, MIEE (Managing Director); The RT Hon The Viscount Colville of Culross; JB Rickatson-Hatt; Sir Bracewell Smith, Bt, KCVO, LL.D, BSc.

Management

General Manager: TM Brownrigg, CBE, DSO, RN (Rtd). principal officers: John McMillan (Controller of Programmes); Guy Paine (Controller of Advertisements); AW Groocock, FCIS (Secretary); CF Elms (Business Manager); Brian Begg (Publicity Controller); JT Davey, FCA (Chief Accountant); executives: Five Assistant Controllers of Programmes: Ray Dicks (Production and Programme Services); Cyril Francis (Planning); Guthrie Moir (Religious, Education, Features, Children); GCF Whitaker (Technical Operations); Milton Shulman (Film Acquisition, Special Assignments).

Religious Advisory Panel

Rev. Austen Williams; Father Michael Hollings Rev. Derrick Greeves.

Education Advisory Council

Chairman: Sir Ifor Evans, D.Lit., Provost, university College, London.

Schools Liaison Officer

John Mackay.

Submission of Scripts

Material required: 60- or 90-minute plays, written for the medium and suitable for “live” production, are in constant demand. Shorter plays, fantasy, costume pieces and plays with a sordid or distasteful theme are not required.

Completed dialogue scripts should be submitted and we cannot give consideration to synopses and/or treatments unless from writers whose work we already know. Requirements for series and serials, light entertainment material, children’s and feature programmes vary considerably from time to time and a preliminary letter is advised. There is little requirement for panel games and quizzes. Address drama scripts and related correspondence to the Head of Drama. Other material and correspondence to Script Services Section. Leaflet outlining requirements available on request.

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets are available to the public for admission to Light Entertainment and Quiz Shows performed at Wembley Studios. Application should be made in writing to the programme concerned, care of the Ticket Office. For example: “Take Your Pick”, Ticket Office, Associated-Rediffusion Limited, Television House, Kingsway, W.C.2. The minimum age is 15 years.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artistes and programmes should be addressed to Miss Eileen Sands at Television House.

Programme Journal

TV Times publishes a London edition giving weekly details of the available programmes.

Studios

WEMBLEY STUDIOS, Wembley Park, Middlesex (WEM 8811). Senior Engineer: George Sherman. Studio 1: 80′ × 55′ (4,400 sq. ft.); Studio 2: 80′ × 41′ (3,280 sq. ft.); Studio 4: 74′ × 42′ (3,108 sq. ft.); Studio 5: 140′ × 100′ (14,000 sq. ft.); Studio 5a: 100′ × 67′ (6,700 sq. ft.); Studio 5b 100′ × 67′ (6,700 sq. ft.). Technical Facilities 4,928 sq. ft.; Maintenance Workshops 12,152 sq. ft.; Restaurant 2,826 sq. ft.; Property Store 7,488 sq. ft.; Scenery Bay 6,912 sq. ft.; Dressing Room and Make-up 7,000 sq. ft.; Car Park 12,800 sq. ft.; VTR: 4 Ampex Machines; Telecine: 1 RCA Vidicon; 1 Cintel Flying Spot; 2 EMI Flying Spot.

TELEVISION HOUSE STUDIOS. Studio 7: 33′ × 24′ (702 sq. ft.); Studio 8: 38′ × 25′ (950 sq. ft.); Studio 9: 64′ × 40′ (2,416 sq. ft.); Studio 10: 26′ × 12′ (312 sq. ft.). Master Control 900 sq. ft.; Maintenance Workshop 1,150 sq. ft.; VTR 2 Ampex machines, 320 sq. ft.; T/C, 2 Cintel, 1 RCA Vidicon, 1 EMI Flying Spot, 1,150 sq. ft.; Six Rehearsal Rooms 7,500 sq. ft.; Three Projector Theatres; Fifteen Film Cutting Rooms; 1 Dubbing Theatre.

Outside Broadcasts

Associated-Rediffusion has three mobile control rooms each with four cameras.

Programmes

Drama: regular contributions to Television Playhouse and Play of the Week; No Hiding Place; Tales of Mystery; Boyd QC; It Happened Like This; Crane; Somerset Maugham Hour; When the Kissing Had to Stop; Electra. Features: This Week; Decision; Here and Now; Collector’s Piece; Challenge to the Editor; Looking Abroad With Brian Connell; Insight; Bridgehead; The ABC of Democracy; Birth; Watch on the Mekong; Article 237; and the Intertel exchange programmes. Light Entertainment: Dickie Henderson Show; Double Your Money; Take Your Pick; Close Up; Hippodrome; Kingsley Amis Goes Pop; Dan Farson Meets… Schools: The World Around Us; Notre Ville; Story Box; Romeo and Juliet; Science and Understanding; Theatres and Temples (The Greeks). Children: Tuesday Rendezvous; Small Time; Badger’s Bend; Animal Care; and several plays and light musical programmes in the Summer. Religion: Epilogues; Laudes Evangelii; Black Nativity. Sport: horse-racing, football, tennis, boxing, swimming, etc. Entertainment Films: many feature films and filmed television series.

