Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 04/10/2026In 1958 the weekend choice for a non major. ITV company was to either follow ATV or ABC or do your own thing. 132
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 01/10/2026I came across a VHS recording of an early Granada Good Life programme. A half-hour tasting and appraisal of supermarket mince pies. A mainstay of newspaper features leading up to Christmas, it didn't really work on TV. Lots of dead air while they were being eaten. 121
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 29/09/2026The Light Programme schedule here would have been very much recognisable ten years earlier in the 1950s in outline if not exact details. Stable or stagnant? 102
Reposted by Jeremy RogersTRANSDIFFUSI⭕️N @transdiffusion.org · 28/09/2026The crowdfunder begins! Our massive ATV book can be yours in November for just £25! #ATVShowBook --> transdiffusion.org/atv-show-book/ 21010
Reposted by Jeremy RogersDave Jeffery @kecskebak.bsky.social · 28/08/2026A few words about Rory... www.kecskebak.hu?p=778kecskebak.huWe don’t see edges do we Nancy?Rory Clark 1968-2024 I never met Rory in person. I spoke to him regularly on the phone, indeed sometimes I even spoke to his lovely Mum on the phone. However a phone friendship with Rory was richer th... 6179
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 03/08/2026"Much of the Midlands ... had to rely on the long wave for Light Programme reception." — that was the design. The Light on MW was intentionally mainly fill-in in areas where LW was poor. Especially an issue in Scotland, which at the start of R1 left R2 with just fading LW & VHF in limited areas. 022
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Blankety Blank is an odd case here. Making so few of them for a prime time series will have inflated the unit cost, despite retaining risible prizes, compared with a production line daytime version. 072
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 28/07/2026Want to find recently shown films on BBC channels easily via the iPlayer? Seems now you can't. 032
Reposted by Jeremy RogersDave Jeffery @kecskebak.bsky.social · 24/07/2026A boring blog post to look at, and there's a font you can download if you feel like it. www.kecskebak.hu?p=552 Many thanks to @aswiseman.bsky.social for the inspiration and the source material. #inkscape #fontforgekecskebak.huProspero of the great globe itself – Stupid Rubbish 2117
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 09/07/2026I had a conversation that went this way more than once: Me: "Do you take cards?" "Yes, we take all cards apart from Amex" Me: " Great, here's my Diners Club card". "Er ..." Diners Club were an extra magnitude of uselessness. So useful when where I worked chose to have it as their corporate card. 120
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Features as a department was very wide-ranging then. Pretty much anything that wasn't entertainment or drama. Even encompassing news at ABC. 011
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 22/05/2026The breadth of Judith Chalmers' broadcasting career is hard to understate, ranging from acting on Children's Hour & alongside the likes of Jimmy Clitheroe, Morecambe & Wise, Ken Dodd, & Michael Bentine, to being the long term fashion correspondent at Royal Ascot. 0117
Reposted by Jeremy RogersTRANSDIFFUSI⭕️N @transdiffusion.org · 22/05/2026There are NINE booklets, brochures and newspapers in our £25 print offer, including this reprint of TWW's 20-page arty booklet from October 1966 about their expansion works at Pontcanna. Buy here transdiffusion.org/studios-of-i... for delivery in July! 033
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 28/04/2026The interesting point for me is the likes of York & parts of North Yorkshire are shown as covered by Emley Moor. In later maps this was downgraded as "supplementary" & the official transmitter was Bilsdale. In reality EM was generally used in N Yorks if at all possible with Bilsdale as last resort. 211
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 24/04/2026Recovering all the right episodes but not necessarily in the right order. 052
Reposted by Jeremy RogersTRANSDIFFUSI⭕️N @transdiffusion.org · 20/04/2026Desmond Morris, producer/presenter of Granada's Zoo Time, Thames' The Human Race and the BBC's The Human Animal, has died at 98. 064
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 03/04/2026I hope there is more attention put on the characters' accents this time around as in the 1980s version only one actor got anywhere near close. Hartlepool is apparently masquerading for Leicester though. 000
Reposted by Jeremy RogersPaul Hayes @paul-hayes.bsky.social · 02/04/2026I've written a piece for the History of the BBC website, to tie-in with my new BBC Sounds documentary about Flight into Danger. I also *think* that international and non-signed-in UK listeners *should* be able to listen to the version of the doc embedded here - fingers crossed!bbc.co.ukImporting successA long tradition of bringing the best international drama to British viewers began on the BBC 70 years ago. Writer and broadcaster Paul Hayes explores one of the first major drama 22316
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 26/03/2026In the shadows to the right is the chart device Laurie West is usually credited to have invented for showing the progression in the day's weather. Consists a series of three-side metal bars with a bit of map on each face which he could turn round as he delivered the forecast. 052
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 25/03/2026A curiosity. In the few images over the years I have seen of Laurie West by a chart, the barometer needle seems always to be in the same place despite the depicted weather pattern being quite difficult. Maybe it needed a tap. 022
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 12/03/2026Not a historic observation but this shows up what a rotten site Waltham is for the basis of an East Midlands (sub-)region. Supplementary coverage area bigger than the main yet missing most of Derby & in practice at least a fifth of Leicester. Not a thought of this possibility at this time of course. 201
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 09/03/2026Cyril Fletcher started out appearing on pre-war TV in numerous revue comedies & finished up presenting gardening programmes for Central & Channel. 010
