The ITV network map from 1978

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

One thing I am still a bit fuzzy about, more so than transmitter overlaps and atmospherically bounced signals, is: how did the BBC in say Newcastle differ from say what was on the air in St. Albans, or way up in Glasgow? I've seen how some BBC programs were/are made by BBC Cymru/Wales and BBC Scotland... do they all get shown U.K.-wide by the beeb?

Apart from regional news, Inside Out, and the regional segment of Sunday Politics, there wouldn't be any difference between Newcastle-upon-Tyne and St Albans - the former would be served by Look North (a different news programme to what serves most of Yorkshire, and also Lincolnshire and Humberside), and the latter would almost be served by London, (although Look East might be also available to residents in that area as well). However, Scotland has its own continuity and extra programmes, usually after the Ten O'clock News in addition to Reporting Scotland. I have Sky Digital and so therefore I can receive all he different BBC 1 regions.

A lot of programmes made by BBC Wales are seen on BBC 1 and BBC 2 are seen within Wales, while Welsh language programmes are seen on S4C - a Wales only, Welsh language television channel seen in lieu of Channel 4.

Were there programs made that weren't necessarily regional but shown only in one, or some areas by the BBC but not others, just as with ITV? I'm sorry if it seems funny to be more ignorant about the big licensed provider more than the old regional ITV.

Not all programmes are shown regionally are not necessarily about the area in question - in the 1970s and 1980s, a lot of imported series were shown regionally on ITV as it was not made by one of the ITV companies and so the scheduling had a "no overall control" in the schedules. On ITV, a programme on a national issue could be seen regionally, while on BBC 1 a regional themed programme could be seen nationally.

I have some published material about the histories of Granada, ATV/Central, and Tyne Tees... and some about the entire ITV system, I think the one I found out about for Yorkshire is a bit pricey as an out of print book or I'd have that as well. The one on Granada has a lot on the various franchise changes and amalgamations though. I know the least about Border, Grampian, and Scottish.

Each ITV company is different and has a different way of doing things - this has got to do with several factors: A) The size of the company - small companies made fewer programmes for the network as they had limited resources; B) The area of the company - London, the Midlands and the North West have a higher population and so it generates greater advertising revenue, hence more programmes on the network, and also the fact that the south is more lucrative than the north; and C) the different attitudes that each company has - when Granada started up in the mid 1950s, they were a company which specified in cinemas and leisure, and television was just one arm of its empire, similar to Rediffusion and ABC.

[beccabear67]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

I wanted to add that I see opt outs are mentioned, and it sounds like there were London made BBC programs not shown by BBC Cymru/Wales at all, correct? And if I have got anything confused please correct me.

[beccabear67]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

Thank you all for your memories about this, I've been really fascinated learning about the ITV region system and how it used to operate. It's so cool to have various points of views from viewers back then! One thing I am still a bit fuzzy about, more so than transmitter overlaps and atmospherically bounced signals, is: how did the BBC in say Newcastle differ from say what was on the air in St. Albans, or way up in Glasgow? I've seen how some BBC programs were/are made by BBC Cymru/Wales and BBC Scotland... do they all get shown U.K.-wide by the beeb? Were there programs made that weren't necessarily regional but shown only in one, or some areas by the BBC but not others, just as with ITV? I'm sorry if it seems funny to be more ignorant about the big licensed provider more than the old regional ITV.

I have some published material about the histories of Granada, ATV/Central, and Tyne Tees... and some about the entire ITV system, I think the one I found out about for Yorkshire is a bit pricey as an out of print book or I'd have that as well. The one on Granada has a lot on the various franchise changes and amalgamations though. I know the least about Border, Grampian, and Scottish.

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

In 1982 we moved from Swaffham to Felixstowe (Suffolk). I remember one of the first things I did, after enthusiastically setting up the aforementioned CB, was to check the TV reception, and in addition to the intended Anglia TV, we received TVS (which had recently taken over from Southern), broadcasting from Dover and a really strong signal, all the time. And to my utter delight, I was able to pick-up Thames and LWT, albeit quite grainy.

TVS had taken over the Bluebell Hill transmitter from the London region at the start of 1982 so prior to that Thames and LWT's reception would have been a bit better in parts of Kent - I know that Southern refused to show a networked film which was seen in London during its final week on air, but TVS transmitted it in lieu of Southern when they started, and so therefore Bluebell Hill viewers got to see the same film twice in a week.

I am almost certain that one Thursday night in the mid 1990s I was manually tuning the living room TV for the sake of it and saw a very grainy signal from the other side of the North Sea which I never saw again - the odd thing was that the aerial in the roof was pointing to Waltham - one would have assumed that if it had pointed towards Belmont it would have had a better chance of that sort of thing happening. Around the same time we used to get Anglia, London ITV and even Meridian signals for a few minutes due to atmospheric interference - I correctly assumed that it would happen to the TV as earlier on in the day I found radio stations from Norfolk, London and Kent on my radio for an hour or so - one of the drivetime presenters on the radio stations in the capital even got a call from someone in the East Midlands telling them about it! They all disappeared soon afterwards though.