Intertel

The company was a founder member of Intertel, the International Television Federation, whose other members are the Australian Broadcasting Commission; the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation; National Educational Television and Radio Center, USA; and Westinghouse Broadcasting Co. Inc., USA. A first series of twelve television documentaries has been completed and a further series is planned. Available programmes include The Quiet War, The Heartbeat of France, Postscript to Empire, Living with a Giant, America Abroad, 40 Million Shoes, Unfinished Revolution.

Associated TeleVision

London (weekends); Midlands (weekdays)

The producer's view of one of A.T.V.'s studios — The producer’s view of one of A.T.V.’s studios

ATV is a public company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in London on Saturdays and Sundays and in the Midlands from Monday to Friday.

ATV House, 17 Great Cumberland Place, London W.1.
AMBassador 8040
ATV House, 150 Edmund Street, Birmingham.
BIRMINGHAM CENTRAL 5191


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

London     Croydon     9    194.75675   191.266   22nd Sep 1955   12,910     3,023
weekends

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

Directors

Sir Robert Renwick, Bt, KBE (Chairman); Norman Collins (Deputy Chairman); Lew Grade (Managing Director); Edward J Roth (Deputy Managing Director); JAL Drummond (Finance); The Earl of Bessborough; Ellis S Birk; Hugh Cudlipp, OBE; RPT Gibson; Prince Littler, CBE; Val Parnell; Charles Orr Stanley, CBE, Ll.D

Officers

JM Barham, FCA (Secretary); B Bibby (Production Facilities Controller); P Dorté, OBE (Midlands Controller); JF Gill, FCA (Group Accountant and Treasurer); M Gumpel (Director of Business Affairs); PJ Henry (Sales Director); L Lewis (Administration Controller); TC Macnamara (Technical Controller); S Mitchell (Chief Press Officer); K Rogers (Operations Controller); W Ward (Productions Controller).

Religious Advisers

The Rev. John Bebb (Roman Catholic); The Rev. Stephan Hopkinson (Anglican); The Rev. Caryl Micklem (Free Church).

Education

Sir John Materman (Chairman, Education Advisory Committee); James Cochrane Wykes (Senior Education Officer); W Hemingway (Schools Liaison Officer).

Staff

Total members of staff 1,379 (excluding ATV’s subsidiary companies). Production 622, Administration 289, Engineering 213, Sales and Research 83, Operations (presentation and films) 89, Accounts 62, Press and Public Relations 21. In addition, ATV employs some 3,300 artistes each year, as well as musicians and scriptwriters.

Visits to Studios

A limited number of tickets are available for audience shows. Applications, enclosing stamped addressed envelopes, should be made to the Ticket Office Supervisor, ATV Studios, Elstree, Borehamwood, Herts. The minimum age is sixteen.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artistes and programmes should be addressed to Viewer’s Correspondence, at ATV’s London or Midlands offices.

Submission of Scripts

Material required: 60-minute plays. These should be complete dialogue script of first form. Six- or seven-part children’s serials: completed dialogue script of first episode and detailed synopses of the remainder must be submitted. Unless Associated TeleVision has knowledge or experience of the writer’s work, no other form of submission will be considered. 30-minute situation and domestic comedies and documentaries are also in demand. There is very little demand for short plays, musicals, quiz games, panel shows, short stories and talks. All submissions should be addressed to The Script Editor.

Programme Journal

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

Studios

ELSTREE STUDIO CENTRE, Borehamwood, Herts (Elstree 6100). This 340,000 sq. ft. development is one of the most up-to-date centres of television production, studio and technical facilities. The working floor area of the studios total 31,680 sq. ft. as follows: Studio A, 80′ × 80′; Studio B, 84′ × 80′; Studio C, 116′ × 80′; Studio D 116′ × 80′. The technical facilities directly associated with these four studios total 26,736 sq. ft. Other premises include Studio Facilities (75,790 sq. ft.), Technical Facilities (20,043 sq. ft.), Transport and Workshop Facilities (40,951 sq. ft.), Administration and Rehearsal Rooms (81,500 sq. ft.) and Restaurant (16,500 sq. ft.).

WOOD GREEN TELEVISION STUDIO, Wood Green Empire, N.22. Working floor area some 4,250 sq. ft. Particularly suitable for large-audience shows with seating for 600.

FOLEY STREET (Britallian House) London W.1, containing ATV’s Master Control centre and a small studio of 814 sq. ft. used for presentation and some discussion programmes.

ALPHA TELEVISION STUDIOS, Aston, Birmingham, are owned jointly by ATV and ABC Television Ltd. There are three studios of 3,000 sq. ft., 1,200 sq. ft. and 380 sq. ft.

