Studio 1 at AKTV2 (Auckland)
Studio 1 - the largest television studio in NZ (until the opening of Avalon Studios in 1975). Image courtesy of the NZ Listener and the National Library of New Zealand, digitised in partnership with Are Media Limited.
It’s been 60 years since Studio 1, the largest television studio in New Zealand, was commissioned. Below is an article of that brand new studio (courtesy of the NZ Listener):
In 1960, when AKTV-2 began transmitting scheduled programmes, one of them was called Studio 2. This intended to. Everybody in Auckland interested in television knew that Studio 2 was AKTV-2’s one and only studio.
The use of the term was a survival from the days when 1YA and 1YC had exclusive use of the NZBC’s Shortland Street building and, even after television staff moved in, several studios in the building were still used for radio. Last year, however, a small studio for the use of TV announcers and newsreaders was brought into use, and last month saw the completion of Studio 1 - the largest, best equipped and most modern television studio in New Zealand.
The acquisition of Studio 1 and its conversion to the use of television has been a long, complex and costly process. From the first it was recognized as being suitable because of its size and height; but it was originally designed in 1933 for radio broadcasts and was retained for this purpose until 1964. Until the Radio Theatre in 1ZB’s Durham Street building was renovated, Studio 1 was the only one in Auckland suitable for the use of orchestras and choirs and for other large-scale radio productions.
Gradually television moved in. When the Howard Morrison Quartet was televised in a series of programmes two years ago, the studio audience watched and applauded in Studio 1 while the performers were on-camera in Studio 2 on the floor above. Closed-circuit television provided the link. And the last series of Have a Shot was televised in Studio 1 with equipment from Auckland’s mobile unit.
Other expedients were used through the years to overcome the limitations of space in Studio 2, and it was the mobile unit that made them possible. The Peter Pan cabaret was used for Dancing Time, the Tivoli Theatre for On Stage ‘64 and the Monaco Cabaret for Note for Note. Nevertheless, Studio 2 was used for some quite large-scale productions and the staff became adept at disguising its lack of space. Visitors with experience of overseas television often expressed surprise that so much was done in a studio so small. It is barely 1000 square feet.
With 2400 square feet of floor space and vastly improved facilities, Studio 1 represents a major break through for AKTV-2’s technical and productions staffs. For the first time it will be possible to consider seriously the production of adult dramas and variety shows without having to improvise. There will still be limitations, of course. The studio is new and initially it will be used for staff training. And the studio is still not large by overseas standards, where 3000 square feet is regarded as barely adequate for production work. Only one of the five studio at Lime Grove was as small as Studio 1 when the BBC took them over from Gaumont British Films in 1950, though one at 2650 square feet was only slightly larger. The biggest, however, was 9600 square feet.
Still, space is not everything, as Valentina Tereshkova said to Major Nikolayev, and viewers throughout New Zealand will be pleased if they can see better programmes produced and recorded in Studio 1 with its new and improved facilities.
For the technically-minded, the facts and figures that follow have been provided by Peter Sandlant and Steve Henderson, the engineer and supervising technician responsible for the installations and conversion work carried out in Studio 1.
DIMENSIONS
- Floor area, 60 x 40ft = 2400 sq. ft.
- Heights: to gallery deck, 20ft; to catwalk deck, 24ft 3in; to monorail scenery suspensions, 23ft, 6in.
LIGHTING
There are 30 banks of lights arranged in three rows of 10. The rows are 5ft apart. Each bank is 8ft 6in long and suspended from a motorized hoist operated from a central control panel. Sixty dimmer inputs control the amount of light in the studio. There are also outlets around the gallery and floor for cyclorama and other lights.
SCENERY HANDLING
Four monorails 23ft 6in above the floor each have four trolleys to suspend scenery. A gallery has been erected on three sides of the studio at a height of 20ft to allow scenery to be handled from the safety rail. A fixing rail for scenery has also been installed at a height of 8ft on the four walls. Another rail 18ft high has two heavy duty tracks for cycloramas, drapes and gauzes, which can be tensioned by a system of magnets and springs.
OTHER EQUIPMENT
- Three Marconi 4½in image orthicon cameras, each mounted on a Vinten spring counterbalanced pedestal.
- One Mole Richardson microphone boom.
- Sixty-channel Strand silicon controlled rectifier lighting switchboard. Memory controls allow 20 lighting sequences to be prepared for instant switching.
- Toshiba vision mixer, with special effects.
- Marconi communications unit to link control room and studio floor staffs.
- Toshiba 20-channel sound mixer, with three turntables and two audio tape recorders.
- The studio is insulated for sound, and air conditioning has been installed.
CONTROL ROOM
Latest layout featuring curved desk and complementary curved bank of eight Conrac 21in picture monitors.
