BBC Television Centre always seemed to be plagued with power problems for nearly all of its history. BBC 2 launch night in April 1964 was hit by a power cut at the centre. Power cuts in the 2000s were common place at TV Centre. Their generators were rubbish too, bursting into flames when kicked on.
@Jowan Sedgwick No, the 1964 power cut affected BBC Television Centre, yes it was the fault of the power station, but it blacked out Television Centre. I wrote "BBC 2 launch night in April 1964 was hit by a power cut at the centre", meaning electricity had been cut from BBC Television Centre. BBC Television Centre did not operate on its own power supply, no television centre does, it relies on mains electricity.
@@isaacggnbn ITV never bought the building. It remains owned by Stanhope Developers. They simply sublet Studios TC2 and TC3 from BBC Studioworks, along with production offices, dressing rooms etc.
so i was in the gallery at the time of the power problems. we were thinking about it being not that bad. then 7:15 made us crap our pants. We were working with other people from westminister over the phone as we were evacuated when the lights fizzed into darkness. being gallery manager was golden back in those days.
Aaah the late 90s World News breakfiller from 2:26, those visuals with Lowe's music bring back memories of holidays abroad :-) Always thought this was one of their best-designed versions of the breakfill with the synchronised transition graphic between biz/sport/schedule.
The ABF (Automatic Break Filler) was a Macintosh computer with a TV output card, and a Laserdisc player connected to it. At a given point BBC World presentation would 'stand up' the Mac, it would pull the text and menu data from BBC World's then Ceefax output, translate it into the slides. Each 'slide' was 30 seconds long which included the animation at the start. The Mac would then sync the Laserdisc to the start. About 30 seconds before the break was due to commence the Mac would put a white line across it's preview to tell them it was ready to fire the ABF. Each part was 30 seconds long to allow regions that sold partial advertising to mix from it cleanly (in theory). It's the same technology they used in 1997, in fact the same machine, they just altered the colours of the text to white instead of black and changed the Laserdisc. Eventually the Mac died, which is why they used a monthly pre-recorded version from 2001 until 2003.
@@poundpound were you there in the studio, or do you mean you watched it live? Sorry for the question, I just have an interest in technology mishaps like these 😅
I imagine the announcers and presenters for BBC World weren't aware of the power cut, unless they couldn't or didn't have time to edit their scripts. (0:24) I can only imagine what devices they were using to provide that temporary signal for the transmitters. They likely had a photo slideshow device playing the BBC test card and News 24 logo card, and a video titled with a similar character generator chip to what was found in late 90s home entertainment devices.
The slide at :24 was actually added further down the line in playout, not by the N24 gallery. They couldn't transmit much of anything at the time. I'd suggest it's added by a test card generator. BBC World presentation began rolling a pre-recorded news bulletin (which I think was from the PasB tape, effectively a 24 hour recording kept for a a set period in case there's serious complaints amongst other things), and BBC World was switched as the output of N24 by the SCAR. The randomly appearing BBC and 'Recorded' legends were added by World presentation.
I think Monty Python were on to something when they were making all those jokes about the BBC having money issues back in the day. It really speaks volumes when the power goes out right in the middle of a World News broadcast.
I think when the power cut happened the team up in the gallery had a bloody heart attack or something cause they managed to start fiddling with the channels quickly
This power cut in particular was so bad that the BBC ended up on the news about it days later, and had to shut down its generators permanently. By the end of the week, new generators were installed and the power cuts went away. It would be the last time this would happen.
BBC Television Centre always seemed to be plagued with power problems for nearly all of its history. BBC 2 launch night in April 1964 was hit by a power cut at the centre. Power cuts in the 2000s were common place at TV Centre. Their generators were rubbish too, bursting into flames when kicked on.
@Jowan Sedgwick No, the 1964 power cut affected BBC Television Centre, yes it was the fault of the power station, but it blacked out Television Centre. I wrote "BBC 2 launch night in April 1964 was hit by a power cut at the centre", meaning electricity had been cut from BBC Television Centre. BBC Television Centre did not operate on its own power supply, no television centre does, it relies on mains electricity.
Atleast when itv bought the building they upgraded the generators
Lol
@@isaacggnbn ITV never bought the building. It remains owned by Stanhope Developers. They simply sublet Studios TC2 and TC3 from BBC Studioworks, along with production offices, dressing rooms etc.
3 or 4 major failures in 50 years ain't bad going. When's the last time you had a power failure...
so i was in the gallery at the time of the power problems. we were thinking about it being not that bad. then 7:15 made us crap our pants. We were working with other people from westminister over the phone as we were evacuated when the lights fizzed into darkness. being gallery manager was golden back in those days.
7:15 actual powercut
I see
I just love how sometimes the news reporters get interrupted by a schedule glitch. 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Aaah the late 90s World News breakfiller from 2:26, those visuals with Lowe's music bring back memories of holidays abroad :-) Always thought this was one of their best-designed versions of the breakfill with the synchronised transition graphic between biz/sport/schedule.
The BBC still uses the breakfiller music as the hold music for their telephone system.
