BBC News 24 1997-1999

I notice TV Live has increased its coverage of the "launch look" of News 24. I didn't have the luxury of being able to view the channel at the time so was wondering if people could clarify a few things.

- Am I right in saying News 24 launched in N9 and then moved to N8? When did this move happen? Was the set just overlooking the newsroom at the balcony in N8 or was there a secondary set too, like there was from 1999? I'm a bit confused as to where sport and business came from - was it just the edge of the desk?

- Why did this move ever happen? If it was always intended for World to go to N9, why didn't they put News 24 straight into N8?

- When World moved into N9, did they change the set?

- There are two versions of the titles - one with a small 'BBC News 24' logo at the bottom, another with a big one slapped in the middle of the screen. Were they used interchangeably or did one replace the other?

- Did the yellow News 24 weather maps last right through to the 2000 new look for BBC Weather?

Would be great to see more videos of the period if anyone has any, other than the obvious on YouTube.

The big News 24 logo replaced the one with BBC News 24 at the bottom of the screen, though I think the original version was still used on BBC One when joining and leaving the channel. There was also a version that read "BBC News" without the 24 that was used overnight when World joined News 24.

Such a great look. Obviously looks dated now, but I'd have loved to have seen it develop.

One point to note - the original name straps aren't shown on that page. How long did they last? I thought the originals were much smarter (orange and blue, full width and fading out upwards I seem to remember).

I think the greatest thing about this package for me was the music. It's hard to believe it was only used for two years, and only on News 24 in an era where few would have heard it unless you watched BBC One overnight.

Yeah the original music I remember watching it on cable and was mezmorised by the music leading up to the hour, it had a completely different look to the rest of BBC News which didn't make sense to me at the time.

From what I've read on Wikipedia, I'm aware that News 24 was intended to be a TV equivalent of Radio Five Live, i.e. male newsreaders not wearing jackets.

It was definitely supposed to be slightly 'lighter' in feel than the main BBC News hence the colourful sets and graphics, less pompous music and more informal dress code. But some felt it did go a bit far the other way - hence the gradual move towards a middle way by both the national news and News 24. At the time the main news was very formal, very (and probably too) stuffy and authoritative and the opposite of colourful. Whether plastering N9 in bright polygons was the greatest move is debatable but I think it definitely helped pave the way the way for the 1999 BBC News look as it made the BBC News brand look less overly formal and pompous.

In regards to the N9/ N8 question - wasn't N8 not ready at the time of launch given it was in the newly opened Stage 6 where as N9 was in Stage 5. It is interesting, though, that the set in N8 was of a completely different design style to that of the one in N9 - I think that's the only period in the two studio's history where N8 didn't have the (IMO) nicer set.

I find it interesting that studios N6, 8 and 9 actually opened in reverse order- N9 opening in 1997, N8 in 1998 and N6 in 1999.

Yes, interestingly at that time, there weren't any titles shown after the headlines, only up to the hour. That's except overnight when the aforementioned "BBC News" titles were used.

The flags look continued to be used for the shared overnight service for several weeks (possibly longer) after the "drums and beeps" look was adopted on News 24.

Up until World also adopted it, I think. Was really odd, at 1:00am they reverted to the flags look and then changed back to the corporate look at 5:30am. It was especially disconcerting if you only had BBC News 24 on BBC One as the only way you'd know it had rebranded would be if you watched that last half hour between 5:30-6:00am.

There was also a very different weather map for News 24 at launch, where land was bright yellow/orange and the sea was a very vivid blue. (This was still on the days of symbols for weather, rather than the current shading to denote cloud cover - which I have to say years on, I still find extremely vague.)
http://i1.wp.com/www.tv-live.org.uk/media/bbcnews24/1997/weather10.jpg

That happens more often than you might have thought. While overall plans have some sense about the layout of studios, the opening schedule of them rarely matches numerical (or alphabetical) order. The first studios to open at Television Centre were TC2, 3, 4 and 5 in 1960/1. TC3 was the first to officially open. TC1 didn't open until 1964.

At new Broadcasting House, the larger main studios opened (I think) in the following order C and B, A and E, and (much later) D. BBC London had moved into what is now the One Show Studio much earlier than everything else (in fact the rest of the redevelopment site was barely started). That studio is now known as Studio V.