Wales (West and North) – Teledu Cymru

West and North Wales

itv1963part3 27
The Production Control Room in WWN’s Studios

Wales (West and North) Television Limited is the company which, under agreement with the Independent Television Authority, provides the television programmes in West and North Wales during the whole week.


comp-wales

Wales Television Centre, Western Avenue, Cardiff.
CARDIFF 72364
33 Cathedral Road, Cardiff.
CARDIFF 37557
1 Great Cumberland Place, London W.1.
AMBassador 7700

 


    ITA         Channel   Vision     Sound    Opening Date   Population ITA Homes
Transmitter             Frequency  Frequency                    000's      000's
                           Mc/s       Mc/s
Presely            8     189.75675  186.27    14th Sept 1962  }          }   74
Arfon             10     199.74725  196.2605  9th  Nov. 1962  }  1,043   }   
Moel-y-Parc       11     204.75675  201.27    28th Jan. 1963  }              --

Directors

B Hayden Williams, PHD (Chairman); Colonel Cennydd G Traherne, TD, MA, KStJ, JP (Vice Chairman); The Hon Islwyn Davies, JP; S Kenneth Davies, CBE; TI Ellis, MA; Gwynfor Evans, MA, LL.B; Lady Olwen E Carey Evans; Moses Griffith, MSc; Alderman Llewelyn Heycock, CBE, JP; Tom Jones, OBE, JP; Sir David Hughes Parry, QC, MA, LL.D, DCL; Thomas Parry, MA, DLitt, FBA; Emrys Roberts, MBE, MA, LL.B; Eric L Thomas, LL.B, JP; William Thomas, CB, MA, DSc, PhD; David Tudor, MBE, JP; Peter O Williams, CBE, FCA; Sir Thomas Parry-Williams, MA, DLitt, PhD, Hon LL.D; Colonel John Williams-Wynne, DSO, MA, JP.

Officers

Nathan Hughes (General Manager); Ernest Byrne (Executive Producer); Havard Gregory (Senior Producer); Mansel Pugh (Secretary); Daniel Rees (Chief Engineer); Harry Sivell (Public Relations); Philip Thomas (Sales Director); JR Williams (Head of News); Macdonald Martin (Head of Film); Michael Glynn (Production Executive); John Treharne (Head of Presentation).

Staff

Total members of staff 138.

Visits to Studios

Applications should be made in writing to the Public Relations Manager.

Enquiries

Enquiries about artistes and programmes should be addressed to the Public Relations Department.

Submission of Scripts

Programme subject matter and scripts in the Welsh language should be submitted to the Senior Producer; all other scripts to the Executive Producer.

Programme Journal

Two programme journals are published weekly, one in the English language (Wales TV) and one in the Welsh language (Teledu Cymru), by a subsidiary company, Wales (West and North) Publications Limited.

Studios

The main studio (Studio A) is 2,400 sq. ft. and there is provision for an identical studio (Studio B) to be built alongside. Studios A and B can be used separately or as one large studio. The total floor area of the first phase which has been built is 22,000 sq. ft. and adjoining Studios A and B is a property store and technical store of 4,800 sq. ft. The control rooms are located above the property store and overlook the studios. The Studios are equipped with image orthicon cameras, telecine machines, Ampex V.T.R. machines and a caption scanner. The master control switching equipment was specially designed for Wales (West and North) Television Limited.

Programmes

Welsh and English language news bulletins; weekly English language sports programme, Welsh Sportlight; weekly Welsh language sports programme, Cip a’r Chwarae; a discussion programme, Impact, featuring controversial aspects of Welsh life and Welsh current affairs; Meet the Editor introduces the editors of local Welsh newspapers; Meet the Politician gives an insight into the lives and beliefs of prominent Welsh politicians; Heno I’r Plant, a Welsh language programme for children, featuring Welsh-speaking cartoon characters and an inter-school quiz; two weekly Welsh language magazine programmes, Golwg ar Gymru – one introduces interesting people and celebrates various anniversaries on alternate weeks and each week gives handy hints; the other explores various areas in Wales and subjects of particular Welsh interest. The Company has also produced a number of feature programmes on the Welsh Guards, Meet the Guards, Christmas Greetings from the Guards in Germany; and special programmes on Swansea and on Santa Claus. Each night Moment for Melody features well-known singers and gives amateur singers their opportunity. Popular network programmes are shown and certain schools programmes. In 1963 the Company is transmitting a monthly religious programme and introduces a new English programme on current Welsh affairs.

Local news

Wales (West and North) Television newsroom covers the whole of Wales and deals with all news items that have a specific impact on Wales as a nation. News and films and interviews are presented daily in both languages – Welsh and English. All members of the news staff are bilingual and copy is taken on the copy lines in whatever language the correspondent cares to send the news. The weather is also presented in Welsh and English.