The ABF (Automatic Break Filler) was a Macintosh computer with a TV output card, and a Laserdisc player connected to it. At a given point BBC World presentation would 'stand up' the Mac, it would pull the text and menu data from BBC World's then Ceefax output, translate it into the slides. Each 'slide' was 30 seconds long which included the animation at the start. The Mac would then sync the Laserdisc to the start.
About 30 seconds before the break was due to commence the Mac would put a white line across it's preview to tell them it was ready to fire the ABF. Each part was 30 seconds long to allow regions that sold partial advertising to mix from it cleanly (in theory).
It's the same technology they used in 1997, in fact the same machine, they just altered the colours of the text to white instead of black and changed the Laserdisc.
Eventually the Mac died, which is why they used a monthly pre-recorded version from 2001 until 2003.
@@michaelw9285
RIP
ABF Breakfiller Mac
1997 - 2001
They at the beginning really do be like: yes we have power issues BUT ENGLAND IS IN THE EUROS YOOOOO
British positivity, eh? 😂
I never got why the BBC never got some reliable backup generators.
They have backup stations I guess
1:52 BBC World Business Sting (2000)
- Sounds like a rearrangement of the second half of the titles
2:03 BBC World Sports Sting (2000)
The same thing happened with CBBC when they launched in the middle of their first show it cut out and had a technical issue screen
Pretty much yea I was there when it happened.
@@poundpound were you there in the studio, or do you mean you watched it live? Sorry for the question, I just have an interest in technology mishaps like these 😅
I imagine the announcers and presenters for BBC World weren't aware of the power cut, unless they couldn't or didn't have time to edit their scripts.
(0:24) I can only imagine what devices they were using to provide that temporary signal for the transmitters. They likely had a photo slideshow device playing the BBC test card and News 24 logo card, and a video titled with a similar character generator chip to what was found in late 90s home entertainment devices.
yeah that slide is bad, thats like the backup of the backup type tech
Test card girl shit me up
The slide at :24 was actually added further down the line in playout, not by the N24 gallery. They couldn't transmit much of anything at the time. I'd suggest it's added by a test card generator.
BBC World presentation began rolling a pre-recorded news bulletin (which I think was from the PasB tape, effectively a 24 hour recording kept for a a set period in case there's serious complaints amongst other things), and BBC World was switched as the output of N24 by the SCAR. The randomly appearing BBC and 'Recorded' legends were added by World presentation.
@@michaelw9285
Interesting.
I think Monty Python were on to something when they were making all those jokes about the BBC having money issues back in the day. It really speaks volumes when the power goes out right in the middle of a World News broadcast.
I think when the power cut happened the team up in the gallery had a bloody heart attack or something cause they managed to start fiddling with the channels quickly
according to a comment from one of the people in the gallery at the time, they did
This power cut in particular was so bad that the BBC ended up on the news about it days later, and had to shut down its generators permanently. By the end of the week, new generators were installed and the power cuts went away. It would be the last time this would happen.
OMG BBC literally had a power cut as it was on my birthday. No way. 😂
0:27 they put testcard w and then in 0:37, they put news 24 intro frame, crazy
Power cut 7:16
1:19 bbc bass boosted
haha lol
Im gonna put it on my jbl flip 4 speaker
"NORMAL SERVICE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE"
"NORMAL SERVICE WILL BE BACK SOON AS POSSIBLE"
@@moelester7527 I'm just taking the piss out of them forgetting "WILL BE BACK" on the first of those cards.
@@PhirePhlame but they also forgot "AS" on the second one.
BBC One continues in its normal 4:3 Aspect Ratio but News 24 Continues in its God Damm Awful 14:9 Aspect Ratio.
Surprised they didn't have back up generators.
They did, but they kept failing
@@jonathonpate8330 It failed so bad that it even caught fire! Yeah, a faulty 500 KVA generator, that's alot of energy that can't escape.
2:00 Who's the man on the right being introduced? I understood only 'John T-' from his name.
John Terrett.
First thing that came to my head was John Terry 😂
I thought it was John Terrick
23 years and 4 days ago
1:16
“Taxation.”
00:48 01:16 01:31 01:52 02:03 02:08 02:12
5:23 pov: your game softocks
Sounds like a bsod
This made me scared the music
Word to the wise: use backup generators.
They did, but they were so shit, they caught on fire.
They did, but the generators failed and caught fire.
😊
0:32 …. Is that a clown in the background?
it's a kid with a clown doll playing tic tac toe
Yes, it's Carole Hersee with a clown doll. It's the Test Card W, a variant of the famous Test Card F
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Test_Card_F
In 2000, BBC started to broadcast your programs in HD?
BBC HD broadcasts didn't begin until 2006.
@@desandmick did BBC HD launch then, or was it 09?
It launched on a trial basis in May 2006, with the official launch in December 2007.
@@Mr_Storm_22 bbc HD is dead now thou
@@williamg209two I know
Creepypasta material
Does BBC Power Cut going to BBC World yes or no?
Yes, because BBC News 24 was interrupted
Yikes, the Brits were already broadcasting in a 16:9 ratio in 2000?
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