BBC News nostalgia, including BBC World

On the radio, WATO and PM still do that. (Though yesterday WATO had the interesting problem of the top story changing while the newsreader was reading the summary, and the lead pre-recorded interview being out of date by the time they got to it)

Sometime in 2004, the script was "a look at the time now, it's a quarter past six". The fact that the line was identical every day annoyed me so much that I complained to the duty office, and they did alter it very slightly...

Yes, an interesting period, that - they got a completely new set for the Nine during the election campaign, though this was when Birtism was at its height and the news would be extended to an hour during the election and clunkily retitled News And Campaign Report. I remember several complaints that it was blue.



There's a bit in this speech from Jenny Abramsky - http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/speeches/stories/abramsky_jamescameronmemorial.shtml - where she mentions in the seventies that the news bulletins and the current affairs programmes were rivals, and so on The World At One it started with the news bulletin saying that a postal strike was continuing, followed by WATO immediately contradicting that and saying it was off, which they had as an exclusive and refused to tell the news department.

In Roger Mosey's book he said that by the time he was in charge they would at least tell the newsroom what their top story was, although he said they were often baffled when they said it was going to be about Qualified Minority Voting in Europe or some complicated political rumours, as opposed to something that had actually happened like a fire or a car crash.

A phrase that was reused for the news programmes in the run up to the 1997 Election:



Looking at a 1992 example, it seems odd having the combination of the newer music and the old style bombastic voiceover:

Check at this shot. Looks like they were moving out or in, and the biggest thing that will jump out at you is the Ice Maiden's hair. Looks like she's stolen Sue Carpenter's look.

Moving out, I think. That balcony station was in use for the overnights from 1997, IIRC, occupied mainly (overnight) by Jane Hill, Janet Barrie, George Ekyn, Adrian Finighan and Peter Coe.

And, of course, Anita McNaught.

that neon!

That particular balcony - N8 - only came into use in the autumn of 1998. I think I'm right in saying that initially, overnights were separate. News 24 stayed in N9 and World did their own thing in N1. Then from early-ish 1998 they teamed up with the overnights coming mostly from N9 until N8 opened.

BBC World joined BBC News 24 for overnights from the end of March 1998.

That was probably the closest they got to a female presenting the Nine in the 1990s..

Eh? Fiona on the six in the double headed era? Bank Holiday?

Christmas - note the decorations in one of the headlines.

Here is the ‘Nine O’Clock News and Election’87’. Similar idea, with a bespoke set as well. The news theme doesn’t work quite so well with the election intro.