LWT transmission 1993. Announcer (Trish ) & Transmission Controller (David )
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- čas přidán 29. 08. 2024
- LWT transmission 1993. The 'new' control room for Pres 1 and introduction of 'one man op' shifts on the early shifts.
Announcer - Trish Bertram
Transmission Controller - David W.
LWT would have been 52 this year. Boy where does the time go? Trish Bertram and Glen Thompsett's voices definitely made the viewers well at home during that glorious era, two of the UK's all time great continuity announcers. 17 and almost a half years on perhaps since the passing of the regional ITV, it's never been the same, apart from one or two good shows, it is nowhere near great as to what came before the regional disbandment.
What a great video of a dearly missed television company: London Weekend Television. Thank you for sharing this Trish. They don’t make telly like they used to!
Thanks Glenn !
I loved hearing your voice, so sweet on air xxxxx
ahhhh i remember it fondly as well as the other David in Transmission/Presentation, i joined in Dec 1992 and we stayed in this control room until the rebuild across the corridor for the 2000 launch, we had to go digital and get off equipment that was not millennium bug compliant
Hi DD! This was the nicest control room though, wasn't it? Wasn't too fond of the next 'rebuild' !
Thanks for this Trish... came here after hearing you on the TV booth podcast! I often walk along the South Bank during my lunch break and it's so sad to see the LWT building (always 'LWT' not 'ITV' to me!) now closed. It's going to be harder still when the dreaded redevelopment really starts. I still don't quite understand why ITV did this. Studio space is so hard to come by in London now - especially since BBC TV Centre got rid of so many of its studios during the redevelopment some years back. Glad to have visited a few times for some recordings.
Thanks Glen. Yes, sad indeed. The London Studios/ LWT ( always LWT to me too !) was such a power house of television. :-(
Wow - it's absolutely fantastic that you had the foresight to capture this - even more so that you were kind enough to post it online AND even discuss it with people here. TV presentation is an absolutely fascinating thing - it's so lovely to see your passion for it, and that you're so communicative here!
I'm 28 and was in the Meridian region when I was younger (when ITV was still regionalised!), so I never had the chance to truly experience it all first hand, but even from a young age, TV presentation... the stuff that glued the programs together, always fascinated me. It seems such a crying shame that nowadays ITV has lost the unique identities and presenters that it once had - regional TV really did have it's own flavour. Even if the 'ITV' brand wasn't cohesive as a whole, as a viewer it seems that much more special.
Anyhow, I'm waffling on. If you've read this far, thank you. Your willingness to provide a behind the scenes look and interact with fans is very much appreciated. It's so nice to see that it wasn't 'just another gig', and that you think of it with such fondness. The golden era of TV is behind us it seems, but it's fantastic that you were a part of it.
Thank you Richard for your very kind comments. All of us in Presentation were (and I'm sure still are !) passionate about it, and took pride in making our stations look and sound slick and professional on air. It is the 'shop window' for a station or channel, and if it looks or sounds tired or shoddy, it isn't going to instil any loyalty or much faith in its viewers. We all notice bad presentation! 😀 Wherever I worked it was never just a 'gig'...but LWT was the most special for me. It gave me my start, and taught me everything I needed to know. I owe a lot to the transmission controllers and my more experienced fellow announcers back then! _ This clip came about because one of our engineers was testing a new hand held camera and brought it into Pres that day to try out. He sent the clip to me not so a long ago and I asked him if I could post it online. So big thanks to Gerry who found it again! Trish 😊
LWT, along with Thames Television, were London's best ITV franchise, making some very popular hits and quite entertaining programmes. Should never have gone.
Well LWT didn't really go. They are still there, just known as ITV plc now in 2022. LWT is known as a "dormant company" now in 2022.
I've said it before, but Trish is legendary....do remember Trish continuity announcing at TVS in Southampton...plus very kindly recorded some voiceovers for Hospital Radio....great voice Trish
Thank you Chris 😀
I love your Amazing Work as the Announcer for LWT alongside Peter Lewis, and Glen Thompsett. You and Glen were the last faces and voices to be seen on LWT on October 27th when on October 28th, LWT and Carlton Television in London merged and became ITV London in the News and Regional Programing and as the On-Air Name, LWT, Carlton and the other ITV Companies rebranded to ITV1 (except for Regional Programing when they used the Regional Holder's Name, and in the News) and Paul Seed was the first Voice to be seen in the New ITV1 and ITV1 rebranded to ITV, and the South Bank Studios which houses LWT, and Carlton closed in 2018. It's a Sad Time for ITV London.
Thank you. Announcing styles are very different these days. We tried to create a sense that the 'weekend' was special. I'm glad people remember it 🙂
@@TrishBertramVoice Me too, London Weekend Television's Idents are Awesome and It means, The Weekend is Here.
The best continuity Announcer 😀
Trish was one of the longest serving LWT continuity announcers and she's heard previewing the ITV Lunchtime News and a live football match from the First Division.
It looks like LWT was a happy place to work.
