Couldn't they have just come back on air anytime they wanted?
That would require switching the transmitters on again. The BBC actually switched its transmitters off on BBC1 overnight in those days, rather than leaving them transmitting with no programmes / pages from Ceefax.
Did they show TV pictures from the US? (2 Telstar satellites were already launched).
And did ITV / BBC stay on air all night?
The BBC had a system called Cablefilm by which each frame was transmitted by cable and then reassembled at the London end into a film. The BBC broadcast first pictures at 11.31 pm that night according to the official history of BBC News. ITV did not have such a system and had to wait until the following day for film flown from the US.Incidentally the US networks did not broadcast any commercials for six days following the president's death.Here's how CBS viewers saw it and the famous announcement of Kennedy's death by Walter Cronkite.
That would require switching the transmitters on again. The BBC actually switched its transmitters off on BBC1 overnight in those days, rather than leaving them transmitting with no programmes / pages from Ceefax.
Even before the whole network operated unattended, the UHF transmitters would switch themselves on.
Even before the whole network operated unattended, the UHF transmitters would switch themselves on.
Well yes, as soon as they detected sync pulses and a VBI ident, on they came, but switching them back on as an unscheduled event in the middle of the night would have only initially gained viewers who had been watching 'snow' i.e. just a handful of future DS posters then ? :-)
Well yes, as soon as they detected sync pulses and a VBI ident, on they came, but switching them back on as an unscheduled event in the middle of the night would have only initially gained viewers who had been watching 'snow' i.e. just a handful of future DS posters then ? :-)
Actually all the TV shops that used to leave the sets in the window switched on all night.
Plus there wasn't a DS back in 1997, the interweb was still relatively new, social media was in its infancy.
The internet did exist but it was mainly the preserve of geeks and academics rather than home users. It started to become more mainstream in 1998/1999. Social media didn't exist at all (unless the chatrooms of old count). Didn't DS forums launch in 2000?
I remember that. I had just finished my Leaving Cert exams (Ireland's equivalent of A-Levels) and I was flopped on the sofa watching CNBC. I was watching US Closing Bell. I was just watching it and then the news flash popped up. My dad was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner and he came into the living room with a dishcloth in his hand and wondered what was going on and he was in shock when I told him Tim Russert died. I was shocked as well.
Yes, but it wouldn't have been too hard to alert the regions at that point because a lot of the overnight output was networked and most regions were taking the same programmes, continuity and adverts - Carlton/LWT ran an ITV-branded service which most of the major regions took (Granada and Central certainly did), the United stations (Meridian, Anglia and HTV) all joined up (I think the Chart Show clip is from one of those), and I think at that point only STV and Yorkshire/Tyne Tees were doing their own thing - so the bonus of the news breaking overnight is that they only had to alert four or five different regions, not all of them.
one of my friends told me at the time that they were watching Cybernet which was a gaming show shown on the ITV network at that time in the STV region, the programme went to a break and then to the ITV News Report where it never returned to Cybernet as I expect it was a bit later and more of the story was unraveling to the journalists. I never noticed the news myself until the next day watching GMTV as I had gone to my bed before the crash was reported
Well yes, as soon as they detected sync pulses and a VBI ident, on they came, but switching them back on as an unscheduled event in the middle of the night would have only initially gained viewers who had been watching 'snow' i.e. just a handful of future DS posters then ? :-)
Or people who heard the news on the radio and switched the TV on to see if any further information. With an event like that many would be rung up by friends to be told.
The internet did exist but it was mainly the preserve of geeks and academics rather than home users. It started to become more mainstream in 1998/1999. Social media didn't exist at all (unless the chatrooms of old count). Didn't DS forums launch in 2000?
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BBS's and other methods of exchanging information existed many years before the Internet.