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

Amazing that there was more difference between London and the South on ITV, than there was between London and Scotland on BBC 1.

How many of us who didn't live in Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Dorset, or the Isles of Scilly wondered who or what Gus Honeybun was?

[Richard1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

Where I grew up in Marple we could get grainy reception of all the Welsh channels.

BBC1 & 2 Wales tended to have more opt-outs, & HTV often had a different schedule to Granada. S4C was the most different, having lots of Welsh language programming.

[Pensky]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

Hi all, I’m reading this thread with great interest. In the early 80s, not quite in my teens, my family moved to Swaffham in Norfolk due to my dad seeking work.

Reception of ITV channels Anglia, Central and Yorkshire television, in the town, was the norm. Some of my pals received only one ITV, others had two or even all three. The great thing was that in those days, regional ITV could be vastly different from one another, and carried a lot of different programmes.

And I used to enjoy watching the different regional news programmes/sports and adverts. In the early 80s, in a mind numbingly boring little town in Norfolk, this was about my only window into a wider UK/world (apart from my CB radio).

And yes, even today in North Norfolk, e.g Kings Lynn, the reception of Yorkshire (instead of Anglia), is I think still the norm. I believe that’s down to historical TV transmitter reasons from Belmont, lots out there on that so I won’t bore you today.

In 1982 we moved from Swaffham to Felixstowe (Suffolk). I remember one of the first things I did, after enthusiastically setting up the aforementioned CB, was to check the TV reception, and in addition to the intended Anglia TV, we received TVS (which had recently taken over from Southern), broadcasting from Dover and a really strong signal, all the time. And to my utter delight, I was able to pick-up Thames and LWT, albeit quite grainy.

All through the 80s and into the mid-2000s, on high atmospheric days, Felixstowe could receive analogue TV signals from Belgium, Holland and Germany, but their sound frequencies were different, so although we got clear pictures, sound reception was a problem.

Very rarely we picked up Danish TV and American Forces TV from Germany. We also regularly received French TV, but that just looked a scrambled mess because their broadcasts were SECAM, not PAL. Eventually around the mid-80s, my dad was interested enough (in DX reception) and bought a 360deg aerial rotator and a multi standard TV, happy days, simpler times.

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

The UK Free TV website used to be great when it came to different regions and transmitters although it doesn't seem to do that anymore.

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

I briefly stayed in King's Lynn only last year to see something at the Corn Exchange there, (had my work cut out getting a taxi to the hotel), and on the Premier Inn room TV, Look North (Lincolnshire and Humberside) and Calendar were the regional news programmes on BBC 1 and ITV, although local radio-wise, it was BBC Radio Norfolk on 104.4 MHz FM (I once picked up via atmospheric conditions on that frequency back in 1994), and no sign of BBC Radio Lincolnshire. Pre-1974, Anglia would have been available in King's Lynn, as it would have been over the Humber in Hull and Bridlington. I was disappointed that Slough was too close to London to get anything but BBC London News, being the first town heading west after leaving the M25.

I used to spend money buying different aerials for my bedroom set so that I could pick up both Central and Yorkshire in the days of regional programmes other than news and adverts. It was pure escapism seeing Mike "TV-am" Morris on screen telling us about things in Sheffield or Leeds, rather than seeing Dominic Heale going on about who had been murdered in Nottingham or Leicester.

I am looking forward to see whether South Today or Spotlight will be on my Premier Inn room TV on BBC 1 at 6.30 pm weekdays when I get to Bournemouth.

[Richard1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

I used to go on holiday most years to Wells Next The Sea in North Norfolk where it was easier to pick up Yorkshire television, especially with the aerial installed on my Gran's caravan.

[80sChav]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

The picture is obviously too small for me to see properly, but it looks fascinating - indeed, I thought one of the many reasons why Thames and LWT were dominant on the network was because of the straight-forward, uncomplicated way of transmitting things nationally from London.

The map is not to scale of course and looks rather like one of those British Rail route maps.

Here, here George, but it's an amazing insight and a great piece of Geography non-the-less

I can just make out Leeds on the right hand side for Lincolnshire - which was then South humberside as well as Lincolnshire after it was Lincolnshire as a "whole County". It is amazing to think though that it's rue that the Leeds Region spread right down over "The wash" just into Kings Lynn - that is nearer Norwich and questionably in the South of England, pending on people's view-point!

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

Actually, it was just a few weeks ago rather than a few years ago, but my point is taken.

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

Don't worry about it Arran - I tried to put a picture of my own on here a few years ago which had a lot of detail on it, and it was small that I said that one actually needed a microscope in order to view it! I started a thread about the problem about Picture Sizes in the Members' Lounge which had passed most people by.

[Arran]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

The original I have is bigger but the forum software wouldn't show it full size.

[George 1978]

Re: The ITV network map from 1978

The picture is obviously too small for me to see properly, but it looks fascinating - indeed, I thought one of the many reasons why Thames and LWT were dominant on the network was because of the straight-forward, uncomplicated way of transmitting things nationally from London.

The map is not to scale of course and looks rather like one of those British Rail route maps.