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 03/03/2026Another example of the UHF coverage looking like a shrunken balloon of the VHF one. In practice the usable UHF area was somewhat greater, eg covering much of Reading. Plus the VHF area at the edges here would typically have required monster aerials (at least double 5s). 011
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 25/02/2026ATV & TWW were the only contractors to advocate commercial competition in their Pilkington evidence. For ATV there was the prospect of more outlets for their production side. For TWW it was more a matter of principle for Lord Derby it's chairman. 002
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 17/02/2026Note that the UHF area for Anglia is somewhat less further west than VHF. The sometimes expressed idea that this encroached into former North / Yorkshire areas is thus incorrect. Belmont was not attached in 1966 to the Northern region unlike the BBC probably because it would make it too large. 033
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 16/02/2026The ITA's chairmanship was a "retirement" job for Herbert Bowden in the gift of Harold Wilson. He'd turned down an offer to be BBC chairman & Charles Hill was moved sideways to achieve this. Sadly 1969 would be a poor year for ITV; extra costs from colour conversion & less ad income. 002
Reposted by Jeremy RogersPhil Norman @mrphilnorman.bsky.social · 12/02/20261982: Dr Linda Barrett and the other one, Carol Thingy, dust off their CVs. 03015
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 27/01/2026Bit late for the anniversary but never mind. An oldie but goodie. 072
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 03/12/2025Another "Doctor who" headline. Could be more careful ... 020
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 30/11/2025Stuck for Christmas presents? Give your children a cheque book said Lloyds. 020
Reposted by Jeremy RogersBorthwick Institute for Archives @uoyborthwick.bsky.social · 23/11/2025It’s a very happy #DoctorWhoDay from us - we’re delighted to announce we’ve successfully acquired the archive of Whoniverse legend Terrance Dicks 😲 Read more at the link: www.york.ac.uk/borthwick/ne... 927480
Reposted by Jeremy RogersFinancial Times @financialtimes.com · 06/11/2025Comcast holds talks about acquiring ITV’s television business on.ft.com/4oUhmNson.ft.comComcast holds talks about acquiring ITV’s television businessUS media giant sees potential to create a leading streaming service in the UK 71711
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 25/10/2025With Dick Van Dyke nearing 100, maybe the BBC will one day clear up the Scunthorpe problem they have with his name in their programme index. (It is the Dyke part of his name that's the problem rather than the Dick if that matters.) 1246
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 20/10/2025This article, probably understandably, omits the role of David Grugeon of the Socialist Education Association & the National Extension College as a moving force in this experiment. There were some additional closed-circuit lectures mounted that week as well as the broadcast ones. 132
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 12/10/2025As a contrast early ITV stockpiled film drama before it started through a scarcity of multi-camera studios for making it live. They apologised promising they'd make more studio stuff as soon as they could. That was what TV was thought to be - a performance. Even tape recording didn't change that. 180
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 12/10/2025As shown here the notional coverage area of BBCtv Holme Moss 2V was vast. However, particularly in summer the effective area could become very much less, down to no more than 30 miles arising in the main from Sporadic E interference. Band III relays helped later from Winter Hill & Belmont. 032
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 08/10/2025Aerial photography. One really heavy pigeon doing all the damage. 041
Reposted by Jeremy RogersAlex Andreou @sturdyalex.bsky.social · 08/10/2025BBC News currently showing what looks like an interesting report, but the subtitles are underneath the banner for most of it. Does anyone from the control room keep an eye on what *actually* goes out? 5778
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 08/10/2025The 2000 crowd that turned up for the opening would have known Sid James but not many would be familiar with Tesco as this store in Leicester was the first outside of the Hone Counties. 021
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 30/09/2025Network Three & later the Music Programme were in part BBC defences against a perceived threat that as the Third Programme only occupied a few hours at night the frequencies could always be removed at least during daytime & used for a commercial station. The money for these extra services was scant. 021
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 16/09/2025Wow & flutter off the scale supposedly. Lots of non standard tape recorders in the 1950s as manufacturers did their own thing without considering people might want to pass tapes to others. Even Grundig with their earlier models 031
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 31/08/2025They'd managed to invent the world's first variable polarisation transmitter. Often vertical to the west and horizontal to the east but not always. The replacement was a more conventional design. The later UHF antenna was also non standard, being panels low down to the sides of the mast but worked. 051
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 04/08/2025This predates adopting the "switch over" concept of BBC(1) & ITV to UHF. Adorian was never in favour of a national UHF network because of the cost of 1000+ stations. His solution was to wait for satellite instead, which he thought would be viable by 1980. 044
Jeremy Rogers @jezmrogers.bsky.social · 29/07/2025Pretty much the only readily seen consequence of the otherwise ghostly 1974 franchise extensions. Belmont had always carried BBC North as its VHF function for them was effectively a fill-in for Holme Moss particularly in areas affected by interference in the summer. 223
Reposted by Jeremy RogersDid You See? @tvdidyousee.bsky.social · 21/07/2025#OnThisDay 21 July 1961 Adverts in the press announce: BORDER TV IS COMING! Bringing you top shows like . . . "weekly drama" Emergency Ward 10 and "domestic comedy" #CoronationStreet. Get ready to switch to Border TV! 0137