The BBC had a relatively limited web presence at the time of Diana's death, at least as far as news was concerned. This was the special news website the BBC set up at the time:
Regarding ITV and overnight news coverage, ITN did have a regular bulletins throughout the night during ITV nightime programming. Tim Wilcox was a regular presenter:
Or people who heard the news on the radio and switched the TV on to see if any further information. With an event like that many would be rung up by friends to be told.
VBI ident? Field syncs and tone.
What sort of friend would it be that rings you up at 3am to tell you about the death of a stranger !! I think you also grossly over estimate the number of viewers watching overnight TV, or even awake at night
The BBC added a VBI ident (with regional coding) primarly to inhibit RBS switch overs during regional opts, and also as extra resiliance against hijacking
What sort of friend would it be that rings you up at 3am to tell you about the death of a stranger !! I think you also grossly over estimate the number of viewers watching overnight TV, or even awake at night
The BBC added a VBI ident (with regional coding) primarly to inhibit RBS switch overs during regional opts, and also as extra resiliance against hijacking
Perhaps one who has just dropped you at your home then heard the news on his car radio. I was just giving an example of how news can be passed on. But I bet some people were rung up by friends during the night.
Perhaps one who has just dropped you at your home then heard the news on his car radio. I was just giving an example of how news can be passed on. But I bet some people were rung up by friends during the night.
Well, if you say so then !
Having said that, when the BBC launched News 24 six months later, they used it as an overnight sustaining service for BBC 1 (as it continues to today of course), so I suspect
the Beeb saw the value of keeping BBC 1 'alive' 24/7, and the Diana event may well have played a part in that decision. (It was quite expensive to run a national analogue TV transmitter network, but not having the equipment cooling down, and heating back up once per day, might have reduced corrective maintenance costs ? )
Actually all the TV shops that used to leave the sets in the window switched on all night.
No they didn't !!! there are things called timeswitches, that usually switched the TV sets off after about 10pm. If you owned a TV shop, you'd be happy to consume 200-300 watts per TV, just to display snow overnight, to just a couple of passers by, drunks, and the homeless ?
The internet did exist but it was mainly the preserve of geeks and academics rather than home users. It started to become more mainstream in 1998/1999. Social media didn't exist at all (unless the chatrooms of old count).
Usenet is over 20 years old, and is still going, though youngsters think it's called Google Groups !
Having said that, when the BBC launched News 24 six months later, they used it as an overnight sustaining service for BBC 1 (as it continues to today of course), so I suspect
the Beeb saw the value of keeping BBC 1 'alive' 24/7, and the Diana event may well have played a part in that decision.
News 24 had already been planned and announced before Diana's death. Though you may be correct in saying the decision to fill BBC1 overnights with it after Diana's death.
News 24 had already been planned and announced before Diana's death. Though you may be correct in saying the decision to fill BBC1 overnights with it after Diana's death.
That was the only thing I was suggesting. In fact a colleague of mine was involved with building the News 24 facility, which was in full swing the day Diana died, he says it did lead to a rethink about the set design in the weeks afterwards , the original design didn't allow for a 'sombre' enough setting, should it have been used for a Diana-like situation.
BBS's and other methods of exchanging information existed many years before the Internet.
Yes but they weren't really mainstream. As far as I know BBSs were mainly used by hobbyists and geeks and probably not used by most of the public, but I could be wrong as I don't know a lot about them. The Web as we know it now only really became mainstream in the late 90s.
Comments
That would require switching the transmitters on again. The BBC actually switched its transmitters off on BBC1 overnight in those days, rather than leaving them transmitting with no programmes / pages from Ceefax.
The BBC had a system called Cablefilm by which each frame was transmitted by cable and then reassembled at the London end into a film. The BBC broadcast first pictures at 11.31 pm that night according to the official history of BBC News. ITV did not have such a system and had to wait until the following day for film flown from the US.Incidentally the US networks did not broadcast any commercials for six days following the president's death.Here's how CBS viewers saw it and the famous announcement of Kennedy's death by Walter Cronkite.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PXORQE5-CY
Local NBC station in New York interrupts programming to report 9/11:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58TpAXMk2bI
Even before the whole network operated unattended, the UHF transmitters would switch themselves on.
