Sign in

Mr Scarymole

@scarymole.bsky.social
194 followers 341 following 524 posts

Not (very) scary and not a mole. A Londoner living in Shropshire, who puts stuff onto your telly

PostsRepliesMedia
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Indeed, one of the recommendedations the government make is to keep a battery powered radio, and spare batteries, in case of emergencies. I wonder how many people have one?
101
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
According to the comments Tyne Tees got the TVS logo too but did cut away from it after a few seconds. The promo itself is very oddly worded, I wonder if he was winging it? And at the start of the programme itself he starts by finishing chatting to someone in the audience, for a little too long
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
This sent me down a Blankety Blank YouTube rabbit hole and by coincidence this was the first episode I found youtu.be/0fE7tI58Mg8
youtu.be
Blankety Blank 1982
YouTube video by Sir Philip of Weatherhamshire
020
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I was watching some of the overnight BBC World coverage a while back, and what seems really odd now is that a while into it, they did a 'and now for some other news' at one point with a couple of unrelated stories. This I'm pretty sure was before BBC1 joined
000
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
I was lone working in a convenience shop. I'd always have the radio on on my Walkman & was listening to him. He announced that she was dead & immediately after a customer knocked on the window. I served them with shaky hands & voice I was so shocked. They must have wondered what was up with me
020
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I was still using the Adobe licenses of my wife's former employer years after she left, and it merged with another institution. Luckily it gave me a few days warning so I could export the Premiere projects I wanted to keep
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
It is a good demonstration of how much better we are at user interfaces nowadays...that is just hideous and presumably would fail at many hurdles in terms of accessibility. It just screams 90s with its purple and yellow
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
This popped up on a local Facebook group earlier - someone has set up a group for single over 50s Having made a couple of jokey comments about the name, and then visiting it... I genuinely can't work out if it's a peculiar joke, some odd fetish, or he hasn't realised
The advert is for a group called Stretched R Souls. Real people Real Ommectikns Real Possibilities
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
I'd never heard of her before listening to this episode of your podcast. What a lovely and interesting person she is... a literal joy to listen to
121
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
I thought 5+24 was a nice idea. A lot better than 4 Seven which is the same sort of idea but with random scheduling
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
At work we have some drawers containing spare parts for computers. The one containing the spare fans is labelled 'Only Fans'
150
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
For a while there was a Discovery+1.5 which was a 90 minute timeshift
100
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
It's on sky... sorry, it's *in* the sky
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
I was very pleased with this sale description on Vinted
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Yes it was what was known as the NTA: Network Transmission Area. It was the TX area for BBC1 and 2 analogue. The digital versions of the channels came from the DTA: Digital Transmission Area, but at the time this was only live in the afternoons and evenings (later that year the situation reversed)
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Once Live and Kicking had finished their item we went down to the TX area and I do remember at one point walking from the suite where the sad news was being reported to the VT room.... and having to step over the empty Mr Blobby costume in the corridor. A surreal morning 3/3
120
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
I was in for the rehearsal & saw this from Pres Control (where the presentation editors sat). There was an old VT controller on top of the desk in NC1 for Blobby to *pretend* to press, but he actually lunged towards the live mixer. There was a loud intake of breath from all the senior editors! 2/3
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
That Saturday was an interesting choice as there was an obituary rehearsal planned for the same morning. So in NC1 there was Jamie and Mr Blobby, and two doors down in the spare suite they were getting ready to pretend that the Queen Mum had died 1/3
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
No one asked them to do it, they looked at their balance books and saw they needed to cut costs
100
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
She's been at the BBC for a long time, a friend of mine worked with her in the Business Unit in 2000ish Could be worse though
040
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Bill Oddie Bill Oddie, rub your hands all over my body...
030
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 21/07/2026
It's not even a 'license fee advert' ... it doesn't mention it at all
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
This BBC promo with Romesh is loosely based on the one in the 80s with John Cleese... but I think I'm right in thinking that theres only one person who appears in both - David Jason?
011
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
Whoever gets the lost deposits (the local council?) is gojng to be happy with that lot
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
After 1993 the whole of Teletext on both ITV and Ch4 was regional, and it could have something like 24 different versions as it was inserted at main transmitters rather than the ITV companies. The ITV regions all had a set of pages at P600, and CH4/S4C at P300
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 13/07/2026
The regional pages were on the P200's. When you selected a 200 page the 'ITV in the header changed to a regional name such as 'LON' or 'CEN' or 'TVS'. P200 was the regional menu: www.teletextarchive.com/Pages/Detail... Every region had a 200 section, however very few had regional news in it.
teletextarchive.com
