General TV History

It was an hour show. And they did live updates at 1, 2, 3 and 4am too! :slight_smile: That show - and the reason I was a huge fan as a young kid - featured segments that were simply not seen anywhere else… the ITN World News at about 5:10am and segments from CNN overnight around 5:30. Also, yes, I loved everything from ITN - the presenters, the graphics, the themes.

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The overnight updates - which I ALSO used to watch as a 10-year-old!!! - were incredibly immediate and cool. Here are a couple of mine:



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The sync break was out of the hands of the broadcasters, because it was British Telecom who would switch the input to the transmitters (which were owned by the IBA, not the licensee). When Thames lost the franchise to Carlton, Carlton broadcast from the same Pres control room as LWT in the Southbank studios, so the transmitter switch no longer needed to occur. However, at 5:40 on a Friday evening, the Carlton Pres. staff, including the continuity announcer, would get up and walk out, and the LWT staff would walk in and take over.

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Yes… Carlton’s takeover of the London weekday franchise also saw the arrival of a Carlton/LWT joint venture; the London News Network (LNN) which produced, amongst other programs, a seven days a week local news service for London.

LNN was also given responsibility for transmission across the seven days which eliminated the physical switch each week at handover time.

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More taped by yours truly.

The ITV package at this time was stunningly classy - this is the 80s, believe it or not! And, I loved News at 1.

Thames News theme was hilariously odd. Thank you to whoever composed this package. It’s kind of a gift. Still remember watching Thames News in the kitchen after school (and I always thought there was something vaguely Eastern-bloc looking about that newscast).

ITN on the weekend of the Hillsborough Disaster. Palpable emotion on set. Sue Carpenter anchors (all ITN anchors at the time were amazing).

LWT 21 ad - stylish little ad (not what you might expect from the 80s), and ITN’s weekend intro - did anyone say iconic?

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I got a vague memory when I was a kid, that the ITN news was on about 5am in the morning on Channel 7 in Melbourne in the Early 90’s. The theme used to scare the crap out of me.

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Used to be on Channel 9 before the Today show :wink:

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This was the first incarnation - I didn’t see this one. By the way, the Morning News (not this show) started in 1988:

I remember this version:

I always found this intro kind of amazing:


Like I said, it used to air at about 5:10. I guess, as an ITN fanboy, I loved that they aired the World News intro within another program:

You might know the answer to this @jens because I’m not sure of the reasons/sequence of events that led to the creation of ITN World News.

From what I’ve heard it was a commercial product created by ITN for either Super Channel and/or as an inflight bulletin for various airlines. I’m not sure which came first or if that was the reason af all.

Once in production it was available for other broadcasters to use, ie the nine network in Australia as it was already being distributed on satellite for airlines to record around the world.

And of course ITV/ITN made good use of it in the UK as part of the morning news.

Or this could all be complete rubbish :grinning:

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Nine News Perth Montage 20/6/2009:

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All of that is correct, KnowItAll - except I never heard it was used by airlines. I also recorded it at my Maltese grandparents’ house as a kid - my grandfather was like the first person in Malta to have a VCR!

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National Nine News Perth Afternoon Newsbreaks 10/5/1996:


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SES8 also used the theme, as shown here in the opening of a Decade in Review special, helmed by Geoff Sly:

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Thanks for that. I’ve always wondered why SES8 kept the little 8 watermark even after it was taken over and rebranded as WIN.

What has happend to Jeff Sly after the whole Win News going to the Wollonggong

I see Wes Cusworth comes up to near where I live as a MC.

http://slymedia.com.au

Running his own media business it seems.

Channel Nine Perth - Video Copy Commercial:

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Back when TV stations broadcast from the tally room on election night

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Back when there was a tally room on election night!

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“Our 40-year history” VHSs didn’t come into Australia until 1982 (thanks to Roadshow Entertainment) but DVDs came pretty quick, so this might be wrong.