Technical Development

A great deal of the equipment installed in ATV’s Studios is fully transistorised. This includes pulse and vision distributing equipment employing semi-conductors throughout, and fully transistorised sound equipment. The studios are equipped for 405, 525, and 625 line standards.

Outside Broadcasts

ATV has four mobile control rooms, each with four cameras, and an additional two-camera unit. One of these control rooms is used in conjunction with a video-recording vehicle to form the International Mobile Recording Unit.

Programmes

ATV Productions include: News and News Magazines: Midlands News; Midland Montage; On the Braden Beat. Talks, Discussions and Documentaries: The Warning Voice; Dinner Party; Midland Farming; Midland Profile; special documentaries; Meeting of Minds; Forum; Look Around the Midlands. The Arts: Sir Kenneth Clark series. Science and Natural History: Threshold; It Can Happen Tomorrow; The Wonder of Man. Religion: About Religion; Church Services; Epilogues; A Box of Birds (for children). Children: drama serials; Seeing Sport; I Am Going To Be… Schools: French from France, Ici la France, Summing It Up, Auf deutsch, Chemistry for Sixth Forms. Adult Education: Mesdames, Messieurs… Plays and Drama Series: Drama ’63; regular contributions to the Play of the Week and Television Playhouse series; Emergency Ward 10; Harpers West One; Deadline Midnight; The Plane Makers. Variety, Light Entertainment and Music: Sunday Night at the London Palladium; Bruce’s Show; Startime; Arthur Haynes Show; Hancock; The Morecambe and Wise Show; Tommy Steele Show; Roy Castle Show; A Golden Hour. Entertainment Films: many TV film series produced by or in collaboration with ATV. Sport: wide sports coverage, especially on Saturday afternoons.

London

Population within predicted contours: Primary 10.52 mn, Secondary 1.72 mn, Fringe 0.67 mn. Total 12.91 mn.
Channel: Band III Channel 9 (vertically polarised)
Vision Carrier Frequency: Nominal 1974.75 Mc/s. Actual 194.75675 Mc/s
Sound Carrier Frequency: Nominal 191.25 Mc/s. Actual 191.266 Mc/s
Effective Radiated Power: Vision 400 kw. Sound 100 kw.
Power of Transmitters: Vision (peak white) 10 kW. Sound (carrier) 2½ kW
Heights above sea level: Site 375 ft. Mean aerial 825 ft.
Location: 0° 5′ 15″ W, 51° 24′ 35″ N.

Croydon (Channel 9)

Companies: Associated Rediffusion (weekdays), Associated TeleVision (weekends)

For the technical planner concerned with achieving national television coverage as economically as possible, London is the obvious point of departure. Within a radius of some forty miles from its heart live some twelve million people, almost one quarter of the total population of the United Kingdom. Topographically the London area presents no serious problem of propagation. It is relatively flat except for the North Downs some twenty-five miles to the south and the ridge of the Chiltern Hills some thirty miles to the west and north. Indeed, the difficulty is to find high ground close enough to the centre of London on which to construct a station. The choice rests between the 400 ft. ridges of Muswell Hill (Alexandra Palace) in North London and Sydenham (Crystal Palace) in South-East London.

Alexandra Palace was the BBC’s choice for their original Band I London station in 1935. Twenty years later, however, they were to move to a new station at Crystal Palace. In the interests of good planning the ITA decided to locate its first Band III station near this site, just a mile away on West Norwood Hill.

A suitable open space was found here for the construction of a small compact station which could be brought into operation with the least delay. The single 10 kW transmitter, the first Band III set constructed in this country, was a laboratory prototype and the aerial an experimental 8-stack omnidirectional vertically polarised array supported on a 200 ft. tower of virtually “stock” design. From this station on 22nd September 1955 the first programmes of Independent Television were transmitted. The effective radiated power was 60 kW (peak white vision), 15 kW (carrier sound). The potential population coverage was about 11 million people. After some months a second fully-engineered production 10 kW transmitter was installed as a standby. A little later, further equipment was installed to enable both sets of transmitters to be operated in parallel in order to double the station’s power.

It was realised that in due course the Croydon station must be given a higher tower and a new aerial system with directional characteristics tailored to give the optimum performance. Meanwhile, however, engineering effort was devoted to expanding the ITA network of stations to meet the fast-growing public demand for Independent Television programmes in other parts of the country. The completion of the BBC’s high tower at Crystal Palace allayed any fears that the mutual reflection of signals radiated from the two towers just a mile apart might be harmful to reception. Thus in February 1959 the Authority obtained Government approval to erect a higher tower and directional aerial at Croydon.

By the end of 1962 Croydon was transmitting from its slim new 500 ft. tower and radiating an effective power of about 400 kW directed to the north-west, with 5o to 100 kW e.r.p. in other directions, depending on the extent to which account had to be taken of the conflicting requirements of topography and co-channel interference with other ITA stations or with the television services of other countries. With its improved performance Croydon is bringing the programmes of Independent Television to a population of nearly 13 million in the London area, including some half a million viewers who have not before received any satisfactory ITV service.