Checking your browser - reCAPTCHA
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
If the BBC did have a porn channel it would of course be called CBoobies
3231
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I did Media Management for years, this is the problem with things being labeled/locked as 'KEEP'. A news programme I worked on years ago rebranded & trying to get the old titles off the system was a pain. Even then a colleague came back from maternity leave and somehow managed to play the old ones!
030
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
I remember one night early days of me working in the NTA and there was a power issue over night which somehow removed the sync from the DOG and it started drifting across the screen and changing colour
140
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Not that you'd want a job like that to be totally tamed... then anyone could do it
020
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
He did the same joke years later when he signed off from Sky News for the last time
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
Amazing that the acorn ident was still being used in 2013. It was part of the 1997 rebrand.
130
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
It was in my day too (no point staffing TC9 on a Saturday) I meant it went into by-pass like TC9 did. It changed when it went 16:9 and the cartoons came from pres There's a clip somewhere of a similar cock up where a rehearsal got put to air but it was a headless Mr Blobby rather than a VT clock!
000
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
As for the time it took for the slide to appear, the fact that the audio continued will have made it take a bit longer to notice. Although with 4 people working on the channel, you'd have though someone would have eyes on it
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 07/07/2026
I'm not sure how Live and Kicking worked then but Children's BBC in TC9 used to put the gallery into by-pass during programmes so they could rehearse while they were on. My guess is that the gallery here were supposed to be/thought they were in bypass, but weren't. Continued...
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 06/07/2026
Firstly Barra Best... that's a Welsh fruit cake isn't it? Secondly, this backs up my theory that news presenters don't understand the difference between to and from.
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
It's all very well saying that broadcast is obsolete because x% of households have broadband. But what about everywhere else? clubs, cafes, pubs, shops, places like care homes It's easy to watch TV via IP when everything is set up at home and you're on domestic broadband, but everywhere else.... 7/7
020
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Thing is I'm not a pensioner in a sports club, I'm a broadcast engineer. I do this sort of thing for a living... and I can't get it to work. Yes this is an unusual case but for it to replace broadcast, IP TV has to be totally intuitive and user friendly. It can't involve this much faff. 6/7
130
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
So entering my email address and password takes a while to get right but it works but takes me straight to a 'there is a problem' caption. I give up, I've tried every avenue I can think of and they're all quite happy with the regular telly WHICH JUST WORKS! Switch it on, press 1 and it works 5/7
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
But it needs the person whose device it is to enter a password. He's not there and I'm not putting mine in. Try the browser again and go to the URL for iPlayer. That works, select BBC1, click on watch... and it asks me to sign in. I'm using a joystick on a projector to control this thing 4/7
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
So why don't I cast to it from iPlayer on my phone? No, that requires both to be on the same Wifi network.. we're both in 4G But it should work if I connect it to my hot-spot. No, needs WiFi. Try web browser, search for iPlayer and it gets me the Google Play page where I can install it. Great. 3/7
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Hence they're watching on the small screen. Thought I'd give it a go. Turn on the projector and get an Android interface. Easy I thought & I can control it from the projector. The phone is providing the WiFi hot-spot. It has every TV app except iPlayer & Freely & no sign of Google Play 2/7
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
IP TV is the future(!) Turned up to a local sports club at half time. They're watching the match on a TV via aerial. They have a projector and big screen set up, a phone & some sort of Tivo thing plugged into it. Apparently a member set it up for them & it worked until 3 minutes after he left. 1/7
130
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Do they? Even many years on?
100
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Why do you feel that? It's not as if they've made a quick decision on closing, they announced it in 2010 and the BBC is one of the last broadcasters to use LW. None of the other countries have regretted it
110
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
What is it that you said just after 'good night'? I've rewound it a few times and can't make it out
100
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
They won't, it's an obsolete platform. They first announced they wanted to close it in 2010. 16 years on there's only about 4 countries left with LW broadcasts and virtually no one is listening, even if they do have a, now rare, LW radio.
040
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 24/06/2026
Yes, I was surprised that they were around for a Christmas to make one... and with only 6 months worth of material!
010
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
The background in cafes, bars etc and those in communal accommodation...will the LAN of a care home cope with 100 TVs all streaming TV to it's residents? Stuff takes a while, it's easy to convert 90% to a new system... It's the last 10% that's always the problem
100
Mr Scarymole @scarymole.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
1/ I think the assumption that barely anyone is watching via a dish or aerial is wildly off. Yes my household could watch BBC1 via the Internet, but we don't because it's just easier via an aerial, plus I can record it. Plus it assumes that all TV watching is in houses, there are lots in..
100