40 years since ATV, Southern & and Westward ended

[Philheybrookbay]

As I’ve stated before my Dad worked for BT watching the feeds from Derrys Cross and the network from the transmitters. Outwardly there was very little change from Westward to TSW, the presentation was slicker.

But those 4 and half months were critical to TSW under the Westward name. According to Dad they literally ripped the old 60s equipment out of Derrys Cross so that by January and official change day technically TSW were right up there with modern equipment.

I know people called TSW ‘son of Westward’ but there was brief talk about a TWW situation during 1981 at Derrys Cross which surprised me but it was all gloves off for a while.

[Bluecortina]

I'm sure every company that doesn't need to invest in future work will maximise whatever value they can get out of existing kit, and only spend on essential repairs to get them to the final day.
However was there any agreement by TVS to invest in Northam's facilities before they took over?
If they paid for the new kit and installation for anything (maybe to replace something that failed completely in the final year of Southern's time) would that have happened?

I cannot recall exact dates but I can confirm Southern were starting to invest in 1” technology before they came a cropper, and buying Marconi MKix cameras to replace some old MKvii’s. Whether this was anything to do with TVS I do not know - but we do know TVS equipped Vinters Park with Link cameras.

A few ITV companies bought Marconi Mk9s in 1979. From memory Granada, LWT, ITN (in all three cases to replace 10 yr old EMI 2001s)
I think Southern, HTV, and Anglia may have done the same about that time too ?

Northam was a turnkey (ish) Marconi site I think ?

It was, although Southern had an excellent engineering department that installed/modified colour kit.

[Humphrey Hacker]

As I’ve stated before my Dad worked for BT watching the feeds from Derrys Cross and the network from the transmitters. Outwardly there was very little change from Westward to TSW, the presentation was slicker.

But those 4 and half months were critical to TSW under the Westward name. According to Dad they literally ripped the old 60s equipment out of Derrys Cross so that by January and official change day technically TSW were right up there with modern equipment.

I know people called TSW ‘son of Westward’ but there was brief talk about a TWW situation during 1981 at Derrys Cross which surprised me but it was all gloves off for a while.

From what I understand about Peter Cadbury I can imagine him doing a Lord Derby and shutting Westward down early:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cadbury

[Inspector Sands]

What an interesting life and range of business interests he had, Who'd hav thought there's be link between the Nuremberg Trials, Westward TV and Keith Prowse

[Steven O]

There were also other changes on that first day of 1982. These affected Granada, which lost the South Lakes to Border and the relays on the Yorks/Lancs border to Yorkshire. It did, though, gain the Buxton relay from ATV.

And, of course, the Thames/LWT handover was brought forward to 5.15pm on Fridays.

[Neil Jones]

What an interesting life and range of business interests he had, Who'd hav thought there's be link between the Nuremberg Trials, Westward TV and Keith Prowse

"Is the correct answer for two points." #onlyconnect

[Markymark]

There were also other changes on that first day of 1982. These affected Granada, which lost the South Lakes to Border and the relays on the Yorks/Lancs border to Yorkshire. It did, though, gain the Buxton relay from ATV.

And, of course, the Thames/LWT handover was brought forward to 5.15pm on Fridays.

The Yorks/Lancs relays were moved during December 1981. It was actually quite an involved engineering proceedure to retune a relay transponder to another feed frequency. That's why the Tunbridge Wells relay wasn't moved from Crystal Palace to Heathfield until Jan 4th (the first working day of the year) Moving the South Lakeland relays to Border involved a microwave link from BT at Carlisle to Lancaster, and another link from there to Kendal. I'm not sure when exactly all of that was implemented, and patched in.

At the other end of the country the Marlborough relay in Wiltshire was reallocted from Southern to HTV West. I assume that was done in December, otherwise the viewers would have been subjected to three ITV companies in quick succession!

[Inspector Sands]

Merry Christmas from the IBA, here's your present..... Border TV. :?

[tedjrr]

Moving the South Lakeland relays to Border involved a microwave link from BT at Carlisle to Lancaster and another link from there to Kendal. I'm not sure when exactly all of that was implemented and patched in.

It's one of those vague things you seem to remember from the past, but maybe wrong.

In the days when the Sunday Papers (well the Times and the Observer) ran extensive articles on ITV politics, I seem to recall an idea that Border would get the Lancaster relay (a big relay). The Border feed to Kendal went via IBA Lancaster, and then on a self-provided microwave link to the South Lakes.

Why?

Presumably, the Lancaster into Border concept was fixed as an idea, and a PO link ordered on a long lead time?

Another possibility is that the feed from Carlisle couldn't be easily extracted at PO Whinfell Common, but could at PO Heysham?

South Lakes taking Border makes sense as the area is genuinely Cumbria (or Cumberland as was). Whereas Lancaster would have become an enclave, with Barrow-in-Furness coming off Winter Hill. Do recall a rebuttal argument (may have been on here in the last couple of years), that Border wouldn't be able to afford the journalistic resource to cover Lancaster properly.

[Markymark]

Moving the South Lakeland relays to Border involved a microwave link from BT at Carlisle to Lancaster and another link from there to Kendal. I'm not sure when exactly all of that was implemented and patched in.

It's one of those vague things you seem to remember from the past, but maybe wrong.

In the days when the Sunday Papers (well the Times and the Observer) ran extensive articles on ITV politics, I seem to recall an idea that Border would get the Lancaster relay (a big relay). The Border feed to Kendal went via IBA Lancaster, and then on a self-provided microwave link to the South Lakes.

Why?

Presumably, the Lancaster into Border concept was fixed as an idea, and a PO link ordered on a long lead time?

Another possibility is that the feed from Carlisle couldn't be easily extracted at PO Whinfell Common, but could at PO Heysham?

South Lakes taking Border makes sense as the area is genuinely Cumbria (or Cumberland as was). Whereas Lancaster would have become an enclave, with Barrow-in-Furness coming off Winter Hill. Do recall a rebuttal argument (may have been on here in the last couple of years), that Border wouldn't be able to afford the journalistic resource to cover Lancaster properly.

I've just dug out the IBA coverage map for Lancaster, it covers/ed a big area, right down into the northern suburbs of Blackpool (though I doubt anyone that far south ever used it).
Under the original Stockholm plan it was due to be a 100kW main transmitter, in the end it became a 10kW relay of Winter Hill.
I suspect also the use of Lancaster for the onward SHF link to Kendal was partly because it kept the link within 'IBA' premises ? However wasn't that still the era when the BBC or IBA could only provide their own SHF links if BT couldn't (or couldn't be bothered to) ?

During the Granada era Kendal was an off air relay of Lancaster (and Windermere and Coniston relays of Winter Hill) For Border both those sites became relays of Kendal, and Kendal became in effect a low power main station (fed by 'line')

The BBC carried on with keeping those relays as slaves of the North West region. They'd have had to have provided a similar arrangement to the IBA to have moved them into their NE+Cumbria region.

To this day, in the DTT era those relays are still a special SIPSI region of their own, with BBC NW, and ITV Border. I think they are the only relays in the UK with such a special (and expensive) arrangement.