Well yes, as soon as they detected sync pulses and a VBI ident, on they came, but switching them back on as an unscheduled event in the middle of the night would have only initially gained viewers who had been watching 'snow' i.e. just a handful of future DS posters then ? :-)
Actually all the TV shops that used to leave the sets in the window switched on all night.
The internet did exist but it was mainly the preserve of geeks and academics rather than home users. It started to become more mainstream in 1998/1999. Social media didn't exist at all (unless the chatrooms of old count). Didn't DS forums launch in 2000?
I remember that. I had just finished my Leaving Cert exams (Ireland's equivalent of A-Levels) and I was flopped on the sofa watching CNBC. I was watching US Closing Bell. I was just watching it and then the news flash popped up. My dad was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner and he came into the living room with a dishcloth in his hand and wondered what was going on and he was in shock when I told him Tim Russert died. I was shocked as well.
one of my friends told me at the time that they were watching Cybernet which was a gaming show shown on the ITV network at that time in the STV region, the programme went to a break and then to the ITV News Report where it never returned to Cybernet as I expect it was a bit later and more of the story was unraveling to the journalists. I never noticed the news myself until the next day watching GMTV as I had gone to my bed before the crash was reported
Or people who heard the news on the radio and switched the TV on to see if any further information. With an event like that many would be rung up by friends to be told.
VBI ident? Field syncs and tone.
BBS's and other methods of exchanging information existed many years before the Internet.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/politics97/diana/
Regarding ITV and overnight news coverage, ITN did have a regular bulletins throughout the night during ITV nightime programming. Tim Wilcox was a regular presenter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cft03us7f98
What sort of friend would it be that rings you up at 3am to tell you about the death of a stranger !! I think you also grossly over estimate the number of viewers watching overnight TV, or even awake at night
The BBC added a VBI ident (with regional coding) primarly to inhibit RBS switch overs during regional opts, and also as extra resiliance against hijacking
Perhaps one who has just dropped you at your home then heard the news on his car radio. I was just giving an example of how news can be passed on. But I bet some people were rung up by friends during the night.
Well, if you say so then !
Having said that, when the BBC launched News 24 six months later, they used it as an overnight sustaining service for BBC 1 (as it continues to today of course), so I suspect
the Beeb saw the value of keeping BBC 1 'alive' 24/7, and the Diana event may well have played a part in that decision. (It was quite expensive to run a national analogue TV transmitter network, but not having the equipment cooling down, and heating back up once per day, might have reduced corrective maintenance costs ? )
No they didn't !!! there are things called timeswitches, that usually switched the TV sets off after about 10pm. If you owned a TV shop, you'd be happy to consume 200-300 watts per TV, just to display snow overnight, to just a couple of passers by, drunks, and the homeless ?
In the 70s, TV sets were a major fire hazard too.
Usenet is over 20 years old, and is still going, though youngsters think it's called Google Groups !
News 24 had already been planned and announced before Diana's death. Though you may be correct in saying the decision to fill BBC1 overnights with it after Diana's death.
That was the only thing I was suggesting. In fact a colleague of mine was involved with building the News 24 facility, which was in full swing the day Diana died, he says it did lead to a rethink about the set design in the weeks afterwards , the original design didn't allow for a 'sombre' enough setting, should it have been used for a Diana-like situation.
Yes but they weren't really mainstream. As far as I know BBSs were mainly used by hobbyists and geeks and probably not used by most of the public, but I could be wrong as I don't know a lot about them. The Web as we know it now only really became mainstream in the late 90s.
6 months from what as News 24 launch was about 2 months after Diana's death.
So it was, Nov 9th 1997, apologies for not having a perfect memory for events 17 years ago