It really was! 😃 . We all loved working for LWT ❤️
Communities secretary, Micheal Gove has given the all clear for Make’s £700m ITV Studios redevelopment - Feb 2024. I remember the building as new after London Weekend Television moving from its Wembley studios in 1968, did see some shows at LWT, The Rag Trade and Aspel & Co, struggling to remember, now in my late 60’s, did meet the late Dickie Davies from World of Sport, and watched the late Cilla Black in reception one afternoon.
Sad news for all of us with incredible memories of working in that building. 🥲
@@TrishBertramVoice The industry had imploded with the loss of the Thames Television franchise in 92, demolition of both studio complexes at Teddington and Euston, tv-am at Camden Town, the sake of the former BBC tv Centre at Wood Lane, all but TC 4 as a scene store, with TC1/2/3 still standing, all the other studios demolished, at a time where there are shortage of studio space, BBC/itv renting studios at TVC, two leases at Salford Media Centre for the BBC, a lease on W1, the BBC’s in a right mess over the licence fee, all those job losses at what was LWT at Kent House, even now a great shock to the industry.
Brilliant
I absolutely love this and I bet it brings back loads of fond memories working for the company LWT.
Glad you enjoyed it ! :-)
@@TrishBertramVoice I was wondering what was it like working on London television especially for the weekend ITV output in the capital
@@mrhammadmossop1988ul-haq It was great! There is a special feel to London at the weekends, and we tried to create and add to that too with LWT.
@@TrishBertramVoice I have a question I hope you don't mind answering this?
Fascinating to see behind the scenes. I remember your many LWT announcements fondly. I often wondered if the announcements were pre-recorded or live and you had to sit through the programmes. I ended up working in radio but always wanted to be a continuity announcer. Thanks for sharing these memories :)
Thanks William - yes, we were always live, ...(that was half the fun!)
@@TrishBertramVoice London Weekend made brilliant programmes for the entire network as well as regional programmes for London themselves but some of the networks favourites were Gladiators and Blind Date.
Thanks for sharing this; as others have said it's fascinating stuff. Around about the same time I did a week's work experience at Central's Pres & Proms department. Looked similar except the announcer's booth was down the corridor with no visual contact, which was less convenient. They were also to be heard making remarks about Carlton's on-screen look, even less complimentary than yours...!
What surprises me in this is that your mic is obviously so low down that you have to lean forward and down towards it. Quite apart from poor ergonomics in the workplace etc I'm amazed that they would build something that enforces such bad posture and squashed lung capacity for the announcers!
The mic was on a stand & arm and we could position it as high or low as we liked. I liked it low because I wanted the clock, tx & preview monitors all in my eye line while I was reading. No one counted us on and off air - we had to talk to time using the clock, and keep an eye on the next source rolling on preview and read our scripts live all at the same time. (Later an automation read out was added to our stack which we also had to follow.) With the mic positioned low I could just flick my eyes up at the clock and monitors in front of me while reading. So I was a sloucher! My choice. Others liked it positioned higher.
Aha! OK then, all is forgiven! Again, thanks for the insights! :)
Trish in a Carlton ident! 😂😂 i imagined it 😂
Man i really miss LWT and those sexy tones of Trish bertrum... Loved friday evenings you knew it was the weekend when those LWT idents popped up.... I think the guy that used to be on Hollyoaks is now the ITV announcer hes good but he's no Trish.. 😎 P. S having to get ready to announce with that lady in your cans directing whatever show she was.. Grrrrrr annoying much..
At less Granada let LWT continue broadcasting unlike Carlton who kill off then itv channel s
ITV would be better bringing back in vision continuity. It always made you feel engaged with the announcers and the station.
And Trish should be back announcing on ITV!!
@@robertcomer2767 I had a very good run, Robert. Time to put my feet up from all those long late shifts! But thank you 😀
4:16 ‘Carlton Ident’ 🤭
Fascinating stuff!! “I’m going to be a Carlton ident!” 😄 So, what was going on in ST7 that was annoying you guys so much?
Trish - maybe you can answer this - is it true that at some point during the 90s (maybe around the “hearts” era) that all programmes used to be fed into CAR/LWT who then sent out a semi-clean feed of everything to the other stations as well as your own local feed? The CAR/LWT announcer used to be heard on the network voicing ECPs and other live promos and the local announcers would still be heard too. A step towards what was to come in 2002. So you were actually announcing to the whole country and just London in the same link/junction? (Hope that made sense!)
EDIT: This must be 1993, not 1991?
Yes, it was 1993 - corrected now! :-) Yes, the ECP scenario sounds right if memory serves. Not the promos though, as far as I recall. There was a tech reason for this - I'll see if I can find out precisely. ( It was a long time ago!) As for St7 - well, programme galleries know not to open the talk back and chat with Pres in junctions at high volume except to give stand bys etc or in emergencies.( It's tough trying to live announce with all that racket going on in your ears! :-) )
TrishBertramVoice Thanks Trish - yes, I’d be really interested to know why networking arrangements changed from the former “network to all from originating station”. Partly to do with branding and the “one ITV” ethos maybe?