West and North Wales

WWN

  • PRESELY
  • Population within measured contours: Primary 0.091 mn, Secondary 0.134 mn, Fringe 0.356 mn. Total 0.581 mn.
  • Channel: Band III Channel 8 (horizontally polarised)
  • Vision Carrier Frequency: Nominal 189.75 Mc/s. Actual 189.75675 Mc/s
  • Sound Carrier Frequency: Nominal 186.25 Mc/s. Actual 186.27 Mc/s
  • Effective Radiated Power: Vision 100 kw maximum. Sound 25 kw maximum.
  • Power of Transmitters: Vision (peak white) 5 kW. Sound (carrier) 1.25 kW
  • Heights above sea level: Site 1,100 ft. Mean aerial 1,835 ft.
  • Location: 4° 39′ 35″ W, 51° 56′ 30″ N.
  • ARFON
  • Population within measured contours: Primary 0.83 mn, Secondary 0.033 mn, Fringe 0.027 mn. Total 0.143 mn.
  • Channel: Band III Channel 10 (horizontally polarised)
  • Vision Carrier Frequency: Nominal 199.75 Mc/s. Actual 199.74725 Mc/s
  • Sound Carrier Frequency: Nominal 196.25 Mc/s. Actual 196.2605 Mc/s
  • Effective Radiated Power: Vision 10 kw maximum. Sound 2.5 kw maximum.
  • Power of Transmitters: Vision (peak white) 2 x 0.5 kW. Sound (carrier) 2 x 0.125 kW
  • Heights above sea level: Site 950 ft. Mean aerial 1,925 ft.
  • Location: 4° 16′ 10″ W, 53° 1′ 10″ N.
  • MOEL-Y-PARC
  • Population within measured contours: Primary 0.132 mn, Secondary 0.145 mn, Fringe 0.057 mn. Total 0.334 mn.
  • Channel: Band III Channel 11 (vertically polarised)
  • Vision Carrier Frequency: Nominal 204.75 Mc/s. Actual 204.75675 Mc/s
  • Sound Carrier Frequency: Nominal 201.25 Mc/s. Actual 201.27 Mc/s
  • Effective Radiated Power: Vision 25 kw maximum. Sound 6.25 kw maximum.
  • Power of Transmitters: Vision (peak white) 2 x 0.5 kW. Sound (carrier) 2 x 0.125 kW
  • Heights above sea level: Site 1,115 ft. Mean aerial 1,815 ft.
  • Location: 3° 18′ 48″ W, 53° 13′ 15″ N.

Presely (Channel 8), Arfon (Channel 10), and Moel-y-Parc (Channel 11)

Company: Wales (West and North) Television

This group of stations was planned to bring Independent Television programmes to the Welsh-speaking populations of West and North Wales, including the area bordering on Cheshire which contains the towns of Denbigh, Mold and Wrexham. The populated areas are mainly along the west coast from Pembroke to Anglesey, and on the north coast from Conway and Llandudno to Prestatyn.

The technical problem was unusually complicated. It has been solved by the establishment of three stations, one on the Prescelly mountains in Pembrokeshire, one on the Lleyn Peninsula, and one on the Clwydian Range of mountains in the Flint-Denbigh area. This plan departed considerably from an earlier one based on sites previously selected for BBC Band I stations.

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Presely

A site for the Presely station was found at Foel Drych 1,100 ft. above sea level, where a 770 ft. mast was sufficient to give the required coverage, although the radiation pattern of the transmitting aerial had to be extremely complicated. A narrow beam radiating 8o kW to the north was required to ensure a reliable programme link to the Arfon relay station. A beam of 100 kW to the south-east, in the direction of Carmarthen and Llanelly, was necessary to ensure that the service area of Presely joined that of St. Hilary; and a broad lobe of 5o kW to the south-west was needed to serve Pembrokeshire. At the same time severe power restrictions had to be incorporated in several directions to avoid co-channel interference in the service areas of the ITA’s transmitters at Strabane, Burnhope and Lichfield, the Kilkenny station of the Irish Republic, and the French stations serving the coast of Brittany. Intensive development was necessary to construct an aerial with this complicated radiation pattern.

The unattended Arfon station, which rebroadcasts the Presely transmissions, is at Bryn-ychain, ten miles south of Caernarvon, 950 ft. above sea level. A 1,ooo ft. mast was used to “see” over the mountains of Portmadoc to the coast of Cardigan Bay from Harlech to Barmouth, and to ensure the link with the service area of Presely. A directional aerial was again necessary. 10 kW is radiated to the north and south-west, 5 kW to the east and south-east, and 2.5 kW to the west.

The third station is at Moel-y-Parc, a peak in the Clwydian Range 1,100 ft. above sea level, and serves the North Wales area. A 750 ft. mast was found adequate to reach the coastal resins from Conway to Prestatyn, which are shielded by mountains close to the coast. The radiation pattern of the transmitting aerial is approximately semicircular, 25 kW being radiated from south-east to north-west with reduced power to the north and east. This was necessary to cover the Welsh areas but to avoid overlap with English areas already served by Winter Hill. Moel-y-Parc rebroadcasts the transmissions from the Arfon station, conveyed to it by an off the air pick-up at Nebo, in Anglesey, followed by a microwave link.

All three stations for the west and north of the Principality were in programme service by early 1963.