The FlashBack UK
Our Flashback series here on Joshuaonline continues but this time we go across the pond , mostly because we at Flashback want to spread your wonder on the world of Television , or we may be a bit mad can't tell.
So , Morning Television or the as the Brits call it Breakfast Television but unlike here in America it hasn't run that long compared. 1983 was the year The UK as a whole found a new concept of Television before 9AM at least.
First , January 17th 1983 , the BBC launched their morning show "Breakfast Time" on BBC1 , now they were the first morning national show in Britain beating rivals ITV. What was this morning show like?
Here's a youtube video of it by
Transdiffision
About 1:54 into the video is when the real action happens. First the theme music is great very morning, then again I would hope for a morning show to sound morning like. At 3:11 in you see the set, it looks cozy, and there are lots of people there very active. At 3:13 you see one of the hosts (presenters) his name is Frank Bough and he welcomes us to the show.
The time was Mondays-Fridays 6:30-9AM and BBC's morning show was light format and one thing I like is that hosts seem causal and not that scary over chipper you get in our American morning shows. Watch the 13 minute video , we'll wait for you.
Ok now we jump a head to February 1st 1983 , and BBC1 had a competitor called ITV (still do) , and they launched their new breakfast service. 3 things you should know , From the 1950's to 2000's ITV was made up of different companies covering a region eg: in The North East their ITV company was Tyne Tees Television. The Morning was contracted to a new company to provide a national breakfast service to air on the ITV network. The name was called TV-AM.
Here's the video of their first day again From
Transdiffusion
TV-AM , was like we said was a channel on a channel , so it had programms of it's own to fill it's time. Before we get to the video , there is something you need to know about TV AM , it's a cause of mis judging. When it was announced that TV AM was going to start in 1983 , the BBC decided they had to hurry up and get a morning program, (Hence Breakfast Time). The BBC thought that ITV's new breakfast was going to light and fun so the BBC's plan was to make a morning program that was light and fun. While TV AM thought the BBC's morning show was going to be 2 people in suits behind a desk and a morning version of an evening news high brow show. So TV AM went High Brow to compete. When the BBC announced the date , TV-AM got to move up theirs. But the problem was TV AM thought wrong about Breakfast time's format.
Back to the video, The First thing you hear is TV AM's music very nice isn't it? I really do like it.
Around 2:20 you see the beginning of the first broadcast.Just look at those titles. You see their set around 2:51 ,at 2:53 guy in a suit, David Frost. They explain the shows for a bit. At 5:39 in the video you see the opener for Daybreak , TV-AM's news show. Just in case you didn't know it was a news show they did it in a news room and more guys in suits. Stay tuned you will an interesting for a clock radio, TV, tape player and more now that's awesome! At 10:10 Daybreak ends and now it's time for "Good Morning Britain" which starts at 10:37, those titles are impressive and the music is very original. And the clock Appears for the first time.