More importantly, did you guys get a hefty pay rise because your voice was being heard nationally? I think even STV and UTV got those ECPs and a clean(er) feed wasn’t sorted out for them until well into the “ITV1 era”, about 2004? The live networked announcements I recall from Carlton/LWT were often late schedule changes such as around 9/11, which was before all continuity switched to the South Bank.
@@CaptainSiCo No pay rise - all part of the job! :-) We were well used to doing Network annos - book announcements, help lines etc. Whichever station you worked for, it was considered part of the job to occasionally be 'networked'.
@@TrishBertramVoice That fast cutting that the PA was calling sounds very much like that heard in a certain talkback "enriched" log video of an edition of Talking Telephone Numbers that had constant problems with VT segments that were supposed to be live, shuttling on air (twice) and causing an absolute meltdown. Later they go to The Human League performing "Will I See You Again" and the cuts sound just like that ("15, 3, 2, 3 ,4, 2 next, 16...")
Question for your days on ITV1 from 2002-2004: Aside from your freelancing LWT colleague Glen Thompsett, what are your memories of working alongside Graham Bannerman (senior announcer), plus Chris Langmore (regional announcer until August 2003), Paul Seed, Graham Rogers, Sonia Clark, Paul Jamieson, Sasha Twining, and the night shift freelancers (who were David Allan, Mark Lipscomb and Peter Tompkins; until August 2003)? How did shifts work for ITV1's staff and freelancers? What were the ITV2 announcers' names?
Happy memories, Alex, and I am still in touch with Glen and Mark to this day as good friends. The day/evening shifts back then were 09.00 - 05.00 - with a hand over around 4.45 I recall. Graham Bannerman, who was ITV's first Senior Announcer, would plan the shift pattern with the resident team, and then call us freelancers to fill any leave, sickness or booked holidays. After LWT, I freelanced for a short while for ITV until I went to 5.
@@TrishBertramVoice Who took over Mr. Bannerman in 2004? I take it that the evening shifts ended around 11:30pm. After Peter Tompkins, David Allan and Mark Lipscomb left when live continuity at nights ended, who generally recorded the night shifts? My guess is that the recorded regional announcer (the announcer from the previous evening) did all of these, but sometimes one of the ITV2 announcers would fill in.
Fascinating! Whereabouts was this in the building -the tower block where the old in vision studio was or elsewhere? And I wonder if Peter Lewis sat in that booth in full shirt and tie? Can’t see him in a hoodie somehow 😉
We were on the 2nd floor, David, directly below the Tower. This and lines/MCR next door were built in place of the old Pres & in vis studio. During the rebuild we decamped to a small tx control room ( also next door in the same area) - 'Pres 2' - which had been originally set up to insert the comms into C4 at the start of C4 in the 80s. Yes, Peter graced that small booth too! Usually in much more 'casual' attire :-)!
The very best announcer !!
Far too kind, JIm!
This is great to see. You have such a Distinctive voice Trish, you and Peter Lewis voices I remember from LWT.
What LWT programme from the past did you best like announcing before it started?
That's a tough question, Mark! So many of them! Saturday nights were always fun as we had so many big 'shiny floor' shows like Blind Date and Barrymore :-)
@@TrishBertramVoice
They produced some great programmes for the network and in London along with Thames Tv.
I personally think that the regional companies produced better quality Tv programmes for ITV.
You did the company proud Trish, it must have been sad on your last day with LWT.
@@TrishBertramVoice And Surprise, Surprise my favourite. x
Good times whih LWT miss it I heard LWT and Carlton was still around until 2004 because they were still making blind date is that ture
LWT was taken over by Granada who merged with Carlton in 2004 to become 'ITV'.
Thank you so much for uploading this to CZcams Trish this is absolutely fascinating and I bet this is a trip down memory lane!
I was wondering am I correct to say that the Yorkshire Television feed from Leeds was transmitted directly to The London Television Centre or did it have to reach another ITV regional company before it reached London then you sent Yorkshire's signal from Leeds to London's homes or how did this work as Yorkshire Television is a long way from London.
The network was able to route to each other by a chain of transmitters and the BT Tower.
@@TrishBertramVoice Very impressive so you had a very good connection with Yorkshire right?
@@TrishBertramVoice Thanks for making LWT the best
@@TrishBertramVoice I was wondering you know during the week right did LWT control the programmes to London and all the other stations from all the other regions or was that the job mainly of Thames?
Thames controlled the network Monday to Friday afternoon then it switched and from Friday evening to Sunday night LWT controlled the network.
I Know The BBC Resembles The New England Patriots, But ITV Resembles The L.A. Rams .
Do you have any more LWT stuff from the London region please
Would have thought someone might have removed his coat from the chair. All that kit and they didn’t think to supply a coat hook 🪝
They did. He just liked to have his coat on the chair :-)
It was tradition for duty staff to hang their jackets on the control room chairs….🤷🏼♂️
Was David the only transmission controller who worked for London Weekend Television?
Not at all. There was a team of transmission controllers. In the day time it was a one person operation and two on the evening shifts.
3:03 - This looks like Channel 4 News Theme . (Warning: Poor Quality.)